Campsite 1 via West Rim Trail(edit)

Solo hiked Feb 4 – Went out to Grafton ghost town on the way in to Springdale with weather more like early spring than winter. Got up really early the following morning and drove up to The Grotto, starting up the West Rim Trail toward Angels Landing in darkness but with a nice star-filled sky. I’ve ridden in to Zion on my bike the last 2 years so driving put me on the trail even earlier than planned. After rounding the corner at the base of Angels Landing (Scout Lookout), I met up with the glowing eyes from a pair of mule deer opposing me on the trail. After saying a few kind words to let calmly depart, I started climbing the familiar route up the chains by headlamp just like last year which I found quite humorous to be doing once again before first light. My plan was to go up the chain sections at first light but I was much too early for that. The ascent up Angels is well routed, even between the chained sections, making it quite fun, even in darkness. Once on top at 6 am, I knew I would have to patiently wait an hour for enough light to take a few photos before continuing on to do the West Rim loop. And so I put up with a mild canyon wind chill for a bit, took my photos and started heading down with my permit at the ready for the usual ranger check at Scout. Since there were only a few fellow hikers coming up, the chains were free to use more like rappel lines than hand over hand which made for a quick gloved descent. Unlike the last 2 years, no ranger was present at Scouts so I continued on the West Rim Trail toward Slickrock, after which ice patches started to appear on the trail. All were easy to bypass with a little extra care, all the way up to the Telephone Canyon-West Rim routes junction. I decided to do the West Rim Loop counter clockwise by taking the Telephone route up and returning via the West Rim Trail. Surprisingly, the loop had good snow and moderate mud to carefully bypass but very little ice. Very nice views to the southwest and west from the rim. Aside from carefully traversing the ice patch sections, the conditions were great for a fast descent, allowing me to make it back to Springdale in time for a nice lunch at Jack’s before resting up for the East Rim the following day. Logged 16.5 mi /26.5 km & 4230 ft /1289.3 m with Gaia

As seen on citrusmilo.com guide to the West Rim Trail.

Campsite 3 or 4 night 1, campsite 1 or 2 second night