Learn to Enjoy the Journey
Suddenly I heard the sound of rocks slipping under someone's feet. I stared at the steep cliff on both sides and my heart stopped. Every step from Scout's Lookout to the top of Angel's Landing was like this. Always just a few feet from a cliff, or in some cases on the side of the cliff grasping the chain and carefully finding foot holes, there were no moments you felt completely safe. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. When we reached the top, we got a view of the same backdrop we had seen for the last hour, just a little higher. Don't get me wrong, it was a great view, but for a hike like this the destination wasn't the best part. It was the journey, the challenge of it all that made it an experience worth remembering.
What's funny, is that I almost didn't do it. Over the past two years Angel's Landing had become the top destination at Zion National Park, and therefore the hike had become over crowded. The week before I scoured over Reviews in my All Trails app and when I saw it being compared to Disneyland, I wanted out. A colleague told me about another overlook called Observation Point that wasn't as risky of a hike but actually looked down on Angel's Landing. Many could argue that it probably has the better view of the two hikes. In a way it felt like a shortcut, a secret path in a video game that helped me skip a few levels ahead. I almost did it, but I'm so glad I didn't.
After climbing the narrow path to the summit, using the chains to keep from falling, I realized at the peak that the view was a bit anticlimactic but that was okay, because it wasn't really about the view. It was about the journey up. Angel's Landing is a truly unique and challenging hike, and I loved it. Thanks to the new permitting system implemented on April 1, 2022 the crowds were not as bad as I had read. Although in the Reviewers' defense, Zion in general was definitely more of an amusement park then a national park. You couldn't just drive around, you had to take a shuttle with a bunch of other people and choose one of the 8 stops available. If you're looking for that feeling of blazing a new trail, this would not be the national park for you. On the other hand, every hiking adventure doesn't have to be the same. I just had to shift my expectations and learn to enjoy Zion for what it was. When I finished my remote hikes in Arches, for example, there wasn't a brew pub waiting for me at the exit or a hot tub just a 5 minute walk away. Disneyland is not the place to go for some solitude, but it has its perks.
In life we will never be able to control the destination. Never. We may set out with a big dream but when we get there we have no idea if it will be as good as it is in our heads. More often than not, it probably won't be. We can't control the view at the top, but we can learn to enjoy every step along the way. We can stop and take pictures, looking around and taking it all in. We can reset our expectations and enjoy each unique moment for the good that it can bring. We can look at the flowers growing out of the rock and talk to the strangers that are walking next to us. The joy of the journey isn't something that just happens, it's something you create by looking for it. So keep going forward. Keep going after what you want, just don't forget to enjoy where you are right now.
