A 1929 account of hiking across the Grand Canyon

                           The east end of today's Tonto Trail. It was the main trail in 1929.

By Lynn Arave

THE Parowan Times of Sept. 11, 1929 contained an account of three young ladies who hiked rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon that summer.
The account is from Blanche Decker of Parowan under the headline of: "Parowan girl writes of hike across the Grand Canyon."
The three girls left the North Rim and hiked down to Cottonwood and then a side trip to Ribbon Falls. She said "Alter" was another name for Ribbon Falls.
"A clear silver stream shoots out of the hillside and falls in sprays and ribbons upon a massive alter formed of solid gray rock and covered with corrugated moss," she wrote.
She then noted she lost the sole of her shoe and had to get by many miles to Phantom Ranch. The girls apparently had to walk in the Bright Angel Creek stream, as there was no trail for part of the way.
"Through jungles and cougar lairs, over plateaus and through box canyons we walked, until suddenly, as an apparition appears, we beheld a clean green and white ranch house, reposing in a grove of aspens. It was 'Phantom Ranch' and we welcomed it for we were tired," Decker wrote.
The girls spent the night in a white cabin and didn't not sleep well, as there was stifling hear overnight. A Southern Cowboy there, "Bud," repaired her shoe.
They left in the early morning, rising at 5 a.m. They crossed the suspension bridge across the Colorado River.

                         Part way across the Tonto Trail, a desert experience.

"Crossing the Tonto Trail was the most difficult part of our entire hike," she wrote. "It is a barren plateau; the trail is rocky and the heat is stifling that we fell upon the sand exhausted and gasping for breath. It was like trying to breath in a fiery furnace. Once we became so thirsty that we drank water from a stagnant pool and off the backs of wiggling tadpoles, and we were grateful for that," Decker wrote.
Finally, they saw a sign that stated Indian Gardens was six miles. (This leads one to believe that the trail back then was just the bottom part of the North Kaibab and after reaching the Tonto Plateau, it jutted west, over the the Bright Angel Trail, whereas today the Bright Angel  is built to the river bottom.)

                                                     Indian Gardens.


The girls spent the night at Indian Garden. They took a bath in the creek there, slept a while and then were called to dinner. There were buildings at Indian Garden then and the girls helped with dishes; played with some tame antelope nearby and ate apples from a tree, watching the sunset.
They were woken at 3 a.m., given breakfast and hit the trail.

"The trail was very steep. In some places it rose almost straight up. While he truly enjoyed the climb (being rested now) we were glad when, as we drew near the top we heard the blast of an engine whistle and the chugging and puffing of the train as it approached El Tovar," she wrote.
 People on the South Rim were very curious about their hike.
"Sometimes were felt victims of newspaper scandal but it was fun at that," Decker wrote.
The girls got an airplane right across the Grand Canyon to the north and landed at an airport ("Fredonia"?) and got a bus ride back through the Kaibab Forest to the North Rim Lodge.
"Men even lost money over our adventure," she wrote. "They gambled on us and got surprised. Of course, people exaggerate the difficulty of the hike you know ... I am quite happy now that I have seen Grand Canyon from every angle and I know it's Grand," she concluded.

                       Half way up the Bright Angel Trail from Indian Gardens.

The first climbs up the massive and towering Mount Nebo

       This photo clearly shows the triple peaks on Mount Nebo, from south to north.
                                                                  Photos by Ray Boren.

By Lynn Arave

MOUNT NEBO is the tallest Wasatch Mountain Peak, higher than the more famous Timpanogos Peak.
Actually a triple peak, with the north one being 11, 928 feet sea level and the most-often accessed "South Peak" sitting at 11, 877 feet.
According to the Garfield County News of Sept. 4, 1936, William W. Phelps, a Mormon Pioneer songwriter and editor, was the first known person to climb Mount Nebo, back on Aug. 24, 1849, about 25 months after the first Mormon Pioneers arrived in the area.
Phelps scaled the peak for scientific observations.
It is not clear which of the three Nebo Peaks that Phelps climbed, nor which route he used to access the summit.
"Rearing its majestic peak 12,000 feet above sea level, towering Mount Nebo commands the entire scenic panorama of Juab and adjoining Sanpete Counties," the Garfield Newspaper stated. "The towering grandeur of this massive peak represents one of Utah's greatest scenic assets."
In the summer of 1933, a CCC Camp was located in the area of Mount Nebo and that crew began construction on the scenic loop road that goes around the peak.
Mount Nebo is named for the Biblical Peak of the same name, in the Moab area, tallest one, near where Moses "died" (though he was translated and taken to heaven in Mormon belief).

             Ravell Call on the South Nebo Summit. A "knife edge" leads to the other two peaks.


-The Deseret News of Aug. 3, 1887 records one of the other early climbs up Mount Nebo. Here a party of 7 men left Mona on July 22 that year, on horseback and rode up a narrow path in Willow Creek, or Mona Canyon.
This party camped the night part-way up and good thing, because they noticed it was much further to the summit than they initially believed. Their account "precipitous ledges" and a "cold wind" over snowbanks, amidst the "witches' rocks" and "fields of broken, shifting slate."
The second day, on the summit, a government surveyor, William Elmbeck, was there and they used his large telescope to survey the vast area below in all directions. Elmbeck estimated the elevation to be 11, 943 feet and that one of the other peaks was some 30 feet taller. (This suggests they climbed the South Peak.)
"Altogether, Mount Nebo is not difficult of ascent, but it is not safe to those unaccustomed to the saddle, and far to rough and hazardous for ladies. Our train of seven horsemen made a pretty sight along a steep serpentine, down which some of the Nephi horsemen occasionally rode at break-neck speed," the article concluded.
-That 1887 hiking group was oblivious to the fact that a young lady, a "Miss Bardwell," had successfully climbed Mount Nebo in the summer of 1881, according to the Salt Lake Tribune of Aug. 18, 1881. The Tribune referred to her climb as "a great feat" -- and she may have done it alone!
-The Deseret News of June 18, 1898 reported a climb of Mount Nebo North Peak by a Salt Lake City Sunday School teacher, E.G. Rognon, and five male class members. They erected an 8--foot-tall wooden pole on the peak. They thought this was significant, since government surveyors then believed incorrectly that peak was 11, 992 feet above sea level and their stunt made it an even 12,000. The group also put their names in a tin can and left it on the summit.
-The heyday of Mount Nebo came soon after.
Indeed, "Aloft on Mount Nebo; Utah Peak has beauty of Alps; Grandeur in view" was a March 1, 1920 headline in the Salt Lake Herald Newspaper.
By then a "safe trail" to the summit had been made from Salt Creek, also today's most-used path. This path was constructed in 1919 and some 82 people climbed to its summit on Aug. 6, 1919, the start of an annual mass group pilgrimage to Mount Nebo. an estimated 3,000 people in the summer of 1919 enjoyed camping on the backside of Mount Nebo in the Salt Creek area.
-The Manti Messenger Newspaper of July 31, 1925 reported that the Kiwanis Club of Nephi was a sponsor of an annual hike up Mount Nebo. It was held Aug, 5 that year, under a full moon, so that hikers could enjoy the sunrise at the summit.
That Salt Creek trail to Mount Nebo was referred to as the "trail of a thousand turns." The story also referred to Nebo as a "solitary sentinel of the southern Wasatch."
By 1927, the annual hike was still held on the night of a full moon, Aug. 12, that year, complete with a bonfire and full festival at thje Salt Creek camping area. The only concerns reported were for proper sanitation and fire hazards.

                            Another view of the Mount Nebo summits.

-An annual hike up Mount Nebo probably continued for some years after. It likely died out for the same reasons that doomed the much more popular annual summer hike up Mount Timpanogos -- too many people on the mountain at once for proper safety and conservation. 

-Here's what myself and Ray Boren wrote about Mount Nebo back on Sept. 11, 1994 in the Deseret News:

Atop the rocky crag that is Utah's South Nebo Peak a metal box nestles in a clutch of anchoring stones. Lee Taylor and his 14-year-old son Brandon, who live in Mona, visible in the valley far below, put the container there last June, along with the notebook and pens inside. They just thought it would be a good idea.

"I can't believe we made it! This was our first hike. We're dead," wrote one unidentified hiker. "A helicopter picks us up now, right?""Whew! They need a Coke machine up here," scribbled another.

Since the box and notebook were placed there three months ago, dozens of proud hikers have signed their names. Some have offered commentary anonymously, and a few have even taken a shot at pen-and-ink art.

Other peaks along the Wasatch range may be more legendary (Mount Timpanogos), more classically elegant (Mount Olympus) and simply more imposing because they loom so dramatically over metropolitan and suburban enclaves (Ben Lomond, Lone Peak). But Nebo - the Wasatch's "final exclamation point in stone," as a writer aptly put it a half-century ago - is actually the highest of them all, at 11,928 feet above sea level.

Even so, many who may have thought they trudged to Nebo's uppermost pinnacle didn't. The main trail winds its way up South Nebo, the southernmost of three peaks, which tops out at 11,877 feet and earns a notation on the official state highway map. But North Nebo is 51 feet higher.

The highest Nebo was "discovered" in the late '70s when new measurements were made by the Utah Geological and Mineral Survey. A proposal was made to christen this previously unnamed northern high point "Mona Peak," in honor of the community at the foot of the mountain's western alluvial fan. However, the Utah Committee on Geographic Names decided the entire mountain had been known for too long as just Nebo, and so North, Middle and South Nebo peaks are the specific references now found on any up-to-date map or hiking book.

The skyscraping muddle doesn't end there, either. North Nebo Peak shouldn't be confused with North Peak, a "mere" 11,174 feet above sea level and just over a mile farther to the north.

Since the principal trail ends at South Nebo, most hikers stop there too - with good reason. After a steep and eventually air-deprived climb to the south peak, it's an additional 11/2-mile scramble, most of it along a precarious knife-edge of rocks, to the higher pinnacle. Those who attempt this adventure get to visit Middle Nebo Peak, too, at 11,824 feet above sea level.

Nebo, like many a Utah village and eminence, is a Biblical namesake. Mentioned in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 34:1), the original Mount Nebo was the peak from which Moses saw the promised land before he left this mortal coil.

The first Nebo is a part of the Pisgah Mountains, east of the north end of the Dead Sea. It is the second-highest peak in the Dead Sea area - 2,631 feet above sea level - behind Mount Shihan at 3,494 feet. However, because the Dead Sea is 1,312 feet below sea level, the Middle Eastern Nebo's climb is more like 3,943 feet, which would be just over half the Utah Nebo's vertical rise.

Perhaps the first Mormon settlers who caught sight of the peak in the late 1840s thought it had a great prospect of their promised land, and so they named it after a prominent scriptural landmark.

In fact, with all the Biblical-named communities in the Nebo area - Jericho, Ephraim, Goshen and Abraham among them - settlers obviously enjoyed using titles from scripture. Book of Mormon names were also popular in the area, from Deseret and Lehi to Manti and Moroni.

But the mountain Nebo is most often linked to is its sibling - sometimes called its twin - to the north, Timpanogos. Both rise spectacularly from the valleys below, both approach 12,000 feet high (Timp is 11,750 feet above sea level, 178 feet fewer than Nebo) and both are in Utah County - although the three Nebo peaks actually straddle the Utah/Juab county line.

As a hiking destination, though, Timp has always been more popular than Nebo, undoubtedly in part because of its proximity to the Provo area and Brigham Young University. The great mountain's waterfalls, hanging valleys and small lakes add to its scenic lure. Nebo offers intermittent groves of aspen and pine, and outstanding views in almost every direction once hikers reach its long ridge, but doesn't have quite the wealth of enticements Timpanogos has.

That doesn't mean adventurers haven't considered Nebo a challenging rival. In 1930 there was an effort to make its peaks as popular a destination as Timp's top. That was the year of the first of the fabled BYU-sponsored mass hikes up Timp - and an attempt was made to also begin an annual trek to the top of Nebo that year.

On July 4, 1930, Harrison R. Merrill, a Deseret News reporter, went along with 33 BYU students and faculty members on a Nebo hike, then a nine-mile trek to Nebo's southern summit.

Merrill noted how much drier the terrain was along the Nebo route compared to Timp's water-blessed trails. That is, until a big rainstorm hit and drenched the hikers. The group also reported seeing elk.

Twenty-seven hikers reached the summit, and Merrill described his feelings while on top:

"Eleven-thousand feet above sea level, like specks along the ridge pole of the world, we sat down and feasted," he wrote. "While our eyes gorged, we ate our lunches beside a little fire that sent its pinion pine smoke toward heaven. It was a huge altar. . . .

"Cold, austere, a triple pyramid of limestone, Mount Nebo rises under the central Utah sky, the final exclamation point in stone of the Wasatch Mountains."

His description rings true to this day.

Zion Narrows: The first ever treks through the Upper Virgin River

                       The early portion of the Zion Narrows, south end.
                                                                           Photo by Liz Arave Hafen

By Lynn Arave
THE ZION NARROWS are undoubtedly one of the premier hikes in all of Utah. Unique, stupendous, awe-inspiring are all among the words used to describe them.

But were the first to hike the "Narrows"?

The Native Americans generally avoided the upper portion of Zion Canyon, it being too dark and narrow -- an almost a devilish like of place to them.
 Geologist Grove Karl Gilbert was the first man known to traverse the Zion Narrows back in 1872, as part of a government survey expedition led by Major John Wesley Powell. Gilbert actually made the trip on horseback and it is believed that he first used the term "The Narrows."
The Virgin River name itself, which created the Narrows, has an uncertain origin. Virgin itself is likely of Spanish origin, in honor of the Virgin Mary. However, some records claim Thomas Virgin, an 1820s explorer/mountain man, is where the name came from.
The River also had 3 other names in the 19th Century or before: 1. Jedediah Smith had named it the Adams River, in honor of U.S. President John Adams; and 2. Powell had named it the River's two forks the Parunuweap and the Mukuntuweap, for Native American credit. Neither of those name stuck; and 3 The early Spainards called it El Rio de Sulfuereo after some nearby hot sulphur springs.
After Gilbert's horseback ride, the Zion Narrows had no known explorers, likely because nearby settlers were tired of the Virgin River periodically flooding its banks and hiking recreation was still something few had time for, amidst as harsh western lifestyle.

                             Liz Arave Hafen navigates high water in the Narrows.


-William H. Flanigan, a Cedar City resident, became a popular explorer of Southern Utah. He first hiked the Narrows in June of 1900, at age 23, going the entire length from northeast to Springdale in a single day.
(Later, he and a brother Dave, became well known for establishing the cable on Cable Mountain in Zion.)
Horseback trips through the Narrows were fairly common over the decades, but were officially banned there in the 1960s.
Flanigan told the Iron County Register newspaper on Aug. 29, 1913 about the Narrows.
He then recommended travel by foot.
"The entire distance would be through a stream of water from a few inches to two or three feet in depth, in a few places. At some points the canyon partakes of the nature of a tunnel, owing to its winding course and the overhanging ledges above.At no point is the canyon more than 100 yards in width and in many places it is little more than a crevice in the solid rock," the newspaper report stated.
Walls of rock up to 3,000-feet heavenward and a narrow canyon 12 miles in length were its dimensions.

-By 1909, the area was a National Monument and then became Zion National Park in 1919 and visitors were flocking there.
"Upper Zion has greatest thrill, Declares party" was an Aug. 24, 1925 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram Newspaper.
Thirteen men spent two days exploring the Zion Narrows.
"Never could one see more than a few hundred yards ahead," their report stated.
"The most notable discovery of the trip was the comparative ease as which the course can be presently traveled. Excepting for log jams, which might be easily dispensed with, the journey could be made on horseback," the report said.
"Those making the trip declare that Upper Zion Canyon holds thrills for the tourist not dreamed of ..."

                                        The end of the Gateway to the Narrows Trail.


-The next big development on the Zion Narrows was the opening of a formal "Gateway to the Narrows" trail in August of 1929.
According to the Iron County Record Newspaper of Aug. 21, 1929, the trail was five-feet wide and covered with tar and pea gravel.
"It eliminates the old narrow sand path and does away with the great many sharp pitches and hard climbs, enabling the tourists more easily to go to the upper reaches of the canyon," the story stated.

-Another big item of note was the organization of a "Zion Narrows Club" in 1941. The Iron County Record of Sept. 25, 1941 stated that it was William Flanigan himself who was named "Chief Scout" of this group of 20 men in the Club. The new group was going to plan a big hike through the Narrows in the summer of 1942, though the outbreak of World War II might have impacted that desire.

-What apparently no one calculated was the tremendous flood danger that hiking the Zion Narrows presented. It could storm dozens of miles away and out of sight of Zion Park and still flood the narrow canyon. Sheer luck seemed to prevent such a tragedy for decades, that is until September of 1961 when 4 Murray Boy Scouts were killed in a flashflood there.
Two of the boys' bodies were never found. After that, the Park Service began to take extra precautions about flashflood warnings.

-The next development came in the September of 1965 when a prominent side canyon of the Zion Narrows, Orderville Gulch was first hiked. Three Leigh brothers – Ralph, Edwin and Douglas made what might be the first hike through that narrow canyon into the Zion Narrows. They had to lower themselves over six waterfalls.

(Note: The content above was published in the Sept. 16, 2016 Deseret News.)

-Another milestone in the Narrows was completed in 1974 when Otto Fife, then 74, of Cedar City, completed his 50th trip through the Zion Narrows. He had made his first trek in 1925 at age 25.
Some of Fife's experiences included:
1. Giving a bored Scout a stick and telling him to make a notch in it every time they had to cross the river. The boy ended up making 252 notches in a trek along the entire length of the Narrows.
2. In the summer of 1965, Fife was detained two days on high ground in the Narrows because of high water and flashfloods.
3. In 1967, he saw an ill 60-year-old woman have to helicoptered out of the Narrows.

-I've hiked the Narrows 3 times and believe strongly that the BEST/MOST SCENIC places are in between the end of The Gateway to the Narrows paved trail and Big Springs. Thus a half-way hike offers a very optimal experience in the Narrows.
Also, if a special catwalk, a metal bridge could be added just another 100 yards around the corner and north of where the Gateway to the Narrows trail ends, many visitors could see a sampling of what the Narrows is really all about, as the current trail ends before you really see much of note.

                             A rocky, but dry portion of the Narrows "Path."
                                                        Photo by Liz Arave Hafen.

-Here's what I wrote in the Deseret News of Sept. 17, 1992 after my first trek through the Narrows:


Perhaps the best hike in the Narrows is actually from the bottom. A four to five hour leisurely hike from the Gateway to the Narrows parking lot can reach Big Springs (six miles away). Doubling back is not boring, but is an endurance test. How far you actually walk depend on your exact route and how much criss-crossing you do.

A three-mile stretch of the Narrows just below the springs and just above Orderville Canyon is called "Wall Street." It's the narrowest of the Narrows. Exploring Orderville Canyon, another narrow chasm about 21/2 miles up on the east, is also exciting.

According to Denny Davies, public information officer for Zion, more people do short hikes from the bottom than long hikes from the top.

No permits are needed for hiking from the bottom of the Narrows, but hikers should be cautious not to travel further up than they have time, daylight or stamina for. Parking is very limited at the Gateway to the Narrows and by noon on weekends, the lot may be full - even after Labor Day.

Many hikers do hike the entire length of the Narrows, starting at the trail register near Chamberlain's Ranch and making the trip a two-day backpacking trek or by rushing in one day to make the trip before dark. However, many have discovered this endurance test diminishes the enjoyment of the trip because by the time the narrowest of the narrows are reached more than eight miles down the line, sore legs, heavy packs and fatigue make it an "I just want to finish this" experience.

To hike the entire Narrows, two cars are also needed, unless the shuttle service from Zion Lodge is used.

Davies also said for the first time ever, limits went into effect earlier this year allowing only 80 hikers a day from the top down because of overuse and like most Zion hikes, no groups larger than 12 persons may use the trail.

"One problem with the Narrows is that its been loved to death," Davies said.

There are 12 different campsites available in the Narrows above Big Springs and like the 80 free permits, these are also available on a first-come, first-serve basis beginning at 5 p.m. the previous day at the visitor's center. (Hikers can start lining up for the permits at 4:30 p.m.) No camping is permitted below Big Springs.

There is no maintained Narrows trail - it's just wading in the water, at least 65 percent of the time and only persons 48 inches or taller should hike there. (There are no definite age restrictions, but age 14 is a suggested minimum age.)

Davies said the average speed through the Narrows is only one mile per hour, so allowances must be made for how much daylight is available. Hiking through the Narrows with a flashlight is very difficult and without one, travel is impossible. Hiking downstream is not much faster than going upstream either.

Flash floods have always been the biggest danger in the Narrows. In September of 1961, five people died after being caught in a portion of the Narrows with no high ground. On Sept. 5, 1965, 45 hikers were stranded in the Narrows when a sudden storm sent a 10-foot wall of water down the gorge at 5 a.m.

Since those incidents, the weather at Zion is carefully monitored and all Narrows' hikers should check with a ranger for weather reports. The Narrows flood danger is regularly rated by four categories: low, moderate, high and extreme. Narrows travel is not recommended in "high" conditions and is closed in "extreme" periods. Weather reports are available in late afternoon for the following day.

From August to mid-September of this year, the Narrows has been closed eight to 10 times for stormy weather, according to Davies.

(Traditionally, late June, early July and late September are the ideal times for Narrows hiking. After October, wet suits are needed. Temperature, wind and water flow conditions can combine to close the Narrows at any time.)

Despite the occurrence of sudden September storms, dry weather this month has made it ideal for hiking the Narrows. Except for some deep holes that can be avoided, the highest water level is currently only about 32 inches. Still, knowing how to swim is a comforting skill all Narrows hikers would be wise to have.

Walking sticks can aid Narrows hikers with their balance and they can also probe for deep river holes.

Davies suggests a careful selection of footwear for Narrows hiking. Comfort and traction are big concerns and Davies said leather shoes are the worst choice and nylon the best.

Some unprepared people try to hike the Narrows barefooted, while others have found heavy-duty thongs work surprisingly well. An extra set of dry clothes, including shoes is suggested. To protect cameras, plastic bags or waterproof cases are recommended.

Even though the rest of Zion Park may bask is 90-plus degree temperatures this time of year, the Narrows, are almost always in the shade and temperatures are 20-30 degrees lower. The river water temperature never exceeds 65 degrees and was 55-58 degrees on Sept. 12. This makes hypothermia another hazard.

Davies said extreme caution should exercised in the Narrows because there's only one spot where even a top-notch helicopter pilot can land. Otherwise, stretchers are the only form of rescue. For example, a 250-pound woman who underestimated the stamina required for the hike was taken out by stretcher last month.

Litter is another common Narrows problem. Rangers collect and carry out more than 15 pounds of trash every time they patrol the length of the hike. Davies stressed hikers should ideally be 100 feet from the water and dig a six-inch hole to use the bathroom in the Narrows. Used toilet paper should also be carried out.


The Sept. 2 Southern Utah earthquake closed the Narrows for about a day while rangers checked the gorge, but only small rockfalls were found.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

The first recorded climb of Angels Landing in Zion National Park?

                Just past Scout Lookout, this shows the final climb to Angels Landing.

By Lynn Arave

ANGELS Landing is defined by Zion National Park as one of its strenuous hikes. It is 5.4 miles roundtrip and climbs a total of 1,488 feet. "Not for young children," according to the National Park Service, the final mile of the hike is dominated by sheer vertical cliffs and dropoffs. This trail is not for the faint of heart, or for those fearful of heights.
In fact, metal chains were added decades ago for additional safety as something solid hikers can hold on to. Many steps have also been cut into the rocks.

                    Roger Arave shows some of the early on cables to hold on to.

The Washington County News newspaper of Dec, 25, 1924 contains what may be the first recorded climb up Angels Landing. Not that others before hadn't climbed it -- this was possibly the first one publicly recorded -- and, of course -- happened BEFORE there were any chains to grab on to, or prior to any safety improvements.
This newspaper story reports that Park Ranger Harold Russell is believed to have been the first to stand on the Angels Landing summit in 1923. Russell was also a guide, along with David Dennett on this climb reported in the St. George, Utah  newspaper.

                                  A section of Refrigerator Canyon.


The climb up and through Refrigerator Canyon were not described as anything harsh. Pretty much only a 15 degree lower temperature than the surrounding area was reported in the narrow canyon by the hiking group. Today much of the lower Angels Landing trail is paved, but back then white sand dominated much of it. 
There were also no Walter's Wiggle switchbacks, located above Refrigerator Canyon in 1924 either -- they had not been built yet.
Some of the hiking party dangled from ropes in thin air to reach the summit of Angels Landing.
Frederick Vining Fisher, an Ogden resident and former pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Ogden, named Angels Landing and two other Zion Canyon landmarks during a visit there in 1916.

                                 The summit of Angels Landing.

-Here's the St. George newspaper report by R.B. Gray on the climb past Scout Lookout to Angels Landing. (It was originally published in Union Pacific Magazine.)
All photographs are by Liz Arave Hafen. Highlights are in bold type:
(Note the archive copy is difficult to read and it has been transcribed as accurately as possible. If you try to read this on your own at a digital newspaper site, it will be garbled and the left margin often cut off ) ...

                             Going down the Angels Landing upper trail.

"The crest of the ridge, as it lay before us, first descended to a rugged point, then swept up in a great craggy ... curve to the haunt of the Angels; the summit, in fact, appeared lofty and inaccessible that the legend of the angels seemed wholly credible and some of us timidly deliberated the possibilities of joining their ranks. It is relatively easy going down to the gap; beyond that point the ridge narrowed from ten feet to ten inches.

                                     Steep and rocky path.


"It became dizzily steep, and occasionally presented little cliffs of thirty or forty feet that required slow and careful progression by means of ten fingers, and prayerful exclamations, assisted by the abdominal muscles. All of the arts of crawling .... were imitated. But there were places too steep for all but experts in rock work. A helping hand would clutch an inch thick ledge, put a bit of weight on it and find the friable sandstone as soft as a pie crust; A flat slab grasped ... had an exasperating habit of falling down on one's head. "There were five hazardous stretches which the guides and several experienced climbers of the mountain scaled unassisted; but the remainder of the party required the aid of ropes let down by these pioneers anchored to their bodies. At some interesting spots the climber dangled over some 1,6000 feet of pure mountain air and all of them seemed not displeased when their feet rested again in level rock.

                                            Dizzy heights.

                                          Sheer cliffs and narrow trail.

"The apex of the monolith broadens out to a sloping platform of some twenty feet at its widest and one hundred feet long, capped by a pogoda-like cone. There a cairn of stones was erected, a scroll of names placed therein, and to its top was fastened the skull of a steer brought from the Tinted Desert north of the Kaibab Forest.
 "Angels Landing projects far into Zion Canyon and tho panoramas from its peak are of the highest grandeur, immediately below us was the Great Organ; opposite in the east, tho stupendous mass of The Great White Throne, soaring 1,200 feet higher.
"Northward we looked into the dizzy walled red amphitheatre called the Temple of Sinawava and beyond to the Narrows where the ethereal white cone of the Mountain of Mystery rises above the gory precipices. Behind us loomed the majestic, reposeful white cliffs of the upper rim.
"Southward, the vision included the entire sweep of the east wall Red Arch Mountain, the Mountain-of-the Sun and the Twin Brothers, glowing in the sun.
"Such visits are part of the enduring enchantment of Zion; its magnificent, sculptured masses, displaying all the tones of red from peach blossom pink to the deepest carmine known to lipsticks, and onward through Indian lake and maroon to reds that the shadows turn black; its atmospheric moods of bulk and color; its infinite variety; its unlimited opportunities for pioneer exploration with the reward of matchless vistas of scenes never beheld before by civilized man. 

                    The spectacular view southward from the Angels Landing summit.

"Those of the artistic temperament who seek scenic effects not to be had elsewhere on earth will find Zion satisfactory. It is said that a safe trail may be made at small cost to the spot where the angels land and this will probably be done by next season. The splendid vermillion butte will then become a favored observation point for Zion's increasing throng of visitors." -Originally from Union Pacific Magazine.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

Waterfall Canyon: Ogden's "Stream of sparkling Diamonds'

              Hikers at the base of Waterfall Canyon's falls, probably in the late 19th Century.

By Lynn Arave

ONE of the hiking gems  of Weber County is Waterfall Canyon.
Located approximately east of Ogden's 32nd Street, or above Mount Ogden Park, this 100-foot falls is a treasure of nature.
But, when did it first become popular and why?
Possibly the canyon's first recorded reference in the Ogden Standard-Examiner was a casual mention on Jan. 7, 1882.
The newspaper on March 9, 1885 referred to it as "a wild scene of beauty" and noted that the "Adams Brothers" took photographs of the falls in the spring of 1884 and raised "some excitement" about it by showing them around the area.
It was in the Standard-Examiner on May 28, 1887 that a reporter, referred to as "Kennox," described it as a "stream of sparkling diamonds ... misty rainbows. Something to transport the artist's soul ... the most magnificent cataract in Utah."
The writer, who had also visited Yosemite, claimed that it even rivaled Yosemite's famed Bridal Veil Falls, which had "no greater beauty than this."
Having lived in Ogden for five years, the writer said it had taken that long for him to have finally noticed the falls -- for the first time ever -- from a distance. So, he asked others about it and found that only about one in five residents knew anything about and that only one in ten locals had ever visited it.
Another article referred to it as "scenery unequaled by any other place in the country."
Hiking to the falls in the 19th Century was simply not as easy as it is today.
Some of the newspaper articles mentioned big ferns growing at the mouth of Waterfall Canyon, obscuring access.
Another stated "the journey is a difficult one, true."
In fact, in the 1880s, the only apparent access into Waterfall Canyon was from part way along the ridge between it and Strong's Canyon to the south.
"The place is well worth a visit," a report in the Standard from June 10, 1884 said. "But do not try to go up there before breakfast, nor with the idea that it is a palace car trip."
"Waterfall Canyon is impassible absolutely," the Standard-Examiner reported in 1887. "The densest, most tangled mass of thorny shrubs that ever I encountered filling up the entire ravine" was a description of the mouth of the canyon.
So, hiking a mile up thie ridge between canyons and then "carefully climbing into the amphitheater of beauty" was the best access originally.
It is likely that its later popularity and some waterline piping is what improved access and made the mouth of canyon accessible.
Also, the opening of the "Malan Heights" hotel in 1894 inside Malan's Basin (where the Waterfall Canyon stream descends from), also opened up a popular eastern access to the falls.
It wasn't long and Waterfall Canyon was a magnet -- especially for young people.
"A large party of Ogden society's young people will make the trip to the famous waterfall in Waterfall Canyon today," A Standard report from July 17, 1892 stated. "They will be provided with lunch baskets, kodaks, tourist glasses and rattle-snake antidotes and expect to have a fine time."
On Aug. 12, 1911, a group of 13 young adults had a bonfire at the base of the falls and included music and story-telling.
There were also some tragedies in the canyon.
On Aug. 6, 1883, some boys found a strange metal capsule inside the canyon. It turned out to be an explosive device and went off when one of the boys shook it. His hands were mutilated and he lost two fingers. The other boys suffered face and head wounds.
David Melvin, 16, fell 30 feet off a cliff in the canyon in April of 1895. He somehow was only bruised.
In January of 1912, a young boy wounded himself with his .22 rifle inside Waterfall Canyon.
A cloudburst on Aug. 17, 1923 sent mud and water from Waterfall Canyon as far west as Taylor Avenue. The torrent uprooted trees, moved five-ton boulders and destroyed a 14-inch pipeline in its path.
A large fire on Oct. 11, 1926 inside Waterfall Canyon scorched or burned most of its trees and greenery. The steep rock walls around the canyon apparently kept it from spreading elsewhere.
"Climber rescued after 23 hours on death perch" was an Aug. 3, 1925 newspaper headline. Louis Buswell, 28, became stranded on the cliffs near the waterfall and rescuers needed 300 feet of rope to haul him off a cliff face.
Of course, the most shocking and infamous tragedy of all in Waterfall Canyon happened much more recently. "Plunge Kills 3 Ogden Children On Hike in Waterfall Canyon, Bodies Found at Cliff Base At Climax of Tragic Hunt," was the Standard-Examiner headline.
The Youngsters, each from separate families of local medical doctors, and all neighbors, were killed in what was believed to have been a fall of at least 200 feet on Dec. 26, 1962. Bonnie Ross, 9; Shauna Southwick, 8, and Mark Way, 7, were all killed.


(-0riginally published by Lynn Arave in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on April 4, 2014.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net