Fodor's Expert Review Angels Landing Trail

As much a trial as a trail, this serpentine path beneath The Great White Throne, which you access from the Lower West Rim Trail, is one of the park's most challenging and genuinely thrilling hikes. It had also been on the verge of becoming a victim of its own popularity, suffering badly from overcrowding, until the park service instituted a permit system in 2022, which has greatly reduced the number of hikers at any given time and vastly improved the experience. You now must apply online at  www.recreation.gov (both seasonal and day-before lotteries are held, and the cost is $6) for the chance to hike the famed final section beyond Scout Lookout. Once you've ascended from the Lower West Rim Trail, you'll encounter Walter's Wiggles, an arduous (but not at all scary) series of 21 switchbacks built out of sandstone blocks that leads up to Scout Lookout. From here, assuming you've secured a permit, you'll continue along a narrow, steadily rising ridge with sheer cliffs that drop some 1,400 feet on either side. Chains bolted into the rock face serve as handrails in the steepest places. In spite of its hair-raising nature, and taking into consideration that 14 people have fallen to their deaths on this hike since 2000, the climb doesn't require technical skills and is quite safe as long as you step deliberately and use the handrail chains. Still, children and those uneasy about heights should not attempt this hike. Allow 2½ hours round-trip to hike to Scout Lookout (2 miles), which is itself an impressive viewpoint, and four to five hours if you continue to where the angels (and birds of prey) play. The total hike is about 4.5 miles round-trip from the Grotto shuttle stop. Difficult.