Angels Landing and Scout Lookout

It starts at The Grotto, shuttle stop number six, and climbs the West Rim Trail before branching onto a half-mile spur along a narrow ridge to the summit. Plan on water from the filling stations at The Grotto before you set off.

That final spur is the chains section. Steps are cut into the rock, and chains are anchored at intervals to give you handholds. In places the path is only a few feet wide, with sheer drop-offs of up to 1,000 feet on both sides and room for just one person, so watch every step and be ready to let other hikers pass.

Scout Lookout sits where the West Rim Trail meets the spur, and hikers continuing past it to Angels Landing need a permit from Recreation.gov. The climb to Scout Lookout is still strenuous but far less exposed, which makes it a sensible place to turn around if heights bother you. There are restrooms here as well.

At the top, the ridge widens a little, leaving room to rest, have a snack and look out over Zion Canyon and the Virgin River below. The name dates to 1916, when Methodist minister Frederick Vining Fisher reportedly remarked on his first visit that only an angel could land there.

For an easier outing from the same area, the Grotto Trail is a flat, shaded one-mile round trip between Zion Lodge and The Grotto Picnic Area. Birds, turkeys and deer are often seen along the way, and it links with the Emerald Pools and Kayenta Trails to make a loop.