Zion

So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.

It’s truly hard to understand how places like this exist, if not for the divine. The things the earth has done to itself with time, rock, wind, and rain, you wouldn’t believe unless you were standing there, chest deep in a river, staring up at sheer rock walls so high above you they block out the mid day sun.

But it was real, and I was in it – three miles up the Narrows hike, holding my backpack above my head. It was monsoon season, and while the Narrows was open, the rangers seemed a little hesitant about suggesting it. The water level was up, flowing fast, and if a flash flood came through, there was truly nowhere to hide. Because the Narrows Hike isn’t really a hike, insofar as there are trails and markers. No, it’s just a river. A river you walk into, and then up.

And it was one of the best hikes I’ve ever done.

It was an adventure, a hike that wasn’t just walking but climbing and fording and even a little swimming. And the entire time, the rock walls loomed over you. You felt so small. And yet, it all felt intimate.

All of Zion was like that, somehow. It felt like a small National Park (there’s one main road you take a bus down), and yet when you were standing on the Canyon floor, staring up at the rock mountains surrounding you, nothing has seemed so big.

And Angels Landing? Terrifying. I thought I was going to be snapping photos and videos the entire time. I took like four pictures. The rangers said thirteen people had fallen off the cliff and died since 2000. That number seemed very, very low.

Blessed are they who dwell in your house