Because it is freakin’ hot and it’s a fully exposed walk from the carpark all the way to the viewpoint, with only one small shaded area (a little hut) towards the end.

Joyce and I borrowed the umbrella from our Airbnb host in Page. We did contemplate the idea for a good few minutes and it went something like:

“Hmm do we REALLY need it?”

“It’ll help so much not to be in the direct sunlight.. it’s 43 degrees out there”

“But then it’s mostly just a flat walk how hard can it be”

“But think of how much TORTUROUS it could be! Remember Angel’s Landing??”

“We might look stupid.. who hikes with an umbrella”

“Ok who cares if we look stupid”

In the end we thought it was better just to have it – after all the only thing we had to do was chuck it into our car.

When we arrived at the Horseshoe Bend parking lot, opened the doors and felt the weight of the hot air on our faces, we immediately knew that bringing the umbrella was A GOOD IDEA.

We took turns holding it. Turned out to be quite the arm workout in those temperatures.

Along the way we of course passed loads of other people, fully exposed to the sun and mostly sweating and dying.. looking at us with envy. Oh how they wished they had an umbrella! I can’t say that we didn’t feel just a BIT smug.

Looking back I don’t know how we would’ve survived without our umbrella. It totally saved us from a lot of suffering and allowed us to spend a bit more time dangling our legs over the edge and taking photos. The rocks were super rough, though, and made holes in the skin of our thighs/bums.

We later bumped into a park ranger, who eagerly came over to talk to us and stayed more than a couple of minutes, enjoying our umbrella shade. Haha!

There was a boat going by at one point, and we caught sight of tiny people looking like crawling insects down there.

We LOVED Horseshoe Bend. It was a spectacular view. It somehow reminded me of the Great Valley in one of my favourite childhood animated movies, ‘The Land Before Time‘. Definitely one of the highlights of our Arizona/Utah road trip.

So if you happen to go during the summer season – BRING AN UMBRELLA! You won’t regret it 😉

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