So, when I set out to do something, I want to get it done as soon as possible; like checking something off the “bucket list” I guess so I really hate waiting and waiting to do it. I was talking to a friend last year and he said him and his buddies were doing the Zion Traverse in may. I did a quick research and was instantly hooked and started planning for the fall season. Unfortunately there would be trail construction during summer and fall so I had to wait until this year.
Emails were already flowing but no one seemed to be interested in joining me other than Mara. This run is pretty difficult to pull of solo, but luckily Mara just wanted to run the first part with me and come pick me up at the finish. Perfect! I was going to do the traverse with or without anyone, just so blest to have her on another adventure together. The plan was set, another epic running vacation was just about to start …
Hurricane Rim Trail
We left Salt Lake City on thursday after breakfast and a quick stop at Trader Joe’s and headed south toward Hurricane. Our plan was to stop in between along highway 15 to run Fool Creek Peak, but unfortunately our rental car could not make it thru the creeks to get to the trail head. So we ended up unloading our stuff at the hotel in Hurricane and ran the Hurrican Rim trail, which turned out to be a great choice. The entire 12 mile out/back were single track! Nice way to shake out the legs for the following day.
- Distance: 12 miles
- Elevation Gain: 1,572ft
- Running Time: 1:52:04
- Strava: Hurricane Rim Trail
Zion Traverse
We started the traverse on friday just before 6am from the East Rim Trailhead. Got thru the “trail closure” section due to rock slide 🙄 right before reaching the valley. It was still kinna early so there werent much people, but the trails up angels landing was pretty pack though. Mara headed for Angels Landing summit and back to the car while I continued on West Rim Trail for the remainder of the 35 miles. At around mile 24ish, it started to snow as you can see in the video. That went on for about maybe 10 miles at some point my feet and hands were all wet and got pretty numb. Was a bit nervous as I would only see 1 or 2 hikers every hour or so but what can I do other than just keep moving ¯\(ツ)/¯.
I think the snow/rain finally stopped when I got to hop valley with maybe 8 miles to go. The legs were still pretty good at that point but the sand and mud made it pretty difficult to run at a normal pace. The last 6 miles were pretty much rolling and up hill to lee pass trailhead. I tried to push the pace but the last 2 miles were just all up and it was just too much. So I walked the last 100 meters! 😁.
I was so happy to see Mara at the trailhead parking lot because I said it would probably take me around 10.5 hours to finish but we didnt account for breaks I took during the run LOL (pictures/pee/filtering water/looking at the map/talking to hikers).
- Distance: 49.85 miles
- Elevation Gain: 7,923ft
- Running Time: 10:00:15
- Strava: Zion Traverse
Bryce Canyon - Queen’s Garden Loop and Fairyland Loop
Weather called for rain and in the low 30F, but it turned out to be a perfect sunny day and seemed to be high 40F low 50F. We were both recoverying Zion the previous day so the goal was just to take it easy by hike/jog it. Plus Bryce Canyon is way too spectacular to just run it and not enjoy the awesome 360 view. There were actually quite a bit of runners on the course actually, and we were told the Bryce 100mi ultramarathon was going on somewhere in the park as well; not like we would run it or anything! ;)
- Distance: 15 miles
- Elevation Gain: 3,202ft
- Running Time: 3:43:31
- Strava: Bryce Canyon - Queen’s Garden Loop and Fairyland Loop
Mt Olympus
We met up with Jasmine and headed up the mountain. This hike is epic! all single track and super technical. Its not really runnable other than the last 2 miles coming back down. The top was just covered in snow, so we actually did some sliding on the way back. Sooo fun!!!
- Distance: 6.25 miles
- Elevation Gain: 3,251ft
- Running Time: 2:53:36
- Strava: Mt Olympus
