Zion Traverse

On Wednesday, John and I set out on the Zion Traverse from Lee's Pass at 5:45 am. This was the moment I would forget my car key left in my Dad's trunk, wrapped up in the wad of things I decided I wouldn't need for the day. This wad I figured I would leave in my dad's car until we parted ways at the end of the week. This was the moment I would betray Howie's only wish for his wedding day, "Just get me to the church on time." I had reminded John, as the cliffs of Zion first loomed into view that week, that my dad was the reason for my ruthless impatience. To be fair, there was also the issue of: who the hell knows how to put on corsages or boutineers? Who plans to give themselves more than five minutes for this task? Thank you Dad, for shuttling us for this run.

First light along La Verkin Creek. 

We started smoothly, happy to be starting our adventure two days early due to a change in weather. Today, the weather was perfect. Breezy at the trail head, but cool and calm as we dropped down towards La Verkin Creek.

I told John my goal for the day was to treat this run like a 100 miler. "No matter how much I train, I won't be ready for 100 miles in September. And I'm not very ready for 50 miles now". Spoiler alert: this is not a good mind set to tackle a little 50 miler with. Or maybe it is.

I took my first and only biff of the day thirty minutes into the run, catching myself as per usual by rolling over my water bottle and hyper extending my fingie. It was fine, but uselessly sprained for a solid day. John and I chatted away for a while, but we quickly found a comfortable distance between ourselves. This is normally how we run, and anyway I was tired of his constant crop dustings.

This run is so beautiful. I truly think there were only 5-10 miles that were not completely jaw dropping gorgeous. Between the giant ponderosas, sage flats, oak grooves, and slickrock canyons, it seemed like we were never in the same landscape for more than 5 minutes.

My favorite part by far was dropping into the main Zion valley from West Rim Trail. I wondered if I was dreaming, and even remember thinking, "How could you ever want to take the shuttle back to the hotel at the bottom of this." The trails were so captivating!

The 3000 ft descent was paved and unforgiving but fast. We dropped through the throngs of people heading up to Angel's Landing. Someone called me a Ute? Some other people tried to run behind me. Finally on the valley floor, NOW we had arrived in Disneyland. We had read one of the first ZT write ups, in which Zion is referred to as "Disneyland." Let me clarify that greater Zion is a fantasyland. A verdant sanctuary that has always left me with a clear mind (although once a very stuffy head). The Zion Valley is Disneyland.

I waited in the bathroom line (just like at Disneyland) at the Grotto for a good 10 minutes. I don't know why. I thought toilet paper would be fun. John was tapping his feet, and since I could prolong no longer, we headed the mile up valley to catch the East Rim Trail. Now it was HOT.

Before we left Colorado, I was talking to my friend Hilly about her ZT. She traversed the opposite way from us, though she thought she would reverse if she did it again. Here I am about to say that I would reverse I were to do it again. We had dropped into Zion valley during the hottest and busiest point of the day. Getting that stretch done at mile 10 instead of 39, earlier in the morning, and not climbing out of the valley on tired legs, would beat the uphill finish running east to west. Anyway.

I told John I didn't feel good as we ran up valley along the pavement. My stomach ached for snacks all morning. I had not eaten a big dinner nor much of a breakfast. Snacking hard meant I was also drinking a lot of water. But now that I'd come down from heaven, I was a soup of nausea. I told John I would slog up the climb out of the canyon behind him, but after a half mile, I decided riding the shuttle to the hotel sounded nicer.

I have this problem where I am easily satisfied. I am supposed to run 5 hours? I can be easily satisfied with 3. So here I was, completely satisfied, hot, and nauseous. John was 1000 ft and nearly two miles ahead, waiting for me. I sat down for a half hour, drinking water and trusting he would love the run back down to see what was going on. I began to get stiff and thought I ought to move, so I figured I would just head down and leave John to figure it out. After inching down a couple switchbacks, I decided not communicating would be irresponsible, so I slowly started heading back up.

This beautiful canyon was right around the corner from where I decided to pout. John's photo

Of course, John dropped down. Once he saw me, he made me keep going. Thank god. The run was too beautiful not to finish. And anyway, I was pretending this was 100 miles, right? Good practice in feeling like quitting, but not. We finished the 50 miles in 12 hours on the dot, miraculously still under our 13 hour maximum goal. A pretty good time, considering 10 damn-good-coffee potty breaks/hour getting started, one bladder-to-bottle transfer hourly (because I refuse to drink from a hose), plenty of time to enjoy the views, and one long pout sesh. I should point out John could have finished at least three hours before me if he weren't such a gent.

This is a super convenient trail to get after. You can get water easily basically at mile 10 or 40 no matter which way you are going. Leave a jug of water (I was able to carry all my snacks while shacking hard) ~25 minutes up Kolob Terrace Road, throw the jug away and never (kidding!) come back. This is also my favorite road in the whole wide world I have biked on. Grab water (quickly!!!!) from Disneyland. We used only one spring (of the two or three options) for extra water, though it was also relatively cool for us with a high of 85 F. Hitchhiking to the East entrance is super easy.

A final humongous thanks to people willing to pick up dirty ass hitchhikers. Unbeknownst to everybody, we were leaking oozy gel from a mystery location in the back of their leather clad BMW. I cleaned it as best I could with my sweaty shirt while we went through the dark tunnel.

First sunshine on skin.

Wildcat Canyon, another highlight.

Old snags.

This one about to break.

Until next time, Zion.