First off, hi everyone.  It has been probably over a year now since I've graced this forum with a post, my last race report from the Dirty German 50k in PA.  It's not because I don't like ya'll or anything, I just had to go away from running and reading about epic running adventures until my IT band felt good again.  And that took WAY TOO LONG.  I had basically given up on running forever; I could climb, I could hike moderately, I could ride my mountain bike, but I just could not run more than 3 miles without pain for what seemed like forever.  I had started and given up on several PT routines that I probably did not keep up long enough to be beneficial and simply resigned myself to enjoying the outdoors in ways other than running.

Long story short, I could not stay away, had a few easy outings that felt good, and then tested for real with a few tentative fast hikes down to the Colorado river and back up to the south Rim of the Grand Canyon.  So I am back to running, every once in a while I get a twinge of tightness on steep downhills but it has so far been fleeting.  A twist of luck with work scheduling left me with three days off and a buddy Josh and I decided to take on the Trans Zion Route as our first foray into "fast packing" after wisely deciding that attempting the near 50 mile route in one push was a little much.

Logistically, the Trans Zion is an annoying route to plan.  Bottom line, get a crew together and take two cars.  We had one, so we booked a shuttle, left our car at the East Rim TH at 5:50 AM only to sit in a van for 3 hours in order to get to our starting point.  Along the way, the van stopped back in Springdale to pick up some canyoneering folks who never showed, took an out an back through long construction delays up the Kolob Terrace road, and finally dropped us at our destination, the Lee Pass TH, with the sun high in the sky just after 9 AM.  We had just barely made it to the visitor center the night before to get a permit for campsite #9 along the west rim trail, smack dab in the middle of the route with a running spring nearby.  When I told the ranger at the visitor center where we were starting and what campsite I wanted, her response was "What are you guys, like uber hikers?"  I guess fast attempts at the Trans Zion are not as popular as we assumed.

So off we went, dropping a 1000 ft in the first 4.5 miles down to La Verkin Creek, following it for a bit and foregoing a dip due to a healthy population of biting flies.  Hit Beatty Spring around mile 7 to load up on water for the long slog to the next definite water source, our campsite at mile 23.5.  With relatively minimal overnight gear, food for 2 days, and nearly a gallon of water, we quickly realized that running with that much weight kinda sucks...bad.  But due to our late start and the forecasted high of 93, I was anxious to keep a relatively quick pace and settled into trying to hold 15 min miles on average.  By breaking into a shuffling run on nearly all the declines, we seemed to be holding steady through the idyllic Hop Valley, and a steady light breeze kept us safely cool through the warming morning.

We reached the Hop Valley trailhead around mile 14, took advantage of the cool pit toilets, chomped down some various bars and gels, and headed out for what appeared to be and indeed was, a ten mile gradual uphill slog to our campsite.  Not much noteworthy in this section, the views were bland, we could hear construction equipment and vehicles on the Kolob Terrace Rd nearby, and there was more deep sandy sections of trail than I care to enjoy.  The Wildcat Canyon trail that carried us up the side of Wildcat to the West Rim trail was clearly an old forest road that had been poorly built, eroded, and since degenerated into single track.  On the plus side, we were mostly hidden from the heat of the day by large ponderosa pine trees and we were making pretty good time.

We found one of the less reliable springs around mile 21 to be flowing nicely enough to douse ourselves, our hats, and buffs.  Revived by the cool water and relaxed by the large amount of daylight left, we hiked at a comfortable, easy pace, drank heavily, and rolled into our campsite around 5 to find Sawmill Springs a small, buggy seep puddle that could barely fit a water bottle low enough in to fill three quarters of the way up.  Took a bit of time filtering water and finding shady spots to set up, ate more various bars, steadily sipped the cool spring water, smoked a spliff and sprawled out to watch the day turn to evening.

Stats for Day 1:  Start time 9:11 AM, 23.6 miles covered, 7:39 elapsed time, 16:16 min/mi average moving pace, 3500 ft gain, 2500 ft loss

The night got cool enough for me to get chilled in my 32 degree bag and sleep was a bit fitful.  Unfortunately, campsite 9 lies on the west side of the plateau upon which the west rim trail resides.  Being maybe 100 feet down in elevation off the ridge meant that we didn't get hit with the warm light of sunrise.  Instead, we started rustling around 7, feeling sluggish in the cold and munching on more trail food for breakfast.  Speaking of which, my Caffe Latte flavored Perpetuem that I was counting on as a coffee replacement and morning nutritional source really sucked.  Tasted like crap, didn't mix well, appeared to curdle a bit, and was all in all unappetizing.  Next time it will be instant iced coffee and protein gainer mix together.

Eager to get warmed up in the sunshine, we shouldered our slightly lighter packs, and willed our legs into action cruising along the West Rim trail towards Zion canyon proper.  We took the shortcut through Telephone Canyon, cutting over a mile off the route with some really runnable downhills, even clocking a sub 10 minute mile and generally cruising towards the steep descent into the Grotto.  Zion NP has taken an interesting but painful approach to trail building and almost all of the 4 mile, 3000 foot descent was rough paved concrete.  Luckily it was wide enough to weave around the hordes of ambitious Angels Landing tourists in a polite yet efficient manner.

We rolled into the Grotto over half way through our mileage before noon and decided to take it easy, took the shuttle one stop down to the Lodge to drink coke and eat exorbinately priced potato chips.  What lay before us was 2500 feet of climbing followed by 8 rolling miles without water to finish the route at the East Rim TH.  Luckily, high cloud cover rolled in keeping temps cool and we kept a strong power hiking pace up Echo Canyon.  The first 1000 feet of the climb was concrete again so we just zoned out and cranked away with the poles, thankful to be rising out of the tourist infestation that is Zion canyon.  Once into the Narrows section of Echo Canyon, the trail became trail again and got seriously steep, rocky, and sandy.  Time spent climbing up from the Colorado river in the Grand Canyon this spring really paid dividends here as we knew this was half the elevation gain and all we had to do was will our capable legs to tackle the task.

Once atop the ridge, we cruised along the forested trail enjoying the views and cursing the frequent sandy sections of trail.  Since the route from the Echo Canyon TH to the end was relatively straightforward and well signed, I had merely glanced at the topo map and failed to realize how long of a drop it was to the finish line.  The winding, 1500 foot descent seemed to drag on and while the legs felt good enough the fatigue of time spent on our feet was growing more mentally than physically.  I was probably also crashing from the sugar rush of a liter of cola burned up on the climb.  A trickle of leisurely day hikers indicated our close proximity to the trailhead and we rolled on the speed despite aching shoulders and finished with a pole clashing sprint to the gate at the trail head.

Day 2 Stats:  Start time 7:32 AM, 25.5 miles covered, 7:08 elapsed time, 13:46 average moving pace, 4000 feet of gain, 5400 ft of loss

No pictures taken, if you have been to Zion, you know how beautiful it is; if not, well it can't be captured with a small camera.

Much thanks to Zion Adventure Company for the shuttle and Andrew Skurka for the free maps and data sheet.

Welcome back! I wondered where you went.

 

How is your IT band feeling?

Thanks, it feels fine and normal 99 percent of the time.  Sometimes early in runs it gets a little tight on downhills but goes away quickly.  I've been warming up to running again by doing a lot of fast hiking with running mixed in, chasing elevation gain and that feels really good.  Last week I decided to really try consistent running at a tempo like easy pace and got in 12 miles feeling good.  Getting a lot of endurance volume from bike commuting helps as well.  After two long days on the trail in a row it feels great so I'm tentatively hoping all systems are go.

Thanks for the report, sounds like everything went pretty well. I missed out our Trans Zion run last spring (same gang of guys that I did the R2R2R w) due to a fractured heel, but it's still on my list!

I always bring a stove on my fastpacks just for the coffee 

Welcome back!

Crossing through Zion sounds epic to me. And from your report, it definitely is. While the logistics might be challenging, the run seems worth all the effort. Congrats on finishing strong!

 

Any idea why they have so much concrete on the trails? The only thing that would make sense to me would be that they are trying to make them wheelchair accessible.

CCC jobs.

Most of the trails in Zion were built in the 1930's and 40's with CCC crews.

They needed something to do. Since then, the park service has simply maintained them after the fashion they were built.

It's not uncommon to come across crews hauling cement and water up the trails by hand. (you almost feel bad for the park workers)

They are not in any way, shape or form wheelchair accessible.

Walters Wiggle's on the West Rim Trail (to Angels landing)

East Rim Trail