Schultz Fire Aerial Shot

( Photo showing the burned area from the Schultz Fire. Click on photo to enlarge.)

Go here to read an interesting article about the race to replant and the dangers the monsoons now pose.

S. Kaibab Trail Full Moon Run

Running in the Grand Canyon in the Summer? Bad idea? To hot? Not at night...if you pick just the right one...

I got in the Grand Canyon last night to run the S. Kaibab Trail. It was a great night for it as the moon was full and the night time temps at Phantom Ranch were as low as 70 degrees (day time temps at Phantom Ranch are well over 100 degrees right now).

I felt pretty good on the run considering that I did some elevation the day before on Kendrick Mountain. Starting at about 10 pm, I got down to the river/boat launch in 53 minutes and got back to the rim with a finishing time of 2 hrs 48 min 38 seconds, just before 1 am. Going down I felt really good and felt fresh for the uphill return to the rim of 4,500 ft of elevation gain. Usually, I get in a run/walk combination right away going up but last night I had strength I've never experienced before in the canyon and ran all the way up to the limestone switchbacks below Skeleton Point. I actually felt really good to this point and really enjoyed the running. On the limestone switchbacks I started the standard run/walk still feeling good. Above Skeleton Point, there is a long flat section and I took advantage, running as fast as I could. It all went to crap after that... not epic crap by any means, I just lost my steam. I still made it to Cedar Ridge in 2 hrs 20 minutes but from there to the top I walked all but the last flat sections to the exit switchbacks. It took me almost 30 minutes to do the last 1.5 miles from Cedar Ridge to the rim! I just couldn't get the legs going.

Excellent run, even with the tough finish (I don't know why I expect anything different/the last part has never felt good...so much work and it seems to go on forever), coming in with my best time so far. It made me think I could possibly go under 2 hrs 30 minutes on the S. Kaibab someday. I really liked the taste of being able to run uphill for so much of the trail, it's very satisfying. Hopefully I can continue this improvement. It just seems so much more pure to be able to run the whole thing. I know some people can and it inspires me to keep trying.

Side note: On the way home at 2 am I was treated to seeing some BIG male elk on the side of the road with big antlers. I got to see some coyote and deer too. Made for a fun end to the night.

Kendrick Peak Run

Yesterday, Matt Z, Zak F, and I ran the Kendrick Mountain Trail. I had not made the effort to run this trail yet because there is usually so many high elevation trails close to home to circuit on the Peaks. Withe the closure of the Peaks, Mt. Elden and the Dry Lake Hills due to the Schultz fire it seemed like the perfect opportunity to drive the 30 minutes to Kendrick and check it out.

The trail is about 4 1/2 miles one way to the Fire lookout on the summit (9 mile round trip) and starts somewhere in the 7,000 ft elevation range and tops out at 10,400 ft. That's a pretty healthy elevation gain for such a short trail! Luckily, the trail quality is top notch and there aren't many rocks or roots to watch out for. It made for some very smooth running...very enjoyable.

The run itself was fantastic with a big bonus of a freak rain storm that wasn't predicted (the forecast for yesterday was 0% chance of precipitation!). Better yet, the biggest part of the storm went right over the Peaks and the Schultz Fire which is almost completely controlled as of today! They are now in mop up mode. Excellent news. Get a current report on the Schultz Fire here.

Below are a few photos of the run...

(Wild Roses near the start of the trail)

(Nice view of prairies and building storm clouds from low on the trail)

(A pleasant section of trail part way up)

(First rain of the summer!)

(First view of the summit and fire tower)

(Pretty sweet cabin on a beautiful ridge near the summit)

(The cabin is open for camping. This would be a great place to spend a night!)

(Impressive views from the summit of Kendrick of the Peaks and the rain storm moving toward them)

(Views south toward Sedona from the Fire Tower and summit)

(Parting shot and my favorite of the day...it's good to see some rain and an end to the Schultz Fire)


Note: I got to drive around to the east side of town today to see the damage of the Schultz Fire. It wasn't as bad as I envisioned it to be. Of course it is a huge area that was burned but I was relieved to see that many of the highest elevation Aspen stands survived and in the lower areas the fire didn't totally destroy the forest like it did high up on the side of Doyle Peak. What a crazy week it has been for our mountain! It looks like it could have been way, way worse though.

Below is a view of the east side of Doyle Peak. You can see the waterline road cutting across it half way up, exposed from the fire. That area got cooked but the lower forests, as seen in the photo, fared much better and Schultz Pass came out of it doing pretty good with all the trails intact except for Little Bear! Although, this photo doesn't really do justice to the size of the fire (the true size is at least 5 times the size of this photo).

RAIN!!!

Yes, we got rain in Flagstaff today!!! The Schultz fire is now 50% contained and it never made it into the Inner Basin. It is up to 15,000 acres or about 23 square miles but it is getting under control. There seems to be an end in sight to this fire... hopefully we can get more of that sweet rain we got today. I actually don't remember the last time it rained in Flagstaff...hmmm. Last Fall? I think so. Crazy.

Flagstaff Trail Map with Shultz Fire Map

Just got this link from Matt Z. It shows some positives about the fire in that it seems to be missing 95% off the trails on the Peaks and the Dry Lake Hills so far and the fire, although still growing, is heading north where people rarely recreate.

Note: If you open the link you may need to zoom in pretty close to see trail and fire details and you may need to refresh your page a few times before the information shows on the map (I had to refresh my page...). A pretty cool link...

For all us hikers, runner, mountain bikers and climbers this is a big sigh of relief. Trails that have been burned badly are the Waterline Road, Deer Hill, Little Bear and Little Elden. Somehow the Sunset Trail and the Weatherford Trail seem to be unaffected or have less than 1/2 mile burned near Shultz Tank. We will have to keep our fingers crossed that the fire doesn't creep further up these trails.

I've got to give a BIG thanks to the fire crews working this fire so far with how they have saved houses from burning (the people evacuated from their homes on the east side are now returning to their homes) and somehow kept the majority of the scenic parts of the peaks from burning.

THANK YOU FIRE CREWS!

Shultz Fire mapped and R.I.P. Waterline Rd

See the damage... go here to see the Shultz Fire as mapped 10 p.m., June 21. To get a perspective of how big it is... 10,000 acres are burned on the map and from south to north it is about 10 miles of burned forest. I just got a report today that the fire has burned up to 12,000 acres as of afternoon, Tuesday (June 22) and is still only 10% contained.

I came across this excellent blog post of someone hiking Humphreys when the fire started through Jeff's blog today. Check out the photos in the blog!!! Wow!

More amazing photos of the fire.

Below are a couple photos of one of the most beautiful high elevation trails in Arizona and one of my favorite places to run, the Waterline Road. I'm posting these photos in memory of this trail because the Shultz Fire has completely destroyed (burned to a crisp) all 9 miles of it from Shultz Pass to the Inner Basin, along with most of that side of the Peaks. Seeing these photos again and realizing that I will never see the amazingly beautiful, inspiring and peaceful HUGE Aspen groves, fir forests and big views that it has to offer makes me want to cry. I feel great loss right now. Some of those groves and sections of trail feel like family to me. Now they are all gone because someone couldn't put out a camp fire. It just doesn't seem fair to the forests and animals of the Peaks or the Flagstaff residents who go there to recreate, recharge and find peace to be that lazy and stupid. Horrible...how someone can be that careless.

In memory of the Waterline Road...

(My parents riding bikes at the tunnel, 3 miles out the Waterline Road)

(One of my favorite sections although it is typical of most of the Waterline Road. Simply beautiful.)

I'll miss you Waterline.

R.I.P. June 2010

Shultz Fire Article worth reading

This article tells the tale of how messed up this fire is. I will be so sad if the Inner Basin starts burning...

Run up Humphreys during the Shultz Fire

Photos are of fire today where some of it jumped back into Shultz Pass. Crap.

(Shultz Pass is in right of photo)

(Completely destroyed forest (part of the 10,000 acres burned up to this point) near Shultz Pass)

(Shultz Pass burning with helecopter in right side of photo)

(Burning. Sad)

Humphreys run report:

I got a quick run up Humphreys Peak this morning super early. Started about 6 am and took 2hrs 4 minutes to do the run car to car.

That side of the mountain was still really far away from the fire this morning so Snowbowl Road was still open and I was able to take the opportunity to get up on top of the mountain to see the fire.

Because it was so early the fire wasn't burning all crazy like it was yesterday. It was still pretty surreal checking it out from the vantage point of the top of Humphreys. The only thing to really report from seeing the fire from up there was that it is really close to going into the inner basin (horrible) and there is an insane amount of smoke on the east side of the fire. I couldn't see anything to the east of the inner basin.

Also, the wind on the upper ridge to the summit was insanely strong (I almost fell down from the wind several times near the summit) showing me first hand why the fire has been spreading so fast and hot. The strong winds we have been having has given the fire plenty of fuel. We need our monsoons desperately...

Sorry I didn't take a camera to get some footage of the fire from the summit. My bad.

Note: When I drove back down Snowbowl Road I had to drive through some road closed gates and signs. Looks like I just beat them closing the road. I may have had the last Humphreys summit 'till they get control of the fire. I guess they are just being cautious...

Later in the day I got to witness the fire turning on itself and coming back toward Shultz Pass (photos above). So, yes, the fire is destroying what's left of Shultz Pass now...along with pretty much the whole east side of the San Francisco Peaks. This sucks.

Shultz Fire footage

I found some amazing footage that people took of the "Shultz Fire" today. Check it out...











And here is a news video of the fire from the AP.

Crazy!

Flagstaff Shultz Pass Fire!!!

OMG! I thought the fire yesterday was bad...now there is a fire on Shultz Pass that is burning out of control all over the eastside of The Peaks and Mt. Elden. WTF!!! There have been reports (eye witness-not news source) of houses being burned all ready on the east side of town and over 1,000 houses evacuated. 89 north on the east side of town is closed.

I am so sad. I felt like vomiting earlier watching the fire. I have a front row seat, watching it from the climbing gym today. It looks like a nuclear bomb went off over Mt. Elden! Our poor Aspen groves and alpine forests are getting destroyed up there and people are having to leave their homes. Devastating!

Human caused of course, just like the fire yesterday that is finally under control. What is wrong with people? Why can't they put out their camp fires or better yet...not have camp fires!!! Just stupid. I wouldn't be suprised if they closed the forests in a few days (this has been done in Flagstaff many times before because of dry conditions).

Up to date reports and photos here on the Shultz Pass fire.

Flagstaff Forest Fire!

We get a lot of forest fires around here but rarely this close to town. Yikes! Oh, our poor forest... human caused of course. Read updated reports about the fire burning in town here.

Update: Supposedly, at 10 pm tonight the fire was still 0% contained and has covered over 400 acres, getting within a 1/2 mile of houses. I have friends with houses close to the fire, my thoughts are with them.

It is probably only a couple miles from downtown flagstaff... as scary as this fire is, hopefully it will be nothing like the fire that torched most of Mt. Elden in 1977. I hope we never have a fire like that again. Very sad.

(1977 Mt. Elden Fire. SCARY!)

First Hunphrey's Summit of 2010

After some patient waiting for snow to melt, I got my first run up Humphrey's Peak (12.633 ft.) yesterday. It was awesome getting back on that mountain and it was a beautiful day for it (mid seventies, slight breeze and clear sky's).

The run went great except for getting slightly off trail for a 100 yards on the upper ridge coming down and as a result getting a bunch of gravel in my shoe and then having to stop to dump it out. There was a bit of snow up high in the trees that slowed me down a bit, not a big deal but still made for slower travel and right near the end of the run I took a digger landing on my hand, hip and side of my foot. Full on swan dive into the dirt. Ouch!

Despite the slowdowns, I still put in a good time for me of 2hrs 3 min 03 seconds (car to car). Not bad for the first run up the mountain this year.

I have had a goal since last season to go under 2 hours, car to car, on Humphrey's and I almost snagged it on my first run this year (last year I was close running it in 2 hours 2 minutes flat). Maybe with a bit more luck, less snow and no nose dives I will get it in the next few weeks.

What will get me under 2 hours: The area I need to improve on is going up hill... I got up to the summit in 1 hr 21 minutes which is still slow as I am still walking a fair bit. I am pretty consistent with getting down the mountain in 40 minutes without hurting myself on the extremely rocky trail so if I could get up to the summit in a faster time of 1 hr 10 min or less I should be good to go even with some trip ups on the way down. We will have to see... I need to get stronger on hills! It would be cool to be able to get up to the summit in less than an hour.

I can taste sub 2 hours now so I think it will go down... only a matter of time. Spray, spray, spray, spray...

Picking up my car has never been so fun...

A few days ago I had to pick up my car from a repair shop on the east side of Flagstaff. I had the opportunity to get a ride over from downtown Flagstaff, where I live, but opted to make a run out of it instead. I realized that because the dry lake hills and Mt. Elden are right in the way of my path to the repair shop, I might as well get a long run in. In the end, my path ended up being all trails (no roads), about 18-19 miles and AWESOME! I ran early in the morning and the weather was great. I made great time, getting over to R and R Auto in 2 hrs and 48 minutes and felt really good at the end of the run. I should take my car to R and R more often as an excuse to run there. I pieced together pretty much all my favorite trails in the dry lake hills and on Mt. Elden. Where else can you do a run like this just to get across town!?! Flagstaff is sweeet!!!

Below, in red, is the path I took to R and R auto.

Zion Traverse Slideshow

I put a collection of my favorite photos from the Zion Traverse on flicker.com. Go here to see the slideshow. Enjoy!

Zion Traverse Report

It was time. I might have been sick but why does that have to stop an adventure like this.

Susan, Jess, Matt and I drove there Sunday night and found a sweet little camp spot right by a creek, hidden from the freeway, near Kolob Canyon. We were pretty psyched to find this little piece of heaven as all the other spots we looked at near there were a bit sketchy. We even found a dead dog carcass in one spot! Sweet to find but I didn’t want to camp near it.

That evening I had the cough and felt a bit sick (I had been sick for at least a week already) but didn’t feel so crappy that I shouldn’t do the traverse. You don’t get this kind of opportunity every day. I wanted to do the traverse even if I was a complete wreck. Besides, I figured that the run would burn the sick right out of me. Hopefully, I was right.

Besides the sickness, everything that evening went well. Dinner by the creek and then hanging out checking out the stars before finally crashing was very pleasant.

As a bonus, I slept great. Usually, before something big like this I wake up a lot but not that night. Maybe it was being sick but I slept like a baby until my alarm went off at 3:45 am (AZ time).

After stumbling around a bit and tossing all our gear in the car we were off and at the trail head a little before 5 am. Dawn was just beginning. I still felt a bit sick but adrenaline and psych got me up and ready to go. I was ready to run. I live for this!

We had to do some serious mosquito evading while organizing stuff for run. The mosquitoes were in full effect and being a Flagstaff local I was not used to bugs. Arggg…buggggsssss. I feel like such a wimp. I am not joking when I say that we don’t have bugs in Flagstaff. We have so few bug that when I see one I am immediately swatting at it. If I see a single mosquito I freak out and want to kill it. Luckily, we didn’t see anymore bugs (except for the odd biting fly) for the whole run.

After getting our stuff organized we stripped off our mosquito protective layers, took photos at trailhead and Matt and I said our goodbyes to Susan and Jess.

Matt and I were off at about 5:15 am (AZ time), heading down the trail.

We enjoyed the first section along the pretty Timber Creek, crossing the creek a few times without much trouble. It was a lot like running in Sedona, reminding me of many, many miles of trails I ran this last winter. It felt very comfortable.

We had a nice fast pace going even though I was coughing up flem and didn’t feel all that great. I was excited to be running so I tried to suck it up and the pace felt fine so I just went with it.

After the initial few miles the trail started following the enjoyable La Verkin Creek This is where we hit our first sand (little did we know that we were in for many, many miles of deep sand). We changed our pace to fit this new surface and added a bit of walking.

After almost 7 miles we reached the collection of sweet camp spots near Beatty Spring and Kolob Arch. This was one of my favorite spots on the whole run and I think it would be an amazing place to camp and explore for a few days. Maybe some day…

Beatty Spring is where I made my one big mistake of the run. I didn’t bring water with me to start the run to save on weight. I figured that because of the reports of Beatty Spring being the best spring on the whole traverse and it being along the trail at around 6.8 miles that it would be obvious from all the people using it. Wrongggg… Some both Matt and I completely missed it. I don’t know how… But, not finding water at Beatty Spring was not good as the next spring wasn’t until about 20 miles into the traverse.

Luckily, I felt so crappy from being sick that I wasn’t thirsty and felt like I would be able to make it to next spring with out water.

I did have the luxury of there being some creeks along the next section to drink from but they were known to be bad because of all the cattle grazing in the area. I didn’t want to drink from them but I would if I absolutely had to.

Matt was very nice and offered me some water (he, of course, had a full bladder) but I was feeling stubborn and didn’t want a hand out after feeling stupid for missing Beatty Spring. I was ready to pay for my mistake.

The next section was though the beautiful Hop Valley. This was one of my favorite sections of the trail as it followed a magical valley with towering sandstone walls on each side and with a wide, shallow (inch or two deep) creek winding though it with banks covered with fields of green grass.

The trail was hard to follow but the way was easy to find. We just had to keep going up stream. We literally ran upstream wherever we felt it was easiest. Usually, running through the beautiful grass fields along the creek banks was the best option with a few creek crossing thrown in for fun.

Near the end of Hop Valley I started to feel a bit more like crap and realized that I had run about 12 miles without any water or wanting for any water for that matter. I hadn’t eaten any food yet either. I wasn’t even hungry. Curious, but I didn’t think dangerous at this point.

The sand continued along Hop Valley and near the end of it where the valley climbs to Kolob Terrace Road the sand got pretty bad. We were forced to walk some of this (this was where I noticed our pace starting to slow to a walk sometimes, run sometimes).

Once we left Hop Valley, I ate my first food of the run (a Cliff Bar) because I felt I should even though I didn’t feel hungry yet. No water yet and I still wasn’t really thirsty either. I did start to notice that I was feeling a bit more sick although I wasn’t coughing as much.

By the time we crossed the Kolob Terrace Road our pace had fully settled into a walk/run. This continued to be our pace for much of the rest of the traverse. We would pretty much walk when needed and run when we could.

I felt pretty good running most if not all of the sections to this point but being sick and not having water the pace was really nice. I could wallow in my sickness and enjoy the views. Good times.

Probably the most boring section of the traverse was following the connector trail between Kolob Terrace Road and Wildcat Canyon for about 4 miles. It was mostly hot with nothing particularly exciting to look at. At this point I still had no water but I ate a Gu.

Near the end of the connector trail, about 16 or 17 miles in, I found a pretty clear flowing stream and drank a bit from it to take the edge off. I was starting to get thirsty and this was one of the first sources of water that seemed like I might be able to get away with drinking from with out getting sick. While I drank from it I cared less about how sick I could be in a couple days if it turned out to be a bad source. Man, that water tasted good.

When we finally got to Wildcat Canyon Trail I downed a second Gu. With the Ciff Bar, two Gus, a few gulps of water and almost 20 miles, this is by FAR the least amount of energy and water I have consumed on a run of this length. Being sick and missing springs makes for some serious accidental minimalist travel!

A few miles into Wildcat Canyon we reached our first spring. Yee Haw. I filled my bladder and then drank the whole thing in only a few minutes. I then filled it again for the run and waited in the shade for Matt to come by and fill up at the spring too.

While resting, I ate a Gu and some cliff bloks. We hung out at the spring for about 10 minutes and then were off again. After leaving the spring I started feeling much better. Surprise…

Soon we reached the West Rim Trail (my favorite trail of the traverse) which followed the top of a ridge for about 10 miles with big drop offs on each side the whole way. It was very spectacular. I think that I enjoyed this section a bit extra because of the amazing feeling I had after guzzling a bunch of water and getting a bunch of sugar and electrolytes in my system. I had a lot more energy, didn’t feel as sick anymore and was enjoying all the sights and experiences along every turn of the trail.

I started consuming energy (Gu and Cliff Bloks) and drinking water like normal from this point out.

It seemed that the farther we went along this trail the better the views got. Spectacular canyons seemed to spread out below us at every vista. Adding to the bliss was that it wasn’t that hot out because we were at a really high elevation above the canyons.

I really tried to enjoy it because I couldn’t escape the fact that with every step we were getting closer and closer to the extreme heat of the valley floor in Zion Canyon. Oooohhh, the climb back out on the east side was guaranteed to be blazing hot. Oh well, right now everything is great… no need to think too much about that. Enjoy the moment, right?

When we reached the descent into Zion Canyon we stopped off at West Rim (Cabin) Spring. I made a major spring party fowl and swished my bladder in the very stagnant spring and stirred all the dirt up from the bottom. Whoops. I immediately felt bad and Matt gave me some crap as I was standing there with a full bladder of crystal clear water and his bladder was empty and he had to wait for the dirt soup to settle again. He wasn’t the only one waiting as there were a couple other hikers that were still filling their bladders too. Hee, Hee.

After a few minutes of socializing, the dirt settled, Matt got some water and we were off to do the spectacular 4.7 mile descent into Zion Canyon. Believe it or not, the majority of the 4.7 miles is paved! It beat the crap out of the bottom of my feet after running 30+ miles of sandy trails to get there and I was jealous of Matt’s new socks he changed into earlier as my socks were ground down to a crusty layer between my shoes and my feet (thinking back I should have taken my socks off for this section and ran barefoot in my shoes).

On the way down we got some fantastic views of the endless sandstone walls of Zion Canyon, Angels Landing and the Virgin River below. It is hard to even fully describe to someone who hasn’t hiked the trail how amazing it is. A must hike for anyone able.

When we made it to Angels Landing, our remote, adventure experience immediately turned into a tourism circus with the typical hordes were making their way up and down the final ridge of Angel’s Landing. With so many remote miles to disconnect from society it is always a shock to be thrown right back into the thick of it with fragrant, clean hikers full of energy and with…you guessed it trekking poles. I am not sure why so many people need trekking poles when they are hiking a paved, couple mile trail.

It made for some fun conversation for Matt and I though and I’m sure we felt a bit of silly superiority to them knowing what we had just done that morning with just a small Nathan pack for water, nuun, a few Cliff Bars, Gu and Cliff Bloks (that’s what I brought anyway).

Near the Virgin River everything got real with the daunting east side of the Zion Canyon (which we still needed to ascend) towering over us like a big tidal wave ready to crush what energy we had left.

We were getting tired (surprise), it was hot and we had at least 3,000 ft of elevation gain too do in a few minutes in the direct sun (I think it was pushing 90 degrees when we reached the valley).

At this point, Matt confided that he wasn’t sure he could make it up the east side and it might be a better idea if he stayed in the valley floor and we would pick him up later that night.

I understood exactly what he was feeling- the extreme exhaustion that only comes after traveling over 35 miles, loosing over 9,000 ft and gaining 6,000-7000 ft of elevation, trudging through miles of sand and dealing with high temperatures. We were beat. It messes with your head and strips everything down to its’ most basic element…survival. Emotionally, this is usually a crossing point. When this exhausted, the mind is trying to find every excuse and reason to stop. It is trying to help the body survive. What I have learned though is that our mind tries to get us to stop way before our body needs to. Matt and I, without a doubt, had the ability to climb the thousands of feet out the east side of that canyon and then get to the end. We just had to make the choice to continue. Matt is a strong willed person and after only minor discussion he was committed to finishing. I was really psyched for him as I know the feeling of not finishing when in this. It is something you always regret.

After some more gawking at the crazy tourist show, joking about riding the shuttle bus from The Grotto to Weeping Rock (…we were joking right!?) and filling up with water at The Grotto we walked the ½ or so blazing hot mile of asphalt to Weeping Rock so that we could start ascending the East Rim Trail. We had only 10 miles to go.

Once we started ascending the East Rim Trail things got slow. It was really hot and there was little shade to speak of although there was a really nice section of trail that went through a slot canyon that offered some shade and gave us renewed psyche.

Our psych didn’t last long though. For some reason we thought the next section (the last couple miles to the rim) would be easier but oh were we wrong. The trail got super steep and sandy. Slow moving for sure.

Between the cursing every time we turned a corner to see the trail climb steeply into the sky I slid in comments about how much better this traverse would be east to west. Getting all this elevation change out of the way early and then doing the big sandy sections on the west side as a long gradual down hill sounded like heaven compared to all the uphill sand we had done and to finish with this climb! Geeze.

When we finally reached the east rim we were psyched, knowing it was all gravy from here on out. It was going to be all flat to downhill for 5 miles to the finish. Gravy…

We reached Stave Spring, filled up again and went on to finish the final few miles of sandy “longer than you want it to be” trail.

When we reached the girls it was almost dark. We had been continuously traveling from sun up to sun down. Now that’s a day.

It was nice to see the ladies at the trailhead to pick us up. We exchanged stories about the day, I spaced out a lot and then we were off, heading back to Flagstaff.

Looking back, it was a great day of adventure, seeing so much of the backcountry of Zion. Now that I have done the traverse once, I am excited to come back some day and have another crack at it for a speed attempt. I feel that this adventure gave me all the knowledge to move quickly and with a bit of good timing with fitness and not being sick I could push for a sub 10 hour traverse. We will see. It’ll be a good time, that’s for sure.

Big thank you to Matt for wanting to do the traverse and to Jess and Susan for shuttling. Love you guys!!! Let’s do it again sometime!

It got hot fast in Flagstaff...

This morning I ran the Kachina Trail (starting at Snowbowl Ski Area), up Weatherford to Doyle Saddle and back (somewhere in the 19 to 20 mile range). It seemed like a good idea as I have been really excited to run up high on the mountain. In the end it didn't seem like such a good idea after all.

Most of the run was really enjoyable (although I felt pretty tired traversing the Kachina Trail for some reason and had a really hard time keeping a pace that was much faster than a jog) until about the time I got back to the Kachina Trail after visiting Doyle Saddle. At this point the heat really ramped up (the high today was 90 degrees!), I was really struggling to keep running up even the smallest hills and I ran out of water.

To summarize the Kachina Trail...it sucked. I didn't have any fun on it and just wanted to be done which is a real bummer as it is a spectacular trail. Not today though, I walked a large portion of the last few miles and felt like crap! Oh well, sometimes things go great and sometimes it kicks you in the teeth.

I do know one thing that's for sure, I will not run in that kind of heat up there again this summer. Crack of dawn starts from here on out...unless I bring a ton of water which isn't much fun or the temps settle back down.

In the end the run gained a bit over 3,000 feet and I ran it in 4 hrs 24 minutes (geeze). I'll have to get back on that route and redeem myself. I wasn't psyched on that performance at all.

Beautiful run but I most definitely didn't get to enjoy it (well...I did enjoying where I was at, just not how I was feeling). Here are a few photos that show my favorite parts of the run.

(Early on the Kachina Trail)

(More Kachina Trail)

(Yes, there is still snow on the Weatherford Trail)

(Doyle Saddle-man do I look sunburned!)

(Can you believe it-a old wrecked car near Doyle Saddle. I never noticed that car before...)

(Good looking feet after a long run)

Doyle Saddle from Jason Henrie on Vimeo.

Darn it...still not finished with Zion post...almost there though.