Running Across Zion National Park

A friend of mine invited me to join her and a friend as they ran across Zion National Park.

Zion National Park is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I’m lucky enough to live less than an hour away. But I’d never travelled the full length of the park until yesterday. Jayna, Jared and I took photos as we ran and power-hiked from the south entrance (starting at the visitors center) all the way to the Lee Pass Trailhead near the north entrance, in the Kolob Canyons section of the park. Here’s a collection of some of the best photos from our journey. (Click to expand.)

Running uphill at dawn, up Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.

This early in the morning, the park was mostly deserted. We only saw a few cars on Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.

It's kind of blurry, but we passed a massive wild turkey as we turned onto the Emerald Pools Trails.

Sandstone cliffs make for sandy trails. These easy-to-access trails have double ruts in them from tourists passing in two lanes.

Jayna runs up the paved trail under the Emerald Pools "waterfall."

Looking up at the water dripping down into the Emerald Pools from Heaps Canyon.

A view of the Virgin River from a lower section of the West Rim Trail, below Scout Lookout.

Trudging up the brutal incline leading toward Refrigerator Canyon, Scout Lookout, and Angel's Landing.

I don't know who the people are, but you can see Walter's Wiggles, a long series of switchbacks leading up to Scout Lookout.

A view up the narrow razor-edge trail to Angel's Landing.

Jayna and me posing in front of a spectacular view of Angel's Landing (one of the scariest hikes in any national park).

Resting at Scout Lookout after the climb. Even though the trail was closed, there were lots of people up there.

Somebody left a pineapple next to the guard rail. WTF? Beyond this is a 2,500-foot dropoff to the valley floor below.

Another great view from Scout Lookout. You can just see the Virgin River down below.

This is Jared, one of my hiking companions.

It was still early, and the contrast in colors between land and sky was stark.

Much of the trail beyond Scout Lookout had been "improved" with concrete. I'm sure the Park Service regrets this.

The West Rim Trail above Scout Lookout looks very different from much of what comes before it.

That's me climbing the slope. Check out those calves!

Deep in some of the valleys, there was still quite a bit of snow. In some cases, that also meant mud.

Looking back into the canyon during the long climb up to the Cabin Spring lookout.

Looking back the way we came. That's a lot of climbing!

Up along the West Rim Trail, you can see the remains of the plateau carved up by the river and streams that created the canyons of Zion.

The cliffs and peaks were stunning. We took LOTS of photos here.

As you can see, the trail still goes up. The summit on the trail tops out at 7,367 feet.

One of a few selfies we took during the trip: me, Jayna and Jared.

The West Rim Trail heading north toward Potato Hollow.

Since it's still early spring, the scrub oaks were still bare of leaves. I'd like to come back in the fall to see the colors.

According to the map, this is Horse Pasture Plateau. We didn't see much grass, but there was plenty of manzanita everywhere.

Shadowing Jared on an uphill. We ran into several groups of hikers along this section of trail.

Every once in a while, we had to stop and just look at the stunning views.

Jayna tackling a downhill stretch near Potato Hollow.

It looks like rolling hills, but it's actually the top of a big-ass mountain.

Forested slopes and cliffs—that was basically the theme for much of the day.

Heading into Wildcat Canyon, still making pretty good time.

The snow on the slopes made for some muddy sections of trail, but they were mostly easy to avoid. Here's Jayna powering down into the canyon.

Now on the other side of Wildcat Canyon, which stretches on for miles.

Beyond Wildcat Canyon is the "Connector Trail" that leads over to the Hop Valley Trailhead. The terrain was flatter here, with lots of interesting rock formations.

The trail was a varied mix of sand, clay and rocks, with lots of pinecones to turn your ankle on.

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It’s currently impossible to do a full “Zion traverse” because much of the East Rim Trail is closed due to a rockslide back in August 2019. If they ever get those trails cleared, I’d love to do a full east-to-west traverse. For now, the south entrance is the only real option for a jumping-off point.

We started out strong, running north from the visitors center on the Pa’rus Trail. When that trail ended, we did a few road miles before catching the Lower Emerald Pools Trail to the Grotto. We knew we had to hurry, because the trail from the Grotto to Angel’s Landing was scheduled to be closed for maintenance that day.

Luckily, we beat the crew there. Not so luckily, we probably pushed those initial miles a bit too hard. We power-hiked the switchbacks up from the Grotto, and when we arrived at Scout Lookout our calves were burning. After a quick photo break, we headed north on the West Rim Trail. This section consists mostly of long, steep climbs, interspersed by short runnable stretches. By the time we stopped at the lookout near Cabin Springs for a breather, the weather was nice and warm.

Now we were on the ridge, and the ups and downs were more gradual. Taking the left-hand fork, we ran the long stretch through Potato Hollow to the junction. Some of the views along this section of trail literally take your breath away, and we stopped a bunch of times for photos. Then, turning left, we headed through Wildcat Canyon, stopping at one of the springs to filter water. Next, we took the Connector Trail to the Hob Valley Trailhead, where we used the facilities and had another rest.

At this point, both of my running companions were suffering. Jared was having stomach trouble, and Jayna was experiencing general fatigue. We still had 15 miles to go, but running the rest of the trail seemed out of the question. We actually thought about bailing, but instead we made the decision to power-hike the rest of the way. I briefly considered running ahead and finishing on my own, but decided it would be more fun to stay with the group.

More slowly now, we hiked through Hop Valley toward the Kolob Canyon Arch. The narrow creek meanders through a wide, cliff-lined valley, forcing us to cross it again and again. Both of my running companions were struggling, but they gamely soldiered on. Besides the amazing scenery, I was mostly focused on forward momentum. When we reached Beatty Spring, near the entrance to the Kolob Canyon Arch side-trail, we still had plenty of water. Instead of stopping, we continued pushing ahead to make the most of what little daylight we still had.

The last section of trail is the La Verkin Creek Trail, which runs about 6.5 miles from Kolob Arch to the Lee Pass Trailhead. I’ve run it before, though only in the daylight. When we finally lost the rest of nautical dusk, we busted out our headlamps and forged ahead as quickly as we could. I found myself telling stories and making jokes, trying to help keep my companions engaged and moving forward.

That last climb, up slopes and steps to the parking lot, seemed to take forever. It just kept going up, up, up.

We arrived at the car at about 11:15 p.m., aching and dusty, feeling exhilarated. In one day, we’d covered 44 miles with about 8,500 feet of vertical gain. My GPS watch (which I recharged multiple times during the trip) said I took 102,695 steps that day.