Zion Traverse -

We ran the Zion Traverse last week– a linkup of existing trails across Zion National Park that measures about 48 miles and reportedly gains around 10,000 vertical feet. Christy and I are big fans of established courses such as the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim (or roundtrip) and the Four Pass Loop, so it was time to check out this increasingly popular route.

The course essentially runs diagonally across Zion N.P., and can be done in either direction. After doing a little research online (Andrew Skurka’s site has the best breakdown of it), we opted to start at the East Rim Trailhead and head northwest to Lee Pass. There are pros and cons to going in either direction and we based our decision largely on the elevation profile, we opted to take on the biggest descent/climb of the route early rather than late in the day.

The steep canyon walls interfered with the GPS a bit on the big descent and climb in the beginning, which resulted in a few erratic spikes around mile 11 on the elevation chart.

Overall direction isn’t the only decision to make, there are also some options concerning water and the shuttle needed to complete this point-to-point course. Since it was just Christy and I, available custom van shuttles were a bit expensive and ate up too much time in the early morning. We opted to rent a car from nearby St. George, and shuttle it to the finish at Lee Pass the afternoon before. We left food and clothes in it for the 45 minute drive back to our hotel in Springdale after finishing the run.

We then drove up the Kolob Reservoir Road, and left water and some critter-free food (gels etc.) at both the Lava Point (West Rim Trailhead) and Hop Valley Trailhead — around mile 25 and 34, respectively. We could have also left a cache at the Grottos Trailhead (around mile 12) on the main scenic drive, but opted against it and just planned to fill up our bladders from the spigots there. During most of the year you can fill up and purify from springs along the route. Being November, many were dry or barely flowing.

east rim trail zion national park — Stopping on a shelf trail around mile eight. There were long stretches of well-built trail blasted out of the sandstone.

We drove to the East Rim Trailhead in the morning and started, making sure we had keys to both cars and the hotel. Eleven miles later we had descended the Weeping Rock Trail to the Grottos, where we filled up with water. From the Grottos we started up the West Rim Trail, passing Angel’s Landing, and followed it for 14 miles to Lava Point where we left water the day before. The Wildcat Trail took us nine miles further to the Hop Valley Trailhead, where we filled up one last time for the final 13 miles to the shuttled car at Lee Pass. We made it to the finish just as it got dark.

It’s an incredible way to see the park in a single, intense outing. I can see doing this one again.

weeping wall zion traverse — Nearing the end of the East Rim section. The Weeping Wall parking area can be seen down below after which you proceed down the road to the Grottos Trailhead, at about mile eleven.

west rim trail zion national park traverse — On the way up the West Rim, Christy runs up another section of trail cut into the sandstone.

west rim trail zion national park — The view from the West Rim Trail. Click to enlarge.

Wildcat Trail, zion national park, zion traverse — On the Wildcat Trail, en route to the Hop Valley Trailhead.

laverkin creek, zion national park, kolob canyons — Crossing La Verkin Creek, in the Kolob Canyon area in the northwest section of Zion.

laverkin creek, zion traverse — Into the setting sun.

And that’s it, from one end to the other.

Joel Gratz

November 11, 2012 at 8:15 PM

You guys are beyond cool. Please know that I bookmark all of your reports so I can one day follow the adventures that you’re blazing!

mtnrunner2

November 11, 2012 at 9:21 PM

🙂 What a great run. Nice beta too, I’ll refer back to this if I get down to St. George.

I usually rely on my water filter on longer runs, but the caching thing is a good idea. In the back of my mind was one of your posts (I think?) from a R2R2R run, where the water spigot was dry. Ahh! That’s not a good feeling in desert country. Heck, I’ve gotten dehydrated on a 10-miler next to Fruita.

Brandon Chalk

November 12, 2012 at 8:10 AM

+1 to what Joel said above. Now that’s a whirlwind tour of Zion! Well done, guys!

ted

November 12, 2012 at 9:04 AM

Thanks guys. And like all these long runs, it would be a pretty cool backpack as well. Actually the first people did all this stuff that way anyway, it’s not as if we’re coming up with anything new here. We’re all just too impatient or without the time to spread it out over several nights.

A lot of people work off the springs earlier in the season. We thought it was pretty nice to drop some caches in advance and not have to carry as much food. We eat more and take more time than to FKT attempters out there. After all, it is supposed to be a vacation. Plus, seeing as it was our first time there, the drive to the various trailheads the day before helped serve as an intro to the whole place. We didn’t feel as though it was all sight-unseen until the run itself, and actually had some awareness of where we were, and where we were headed.

Either way.

Brendan Trimboli

November 22, 2012 at 7:59 PM

nice work ted! looks like you beat me to it by a little over a week (and in the opposite direction!). a few buddies and i ran from lee pass to the east entrance yesterday… what an unbelievable, epic run. weather was gorgeous — just a bit of mud to deal with through potato hollow, but the views more than made up for that.

hope you’re having a great thanksgiving.

cheers,
brendan

November 26, 2012 at 4:16 PM

That would have been funny to see you out there. We’re thinking about checking it out in that direction next year.