Running up one of the forks of the Navajo Loop. We love Bryce Canyon National Park. We just returned from four days of trail running and backpacking there and we were blown away by the beauty. Utah has no shortage of incredible desert scenery, the state has five National Parks to showcase it all. But through the years we had always set our sights on the other members of Utah’s...
Clearing weather allowed for a descent of the Pine Creek slot, one of the Zion classics.
We arrived with a rainstorm, so we hustled out to the Overlook and watched the waterfalls start up. The fall off-season wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the desert. I recently joined a group of friends on a trip to Zion National Park, a favorite spot in southwest Utah for some slot canyon adventures. If there’s one rule regarding slot canyons, it’s that they should always be avoided when...
Lower Buckskin Gulch The following morning, with lighter packs, we continued down Buckskin Gulch to the Paria River. It was about six miles downstream to the confluence. After a quick dunk in the river and a little playing around with quicksand, we were on our way back up the canyon. We stopped at the midway exit to grab our overnight stuff and then retraced our path to Wire Pass. (more…)
Christy and I returned to run the Bear 100 again last weekend. I guess we’re just gluttons for punishment. We gave it our best and finished the 100 mile course with 23,000 feet of elevation gain in respectable times, though we were both a bit slower compared to last year. We ran unsupported, that is without crew or pacers, and speaking for Christy as well as myself here— five days...
Looking north up the Waterpocket Fold in the morning. As you travel east (right) you pass through younger and younger rock strata. The Waterpocket Fold of Capitol Reef might be best described as a bend in the earth’s crust where subsequent erosion has exposed the underlying rock strata. Whereas the layers of desert rock are normally seen in a canyon wall stacked vertically, the layers of the Fold are tilted...
We decided to check out Capitol Reef National Park last weekend. Like many people, we had long known of this National Park in south central Utah but had never spent any actual time there. One of its major attractions is the Waterpocket Fold, a 100 mile long exposed monocline
Start with a 100 mile race in the mountains, strip out any crew support or pacers and add a bunch of winter weather– snow up high, mud down low, and temps in the low 20s all through the night– and you have last weekend’s Bear 100. Lucky for us, Christy and I were both able to say we had a great time. I improved on last year’s finish by 45...
Through some of the narrows on the descent from the East Rim to Weeping Rock. 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...
The coveted finishers buckle. It was about as smooth as they get for me. That’s my take as I reflect on last weekend’s Bear 100 run. Considering how many different ways one can come up short in these things, and that I ran the race without any crew or pacers, smooth is good. And to finish near the front with a sense of things being somewhat routine made it even...
We met in Aspen in 2000 and have been happily stuck in the rockies ever since, getting out in the mountains every day we can, in every season and by all means possible. Read More
