Derailed On The Zion Train

The forecast was not looking good.  Weeks ago when we decided to head down to Zion National Park to try our hands - or more appropriately, our feet - at the Zion Train (aka Zion Traverse, Trans Zion, etc.) the timing looked to be perfect for the 48 mile run across the park.  We chose to go mid-week when there were less crowds, and in the middle of May before the weather started getting too hot.  I'm sure any of us would've chosen hot over the conditions that stared us in the face.

We met up Tuesday night after work.  Those running the train were Craig, Scott, Matt, and myself.  Scott's nephews, whom Craig dubbed Ed & Frank, also came along to drop us off at the start and pick us up at the finish.  After sharing some laughs and stories on the road down to Zion, we stopped just outside the park and found a place to set up some tents.  We quickly set up camp and got to bed.  I don't think any of us slept well as we were intermittently being hit by showers and heavy wind gusts all night.  When do you really sleep well before a big event like this anyway?  If it's not rain and wind, it's excitement.

After a long night, we were awoken not by alarms, but to Ed repeatedly barking "my stuff's all wet!"  Turns out he failed to zip up his tent all the way.  That'll do it!  After quickly breaking down camp and getting dressed, we headed into the park and arrived at the trailhead where our adventure would begin.

From left to right - me, Craig, Matt, Scott


Finally, we were all aboard the Zion Train and ready for an epic adventure.  We started at the East Rim Trailhead and would be making our way west.  The first several miles are a gentle climb and went off without any problems.  Those first few miles also involve a lot of sand which keeps you honest.  In any race or adventure run, the adrenaline is flowing in the early stages and while it may feel easy, it's always good to hold back a bit or you'll usually regret it later.  The sand certainly helped keep me honest early on.  Plus, who wants sand all over in their shoes when they're running?!

The miles were absolutely ticking off.  We were running through some of the most unbelievable scenery.  And the fact that it was constantly changing, left me entertained literally every step of the way!  I honestly cannot describe it.  Atop the East Rim Trail, the park opened up and we were shown some of the breaktaking scenery that lay ahead.

After our quick jaunt around the East Rim, the first significant descent of the day began.  We took the opportunity to let out some "whoops" and "yeehaws" as we absolutely bombed it down the technical trail!  It was incredible.  The scenery again changed from beautiful canopies of pines, to sandstone slabs with cairns to guide us along our path.  Once the slabs ended, we found ourselves on a slightly paved trail and we knew what was coming up.  A little bit of this...

And some of this...

All while surrounded by this...

We eventually made our way down to the Echo Canyon trailhead and ran the 1.5 miles down to The Grotto where we'd meet up with Ed & Frank to refuel and drop any gear we felt we didn't need.  After we left, they were headed to hike a few of the trails in this canyon themselves. 

We'd been blessed with great weather up to this point; slightly overcast, cool, and a few short sections of hailstorm.  But it was here that it started raining for the first time.  We weren't excited about the prospects of rain and had been crossing our fingers the whole trip.  We topped off our water bladders then started the big ascent up Angel's Landing en-route to the West Rim Trail. 

I pulled out my green jacket that I'd put away after about mile 1 and put it back on to help combat the rain.  The other three pulled out their trash bags and we climbed.  And we climbed some more.  Then some more.

Matt was crashing a bit through here so I decided to hold back with him while the other two went ahead.  I told myself before the run even started that I was gonna be the caboose on this day.  I had no desire to burn out my legs two weeks before Squaw Peak. Scott and Craig never got more than a hundred yards or so ahead of us, though.  For as terrible as Matt was feeling, he sure was staying steady!

Matt pluggin' along with the other two just ahead

Eventually the rain turned into snow.  From a runner's standpoint, snow is much better than rain.  Snow doesn't soak you to the bone!  So I was really optimistic at this point that we'd be able to continue our journey, all while snow lightly fell down around us.  But my hopes were short lived.  As we climbed higher and higher, the conditions got worse and worse.  After reaching the West Rim Spring, we took a quick break so Matt could refill his water.  The snow was coming down hard at this point, but we decided to continue on for at least a few more miles to see if things might clear up.  My hands were starting to get a bit cold so I began putting them down my shorts to keep them warm!  Hahaha.  My feet were starting to get a bit cold as well, but along I trudged.

Craig and Scott truckin' along in the storm

We started gathering opinions from everyone at this point.  No one wanted to stop, but we felt like we had to explore our options.  We could continue on for another 20 miles to Hop Valley, not knowing what to expect.  The weather was getting increasingly worse by the minute and there were no bailout points between the two places.  Or, we could turn around and get out of this mess.  No one was offering opinions.  I know I was being stubborn and wanting to finish what I started.  I'm sure everyone else felt the same.  Finally, the train was officially DERAILED after a few hundred yards of this...

Realizing that we were looking at 30 miles to finish the journey, if we had to go through mile after mile of this, we wouldn't finish for a very long time. That's if we didn't die out on the trail! So with some regret, we made the smart move and turned around.  I think there was a sense of relief from everyone; myself included.  Now we could just enjoy the journey to the Visitor's Center without the fear of the unknown hovering around us.  We all took off our rain gear and headed back.

We hooted and hollered all the way back down the trail.  At this point there were quite a few tourists out.  Craig and I were flying down the path, hoping people would move aside when they hear us crashing down the mountain.  Most of them did, but some were just oblivious.  On the switchbacks, people aren't moving at all so Craig starts hopping the barriers between them!  He jumped off one, not knowing what was below... Turns out it was about an 8 foot drop!  Nice work.  Then less than a mile from the bottom a natural waterfall was literally falling over the trail.  You had to run through it to get by.  And so we did, screaming our lungs out as we're flying underneath it!

We arrived at the Grotto absolutely drenched!  We had the biggest smiles on our faces though.  There were about 15 people waiting for the shuttle to arrive when we came through.  They had to be wondering what in the world was wrong with us; we were soaked, but laughing and joking around.  We probably looked like the biggest idiots!

From here we ran the 5 or so miles of road down to the Visitor's Center, dodging shuttles along the way.  It was awesome though.  We were all relieved to almost be done and were excited about getting dry.  The only question that remained was whether or not Ed & Frank would still be at the Visitor's Center when we arrived.  We were relieved to find them there upon our arrival!  We quickly got into dry clothes and headed home.  It was nice knowing we'd made it out alive and would be getting home early also!

What an amazing adventure!  Even though we didn't end up running the 48 miles we'd planned, we still ended up with 29 miles or so on the day and 5,000+ feet of vertical ascent.  It was everything I'd hoped for and then some.  I certainly see myself going back to finish the entire thing sometime in the future.  Hopefully that ends up being sooner rather than later!

Onto more adventures!