Runner's High: Mom/Son Backpacking 2021 -- ZION TRAVERSE!

WHERE TO EVEN START???

This is the third year where Lincoln and I went on a backpacking trip together. It makes me so, so happy that my teenage son still wants to do this with me. He is probably mortified that I am writing about this, but one day when I am old, wrinkled, and can't walk up stairs, I want him to remember the times when I climbed mountains and trudged through canyons with him. It is then that he will be glad to have these memories documented! (Or so I hope.)

Last year we did the Four Pass Loop in Aspen, which was 28 miles, going over 4 mountain passes (all above 12,000 feet). It was HARD, but so, so much fun for both of us. I really got the sense that Lincoln and I really liked the beauty and the challenge of it all.

With such a great accomplishment in the books, we needed to find one that lived up to that experience, so… enter the Zion Traverse.

The Zion Traverse crosses Zion National Park west-east. The traverse is 41 challenging miles, passing through 4 different alpine zones, and was absolutely breathtaking!

DAY ZERO: OBTAINING PERMITS AND HIKING THE NARROWS

Since we chose to arrive a day early to get our backcountry permits, we filled the rest of the morning with hiking the Narrows. Ross and I had done this hike this past Spring, and it was something we both really wanted Lincoln to experience.

Other than Angel's Landing, the Narrows is probably the most iconic hike in Zion. It is also pretty unique in that you are hike through a (freezing cold!!!) river in a slot canyon. At points during the hike, the canyon walls are towering 1,000 feet above you while the canyon itself is only 20-30 feet wide. It is TRULY AMAZING!

After the hike and getting our permits, we grabbed lunch, cached some water, packed out our backpacks, and chilled in anticipation for our upcoming hike.

DAY ONE: LEE PASS --> KOLOB CANYON

With our permits, we were able to park overnight in Zion Canyon (close to our ending point) and shuttle to Lee Pass (starting point). When I checked in on the west side with the ranger, she asked if we were ready to see snow. I said, “there’s no precipitation in the forecast is there?” The ranger assured me there WAS NO precipitation forecasted, but we would see remnants of the previous week’s snowstorm. Cool. We can handle that. (I was super scared of the cold nights projected.)

From there, the shuttle driver drove us to the trailhead, and we entered about 10:30 a.m.

As we entered, we dropped down into the wilderness, and got to hike right in front of the Kolob “fingers."

It was so, so pretty! Our shuttle driver had told us how “if people could see this canyon from the highway, it would be A LOT more popular…” and I think he was right. Everywhere we turned it, was just gorgeous!

We got down to the bottom of the canyon and hiked along the river until we found our campsite.

Our campsite was an absolute gem!!! It was so gorgeous! Right on the river in the heart of the canyon.

SIDE NOTE: When the kids were little, we had a "hiking friend" that came along on a lot of our adventures.

Fast forward (quite a few) years, and Fatty Squirrel decided to join us for this journey as well.

If you look close, in some pictures, you will see him peeking out of Lincoln's pack on the side.

BACK TO THE BLOG: Another complication that has come into play in the past year in Zion is a toxic cyanobacteria bloom. Consistent with its name, the bloom makes the river water toxic and, thus, undrinkable. To get around this, you need to plan carefully, cache water at times, and know where the springs (that are unaffected by the bloom) are that you can filter from. Thankfully, we were able to get a site that was not too far from a spring. So, after chilling for a bit, it was off to filter water for us!

With our water supply filled, we had dinner, played cards and just hung out in nature. It was a pretty epic night!

DAY TWO: KOLOB CAYON --> HOPP VALLEY --> WILDCAT CANYON

It was chilly at the start, but we quickly warmed up as we were immediately hiking UP and out of the canyon.

It was beautiful and nice to see in the morning light.

While Day One was short (7.5 miles) and mostly downhill day two would be twice the distance, and also ALL UPHILL. The. Whole. Way. YIKES! Did I mention that 15 miles would have been an all-time high for miles/day backpacking for us? Anyways, the day was overcast and windy and, at times, the scenery did not seem as dramatic as the day prior. Even with that, we were happy to be hiking along. Later, we were looking back at the pictures and saying how we didn’t give Hopp Valley as much credit as it deserved when we were hiking through it. The valley really WAS pretty! And, there were cows.

MOO!!!!

BY NOON, WE WERE SO READY TO BE DONE WITH HIKING IN THE SAND!!! We reached the Hopp Valley Trailhead where we topped off our water supply with water we had cached, had lunch, and continued on our way to Wildcat Canyon via the Connector Trail. This trail was more climbing and a different zone and type of hiking, and some really pretty terrain and views.

Once we hit Wildcat Canyon proper, it was more like forest hiking. I know that there were trails that provided additional views, but we didn’t have the energy to pursue them and, with the end in sight (figuratively), we wanted to just get there.

At times, we would see some cool stuff and towards the end some glorious fall color! This canyon permit was for backcountry camping in the canyon (versus a designated site), so once we located the spring, we found a place to camp shortly after.

After reaching the Wildcat Spring, we decided to make camp close (but not too close). ** Wildcat Canyon permit is for backcountry sites, and there are no established sites, just that you cannot camp within 1/4 mile of the spring.

It was right after we set up camp that… IT STARTED SNOWING! Like, it really started snowing. We thought that we might get some rain, so we had prepped our stuff to go under the tarp and had set up the tent to be ready, but we were NOT EXPECTING it to snow.

SO... Lincoln and I jumped in the tent, where we had dinner. Shortly after, we heard a break in the snow, so we hiked back to the spring, filtered water, then got snowed on again as heading back to our campsite. From there, we hunkered down and got ready for a really, REALLY cold night.

DAY THREE: WILDCAT CANYON ---> WEST RIM TRAIL ---> ANGEL'S LANDING ---> ZION CANYON

Considering Day Two had been our longest backpacking day to date with 15 miles, Day Three was going to top that with 19 miles – and on tired legs!

To add to the challenge, it was COLD, COLD, COLD when we woke up and so hard to get out of the tent and moving. But, we did it. As quickly and efficiently as we could.

True, we did not get a lot of snow accumulation, but man! That air temperature was low!

The first bit of the hike we were a little sluggish. It was cold, we were still hiking up, and it was not the prettiest terrain that we had seen.

Add to that, that we had skipped breakfast because we were cold and just wanted to get going, so our energy was low. Despite low spirits, we reminded one another how lucky we were to be able to be out and hiking this trail. We pointed out views way to the east in the distance that were pretty.

And then, we came upon this overlook where we were quickly reminded of the beauty that we were hiking towards! (And stopped to chat with a couple, that also took our picture.)

Shortly after, we dipped into Horse Pasture Canyon, which (had there been more color) would have been SUPER pretty. So, considering the long day, the less than stellar scenery, add in a nasty climb, and I think this was a low point (figuratively) of the trip.

Thankfully, once we climbed out of that canyon is where the views started and DID NOT STOP UNTIL THE END!!!

To sum things up, the first half of Day Three was good (but least impressive views of the trip thus far), but the second half of Day Three was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF THE WHOLE TRIP. It was like the views didn’t end. They just changed and were cool view, after cool view, after cool view. And cool terrain to hike on and through. (This next batch of pictures is all of the West Rim.)

Eventually, we reached Cabin Spring -- the only spring that (supposedly) had water on the whole West Rim. Again, I had checked with the ranger the day we before left, who assured us that it was flowing. (In addition, I had another ranger tell me that, "In the 13 years that he had been there, Cabin Spring had never gone dry.") But, we got to this.

Nothing about this spring was "flowing." So, as unsafe as it probably was, we were able to filter 2 Nalgene bottles' worth (64 ozs) of water out of the bottom of that. Just enough to help us make it to the end.

From the top of the rim, we dropped (mostly down), then rolling, then up, before we descended to Scout's Landing. (This next set of pictures.)

Like I've said about a lot of this hike, but this part was REALLY COOL. A lot of the trail runs alongside the edge of the canyon. Once you got over the fear of falling off, you could see really awesome rock formations and views EVERYWHERE!

Now comes the "culmination" of the trip -- Angel's Landing! BUT seeing as though we were 38 miles into a 41 mile trip, on day three, completely tired, kinda hungry, and just wanted to be done... there are very minimal pictures to document this part. I wish I had more, because the experience of doing it was SO COOL! You basically hike/rock climb/boulder up 1/2 mile, using chains so as to not fall off the side of the mountain. You end at the top, with awesome 360 degree views.

To give you perspective, here are some picts from the internet:

We didn't take any pictures up or down, just at the top!

From there, it was climbing down (again, no pictures), then we hiked out Zion Canyon! To be D.O.N.E!!! Despite our rush, this was ANOTHER picturesque canyon, so I managed to snap a few pictures while hiking.