We made our first trip to Springdale, Utah last March to run the Zion Half Marathon and visit Zion National Park, completing our circuit of the Mighty 5 in Utah. However, both of us were coming back from injury at the time so Kurt wasn’t able to run the race while we were there. Thankfully, he was able to defer his race registration to this year, so here we are again.
Our travels got off to a bumpy start though due to flight delays on Wednesday night that didn’t have us arriving into Las Vegas until well after midnight. So, we opted to rebook our flight to Thursday morning, which allowed us to get a full night’s sleep at home (and, catch a view of a snowy Grand Canyon in the daylight). It all worked out fine in the end, and we headed straight to Springdale after landing in Vegas (with a lunch stop at The Painted Pony in St. George, Utah; pro tip: Get the cheesecake tower for dessert).
After getting our bearings of the area last year, we were excited to be staying at Cable Mountain Lodge this time around. The lodge is perfectly situated for our needs with the race expo/shuttle/finish AND the pedestrian entrance into Zion NP both located just steps away from our room.
We got settled into our room then headed over to the Visitor Center to pick up our park pass for the weekend. The weather was perfect for a run, so we laced up our shoes and explored the paved Pa’rus Trail in the park. The trail follows the Virgin River from the Visitor Center to Canyon Junction (3.5 miles roundtrip, 50 feet elevation gain). It was a popular trail with plenty of walkers and a couple of bikers. The scenery was top notch!
The temps drop quickly once the sun goes down. We walked over to the nearby Zion Canyon Brew Pub for dinner and then called it an early night after a long day of travel.
Kurt worked remotely on Friday, so I walked over to Cafe Soleil to pick up lunch to go then I visited the race expo set up right next to the lodge.
It was a beautiful day, so I decided to venture out solo for a hike in the afternoon. A first for me!
The Watchman Trail begins at the Visitor Center and winds up to a viewpoint of the Towers of the Virgin, lower Zion Canyon, and Springdale (3.3 miles, 368 feet elevation gain). A park ranger told us yesterday to expect mud from the melting snow…boy, was he right! Aside from a short loop trail to the Watchman Overlook at the top, the trail was a pretty straightforward out-and-back hike.
Always a creature of habit, I insisted that we have our pre-race pasta dinner at Dulivia again this year. We loaded up with carbs then made it an early night because we had an early morning ahead of us on Saturday. We awoke to the sound of the wind howling outside, which was not a great sign for what was to come. Not wanting to endure 1.5 hours in the cold again waiting for the race to start like I did last year, I opted for one of the last shuttle buses to the start instead of one of the first buses. Kurt wanted a little more time to take care of his pre-race business (warm-up, gear drop, bathroom, etc)., so he left a bit earlier than I did. Regardless, both of us appreciated that one of the pick-up locations for the shuttle was at our hotel, so we simply had to walk out of our door to get loaded up for the bus ride 13.1 miles down the canyon road to the race start.
VR Course description: Run the beautiful road to Zion. This course is a challenging but incredibly beautiful steady climb towards the mouth of main Zion Canyon (Elevation Gain: 590 ft). The half marathon course begins in Virgin, UT (3,561 feet) where you’ll run on a partially closed road that winds and climbs uphill as it follows the curves of the Virgin River. Aside from the initial hard left turn at the start, there are no major turns or chances of getting lost. The course follows SR-9 all the way to Springdale. You will pass by some small but unique towns such as Virgin, Grafton, and Rockville before getting on a paved path parallel to the road. You will see stunning views of the southwest side of Zion as you make your way toward the canyon. You’ll finish in Springdale in front of Cable Mountain Lodge near the gateway to the South entrance of Zion National Park!
Note in the race pictures that we are both wearing PANTS! With temps in the upper 20’s and the feels like temps in the lower 20’s due to the strong winds, we each made the decision to stay warm instead of running in shorts. It was the right call for the conditions!
Each of us had a specific race plan from our coach with extra miles scheduled for before and after the race, as this was a long run ahead of our marathons next month. But, the logistics of the point-to-point course, the difficulty of running at moderate altitude for flatlanders, and the cold weather with a headwind threw that plan out the window.
Since I ran the race last year, I knew what to expect. In contrast, Kurt was surprised by how challenging it was. We thought that he might have a shot at the Masters Course Record, but he had to settle for First Overall Masters. Besides a special medal, he won an annual National Parks pass, which is definitely one of the best race awards he’s received.
Meanwhile, even though my time was nothing special given the difficulty of the course and the race conditions, it was good enough to place 3rd in my age group. In contrast to Kurt, I’ve only won a handful of AG awards so it was a real treat for me to stand on the podium.
Not unlike a typical long run day at home, we spent the rest of the day eating and relaxing (not adventuring). And, just like last year, we had our post-race dinner at Bit and Spur.
On the day after the race last year, we attempted to hike Angels Landing, but we were thwarted by the icy conditions of the trail. Having learned from that experience, we came prepared this time with microspikes to put on our hiking boots as needed…and, with a permit for the hike (a permitting system was implemented after our trip last year to reduce crowding on the narrow trail). Unlike last year, we were able to drive directly into the park this weekend, whereas last year you could only access that part of the park via shuttle bus (the buses are scheduled to start running next weekend). Without any warning, we were turned away from entering the Scenic Road when we arrived around 9:45am due to congestion (no parking spaces were available). We were extremely frustrated, and we had to quickly regroup for a Plan B.
So, we drove to a different area of the park to explore a popular trail near the east entrance of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel where we couldn’t find parking last year. We lucked out finding a parking spot this time, so we were able to hike to the Canyon Overlook (1 mile round-trip, 163 ft elevation gain). It was a short, but good hike that ended at a viewpoint for Pine Creek Canyon and lower Zion Canyon.
The Scenic Road was still closed when we drove back by after our hike, so we said goodbye to the park at that point and grabbed lunch in Springdale before heading back to Vegas early. We made a detour in St. George, Utah on the way though for a short hike on the outskirts of Snow Canyon State Park.
The Cinder Cone trail is a steep and short hike up to the top of one of the ancient volcanoes in Southern Utah, but we explored another offshoot of the trail first before reversing course to then (attempt) to check out the crater. I quickly determined that I didn’t like the loose volcanic rock on the steep part of the trail up to the top (and, I knew that it would take me forever to slip and slide my way back down it), so we skipped it.
And, with that, another successful race and travel adventure came to an end. We won’t be traveling again until our marathons in April so that we can focus on training. But, I have a lot of fun international adventures planned after that!