We Love Cracks

Crack #1: Up at the butt-crack of dawn (sorry, couldn't help it) to see sunrise, but from where the campsite was it was going to take a while for anything to actually develop. At this point in the trip, tearing down camp and getting ready for a hike was getting to be very efficient. We filled up our Camelbaks, grabbed some Clif bars, and set off for the trailhead. Now I told Nick and JJ that this hike wasn't going to be very big, but I definitely underestimated it. I did this same hike with Joey Boy 3 years ago. It is the North Kaibab Trail and it is the only trail from North Rim that goes down into the canyon. When I did it with Joe, he barely made it out alive. I wasn't going to actually let him die, but he was wearing a thermal long sleeve with a cotton t-shirt wrapped around his head to protect him from sunburn. I'm going out on a limb, and guessing he had some severe heat exhaustion going on. Nick and JJ, in my opinion, were more ready for this hike than Joe was then. That's why I assumed they would be fine with adding on a little bit more distance.

I was thinking we would do 3 miles down, but that turned out to be a hike that a lot of people do. And since we are the ULTRA boys, we had to push it a little farther. The next actual landmark was 1.7 mi past that, so it ended up being a 9.4 mi hike RT. 4.7 straight down, and 4.7 straight up. Now we moved at a decent pace down the trail (obviously), but even with taking pictures and taking it all in, we got to our turnaround in an hour and fifty minutes. We chilled out near a creek and snacked and rehydrated. I think we started this one earlier than my last hike, so we got the sun when it was really low in the sky and colors were just popping out of the canyon walls. JJ was amazed/terrified at the sheer drop-offs along the trail. I know Nick was liking this hike, too. As we started our grueling climb out, the temperatures started to rise. It was probably close 90 degrees by 9:00 in the canyon. We were moving at a good pace, and I tried to get them to slow it down a little bit so we could extend our stamina. That didn't really happen at all. We finished the hike out of the canyon only 20 min slower than we had gone down. That's pretty ridiculous, no matter how far you go.

We each drank about 2 liters of water once we got out and then took a few minutes before loading in the car to head to Zion. 30 seconds into our drove we hear something fall off the roof, and notice it's JJ's sunglasses. He then had to run back up the road to grab his shades, and I think that was the breaking point for him. The hike was tough and having that extra little bit, just put him over the edge. At the end of the 45 mile road leading to the park is a small inn that has the best cookies/milkshakes ever. I discovered this place from a fellow hiker when I was on the trail with Joe. I tried to use the milkshakes as motivation for JJ and Nick during the hike. I think it worked. As soon as we got to the place, we headed straight to the milkshake counter. They were still delicious with milk shake above the rim of the cup when they serve it to you. Now we were ready to head to Zion.

Crack #2: I had been talking about Zion NP a lot and was really building it up. It was my favorite park last trip and I was hoping it would be the same this time. The drive into the park is very impressive coming from the East entrance. You have to go through a 1.1 mile tunnel to start seeing some views, and once you pop out of the tunnel you are blown away by the scenery. Apparently this area used to be contain the largest sand dunes in the world and then they got carved out by wind, rivers, and rain to just become giant cliffs, peaks, and monoliths. I love it there. We didn't even worry about getting to the campsite, it was straight to the Narrows.

The Narrows are the area of the canyon where the floor of the canyon is just the Virgin River. There are a few beaches here and there, but for the most part you are hiking, wading, and swimming through the river to get deeper into the canyon. We went about 2.5 mi in and it did not disappoint. Everyone was blown away by the whole experience. I had only gone in about 150 yds last time I was here (Steve was just waiting at the trailhead because he was afraid of getting his blisters infected.) The canyon walls were so impressive, and just thinking about how the river had carved them out was fascinating. The water was about 60 degrees but we only felt that for the first 30 seconds then it was just a nice rush of epinephrine for the next 2 hours. On our way back, JJ decided to get lazy (again) and just float down the river. Bear Grills taught me to put my pack across my chest and then float. When I tried that, the bag inflated right into my face and I could barely see in front of me. Not sure how well that worked, but I tried. We finally got out of the Narrows, barreled past a bunch of European tourists and got back to the campground. Dinner was OK, I learned that Mountain House is much better than Backpacker's Pantry, and it was time for bed. JJ was pretty beat up from the day so he headed into the tent first. When Nick and I attempted to go in, it smelled like meat and was very warm, ewwwwww. We were forced to take the fly off and let it air out for a while before we went in. Even then it was pretty bad, but what can you expect from 3 bro's camping for 4 days straight. Short hike tomorrow morning, then it's off to Vegas baby. ULTRA day 10/39: COMPLETE

JM