La Verkin Creek Trail and Hop Valley Trail Report:
Once again, I will link to Joe's guide for better trail descriptions and pictures.
http://www.citrusmilo.com/zionguide/laverkincreek.cfm
http://www.citrusmilo.com/zionguide/hopvalley.cfm
I arrived at the Lee's Pass trail head early in the morning. I thought I had the place to myself, not a single car in the ranger station or at the first trail head (Taylor Creek). I was surprised to see several cars at the Lee's Pass parking area. I saw one group of runners preparing, actually only one guy was running, the other two came back to their car. I asked if he was doing the whole trek. Yes, they replied. Someday, I told them. Looks like I would have Hoka footprints to follow. Gathered my gear and headed out. My goal was to hike the technical sections and slowly run where I could. I am pretty familiar with the first part of today's journey. I really enjoy this hike, very scenic. The trail was in rough shape. They allow horses on this trail, which I have no problem with, but the horses went out in wet conditions and trashed the trail. It was now rock hard dry clay with horse tracks. Pretty slow going until the trail smoothed out. One of my favorite sections of this hike is the areas in between the stream crossings. Very barefoot friendly, but doesn't last long.
The trail then goes up and over a ridge and you see the La Verkin Creek section of the trail. About 2 miles of sandy trail. The trail to Kolob Arch splits off to the north while the La Verkin Creek continues to the East at 6 miles into the journey. After another .3 of a mile and crossing the main creek, the Hop Valley Trail splits to the south. It was a good uphill to get out of the canyon and into Hop Valley. Some people call it Plop Valley because of all the cow crap, but at this time, there wasn't any cows to be seen. Quite a few stream crossings and miles of sand. Very scenic. I love the sunlight on the red rocks here. (notice the sandy trail)
One more good uphill and then a gradual decent to the Hop Valley trail head. Note: Just before the trail head, the Connector trail splits off. This was not marked as the Connector Trail, the sign is marked Wildcat Canyon with an arrow.
OK, halfway done and I was feeling good. Pace was well within my goal. Shoes off (MT110 winter boots, which worked perfectly for the sand and stream crossings). Here is the view heading back. I've got to return beyond the big red rocks in the center.
I really enjoyed being barefoot for this return trip on the Hop Valley trail. My legs did not seem as heavy and the stream crossing were not a problem. The two accents (descents on the return trip) were not a problem, I just had to take them slower. I arrived back at the junction of the Kolob arch trail and decided I had come this far, I better go see the arch. I remained barefoot and this took quite a while. This trail is technical. Hind-site, I probably should have put my sandals on. Did the remainder of the sandy part of the La Verkin trail barefoot and then put on my Unshoes sandals for the rest of the way. It started to get hot and I was running out of water. A few clouds and soaking my hat in the creek saved my bacon. I celebrated in my mind as 26.2 registered on my GPS. Another marathon distance completed. The hard horse tracks were hard on my feet, but I wasn't going to mess with putting the MT110's on. At this point I was done running and completed the uphill to the trail head hiking.
28.5 miles total with 10 of those being barefoot. About 8 hours. I did not anticipate the elevation change and the toll the sand would take. I was pretty tired at the end. Still a great hike and a successful scouting trip. I have now seen most of the Zion Traverse trails and can do some good planning for the whole journey. I am now thinking that West to East would be the best way to go. Putting the Hop Valley and La Verkin trails at the end of the hike with tired legs would be very difficult.
