Day 64 – 5/16/16
27.5 map / 29.4 GPS miles
962.4 / 1042.9 miles total

We got an early start today so we could do a bigger day in setup for a nicely timed finish tomorrow. It’s so easy to make miles on nice trail! 

The morning on the West Rim plateau was lovely, and we breezed through Wildcat Canyon followed by the excitingly named “connector trail”. 

Just in time for our lunch break, a thunderstorm moved in. It was the slowest moving thunderstorm I’ve ever witnessed. We ended up taking a 1:45 lunch break waiting for the rain and hail to pass. It wouldn’t have been a big deal to walk through it, but with our Cowboy stories to read, the time passed quickly. 

Side story: back in 2008, one of my very first backpacking trips was the reverse of the route we are doing through Zion (Lee Pass to the main canyon). I LOVED that trip. This is now my 5th visit to Zion. It’s really cool to be re-hiking this trail, seeing it in a different season (last time was late September) and with an entirely different perspective. I remember the “connector trail” in 2008 being so difficult to follow through the sea of sand and sagebrush, and being so woefully short on water, that my partner and I decided to roadwalk up to the next trailhead to make sure we didn’t get lost or die of dehydration. Perhaps the trail has been improved in the past 8 years, or perhaps I’ve learned to spot trail better, but today it was a total cruise-control no brainer (probably some of both). 

On through Hop Valley, which I remember being full of cows, brown and ugly. Today it was a vibrant green set against the red cliffs, some cow pies, yes, but no actual animals in sight. We also saw piles of hail from the earlier thunderstorm on the ground and melting down off the rock from up high. 

Down at La Verkin creek, we met some folks who claimed to have been stuck there for hours, unable to cross the creek or even a little feeder stream because it had swelled so much from the thunderstorm. It was hard to tell if “unable” meant “unable to cross without getting our gigantic leather boots wet” or “we thought we would get swept away”. By the time we were there the main creek was muddy but only mid calf deep. 

We took the little side trip to Kolob Arch. I’d warned Bubs it was a letdown, and once there, she agreed. It’s a fine arch I’m sure, but due to it’s positioning flat against a cliff and where you can view it from, it’s really hard to even tell it’s an arch. 

In camp, we read some more of our story and rehearsed our finish photo poses for tomorrow.
Bonus: Who wore it better?