La Verkin Creek Backpack

It's that time of year again - when Dani gets 3 days off work! and we go to Zion.

We are going to throw these pictures in non-sequitur fashion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1udRGMJI8w&feature=youtu.be

North Guardian Angel (below)

Our original plan was to backpack the South Fork of the Virgin River - AKA "The Barracks".
However, rain was in the forecast - so we snagged backcountry campsite # 13 near La Verkin Creek in the Kolob area of the park.

Hammock Time!

Campsite #13 is the second to last on the La Verkin creek trail. We spent two nights here with Katie and Tyler.

When it rained we played cards in our make shift shelter, but the rain never really came like the weather people said - so we were graced with showers and sunshine.

We saw some Tarantulas and another insect called the "Jerusalem Cricket" - which is absolutely terrifying. Unfortunately - I can't find the photos of the cricket - so I snagged one from the interweb.

La Verkin Creek (below)

Oh Yeah! before we started our backpack we spent 1.5 days in the Kolob Terrace area of the park camped at Lava Point - and explored the North Gate peaks area.

Storm blowing in on Northgate Peak East.

Dusk near Northgate Peaks TH.

Forward in time back to La Verkin creek. We explored the upper headwaters of La Verkin and Willis Creek.

Waterfall - as far as we could go up Willis Creek.

Willis - La Verkin confluence (above)

Triple Traverse

 In September - Cole asked me to attempt the WURL - Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup

http://jasondorais.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-wurl.html

Cole in Stairs Gulch during a WURL preparation scramble

I did not want to do the WURL for the obvious reasons- but settled on a compromise. We would instead turn the ~25 miles of ridge hiking into a 2-day adventure broken up by a stay at one of Snowbird's lodges. We would also cut out the section of ridge from Cardiff Pass to the Tram. We would call this the WSWURL "Weak Sauce WURL". Needless to say we completed about 30% of the WSWURL - and have a long way to go to complete the WURL in its entirety.

Cole - Twin Peaks looking into LCC

To get myself ready - I started doing non-sensical things - like running at Liberty Park in the dark before work, a 5k followed by a day of DH biking, scrambling rock faces, climbing mountains. I even bought a pair of shoes that were billed for walking around on rocks!

Me - Twin Peaks with the city in the background

 Needless to say - I left a lot of good fall biking on the table.

We made it up Twin Peaks quickly and were moving fast towards Sunrise. All the training was paying off. However, it was not the fitness that ultimately had me worried - it was the scrambling.

Sunrise Peak

 There were two sections of the BCC ridge that had me concerned. The first was the section heading up Sunrise and the next was Monte Cristo. This concern was the reason I sought out several rock scrambling adventures prior.

Pano

However, what ultimately got me was the extended section of ridge line from the top of Tanner's slide path to the Little Pine Couloir. This section was slightly downhill for a sustained distance and knife edge. The fact that we spent much of this section not going up made it very difficult.

Tanner's Slide Path to LCC road

I was mentally exhausted when we reached the Little Pine Couloir -  and not feeling up for an attempt on the Monte Cristo section. We decided to bail towards BCC and Lake Blanche.

Time to bail

 Once I get a chance to do the Monte Cristo section I can confirm, but bailing was likely more difficult than continuing. ~3 hours later we made it down several cliff bands to Lake Blanche.

Somewhere above Lake Blanche

Lake Blanche is awesome.

2015 Park City P2P

7:17:57

73.3mi

12, 069ft

4^th Place SS

ENDURO!

So much fun, it sucks I have to wait a whole year before I get to do it again!  Loads of singletrack with new additions and re-routes, especially the Round Valley portion, made for another fantastic race.  After some Strava-stalking of people I didn’t know, I realized that this year’s SS category was gonna be super tough, especially with Corey and Quin racing too.  After Pierre’s Hole, the game plan was to stay with those two for as long as I could and hope for the best.  Jay had us starting in the rears with the Open Men, which was great until we rolled up to a giant traffic jam at the start of the singletrack.  Despite this, the Round Valley section flowed really well; while Corey, Quin, and I rode together chasing Dax who was several hundred yards in front.  We all rode into the Deer Valley aid station together, with Dax starting the climb up to the Flagstaff loop out in front.  Quin and I climbed up Team Big Bear for a ways until he made an attack to catch Dax that I couldn’t match.  All the while, my Solomon hydration pack was leaking GU Roctane all over my leg and arm as I descended Flagstaff and entered the enduro section.  This would cause some nutrition issues later during the John’s descent and Steps climb, which is where I lost contact with Corey.  Out of hydration due to the aforementioned leak, I was praying to the mtb gods for water at the yurt atop the Steps climb.  Not sure if it was luck or divine intervention, but volunteers had set up an aid right at the yurt…coke, bananas, and water!  After this, the climb up to Shadow Lake was great, and especially the 5 miles or so of descending to PCMR.  Though the rigid was a tad bit rowdy going down on CMG. 

Smellin' hamburgers

Coming out of the PCMR aid is always a kick in the nuts, it was the only spot I decided to hike the bike.  Hitting the Iron Mtn section, I was greeted by some rain and hail that lasted about half an hour.  After this came one of my favorite sections of trail in the Wasatch, the section of Mid-Mtn from the Crest Connector to the top of Rob’s.  Adrenaline was definitely pumping after this descent, and it carried me through to the finish, 17 minutes behind Dax.

Top spot goes to AJ

To add, the 34x21 felt pretty good and the Endless cog was awesome, much quieter than the Chris King cogs.  Also seeing those full suspension single speeds is creating some unhealthy thoughts…hard to beat the Pivot Les though.  Next up, the 25 hrs of Frog Hollow in November.

Thanks again to Jay, Shannon, and all the volunteers for making it happen.