Capitol Reef Adventure Run – 42 miles

Capitol Reef National Park is one of the lesser-known parks in Utah.  The park is in a remote area of south-central Utah that did not have a paved road going to the area until 1962.  In 1971 President Nixon signed a bill to make the area into a national park.  This park is still a relatively secret national treasure compared to the other well-known parks in Utah.  It is an ultrarunner’s paradise because of its solitude, spectacular scenery, primitive and rugged trails, slot canyons, and gorgeous slick rock.

The major feature of the park is the Waterpocket Fold.  This is a remarkable, nearly 100-mile long up-thrust extending like a rugged spine from Thousand Lake Plateau southward to Lake Powell.  On the east side of the Waterpocket Fold is an extremely long valley that extends the length of the Waterpocket Fold.   Bordering the east side of the valley are high cliffs of Halls Mesa.  Winding through the valley is Halls Creek normally dry but runs full of water during flood run-off times.  This valley can be brutally hot during the summer and surprisingly warm in the winter.

It had been six years since I had run in the park.  I returned wanting to do a long run, getting away from the cold and snow.   I decided that I would start at the trailhead at “The Post” and try to run as far as I could down the valley, perhaps all the way to Lake Powell.   The distance can vary greatly depending on the route.  You can run along the winding riverbed or try to follow the remnants of the old Halls Crossing wagon road that travels mostly straight through the valley. 

The park is about 3.5 hours from my home, but the trailhead is another hour drive, including 40 miles of soft dirt road.   I arrived at “The Post” at 9 p.m. and then slept in my car until 1:45 a.m.  My plan was to start at 2:30 a.m. and go as far as I could down the valley in six hours, and then return.  Running during the night for the trip down would work out fine, because it is pretty much impossible to get lost.   The Halls Creek valley is about a half mile across, bounded by steep slopes on each side.  If I lost the trail, I could simply run in the dry Halls Creek.

At 2:30 a.m., I was away.  It was a pleasant 35 degrees.  I signed the trail register and noticed that no one had signed it for more than a month. This was remote!  When people do come to this location, they usually hike the spectacular Muley Twist Canyon, a spectacular 8-mile canyon that snakes in the middle of the Waterpocket Fold.  I’ve run that canyon three times before, utterly amazing, but today I would travel more remotely.  I knew I wouldn’t see anyone else along the way.  I was on my own.  I would basically be trying to accomplish a five-day backpacking trip in about 12 hours.

I would try as much as possible to stay on the old wagon road that keeps a straight path down the valley, instead of following the winding river.   The wagon road was developed in 1880s for access to Halls Crossing at the Colorado River.  But the wagon road isn’t much of a road anymore.   It now is a faint single-track trail depressed in the desert floor from the weight of years of wagons and horses.   Now it even gets very little boot traffic because the area is so remote.   But I noticed plenty of coyote tracks on that trail and it looked like the coyotes were maintaining the trail more than hiker boots.

I quickly discovered that staying on the trail would be a major navigation challenge.  I had a few waypoints set on my GPS, but not enough to really help.  It took me quite awhile to develop the skill to stay on the faint trail.  It was overgrown with low bushes, and when it crossed over the river and other creek beds, it was very tough to pick it up on the other side because of the lack of cairns.   But to me, this was part of the fun challenge, trying to run and navigate at night.  At times I would just follow coyote tracks and many times they would get me back on the main trail.

I did pretty well for the first five miles where the trail is more distinct, but after that I lost it over and over again and this was slowing me down.  I went and visited Muley Tanks, an enormous pool in the slickrock at the base of the Waterpocket Fold.   It was frozen over.   From there, I just couldn’t find the trail again and for the next half hour just went cross-country using my GPS.  But my pace was slow and finally I decided that I wanted to run, not hike, so I dropped down into the very wide Halls Creek riverbed and had a blast running fast in the compacted sand.  When the creek would turn, it would be filled with rocks, turning my broad trail into a pretty technical obstacle course. 

Soon I noticed water appearing in the creek.  There would be long sections where a small amount would be flowing, but then it would disappear again for a few miles.   At one wet spot, I made the mistake of running into quicksand.   It sucked me into my shins.   I would have wet feet for the rest of the run.  What was funny is that on the way back, I again ran through this exact spot again.

I realized that I wouldn’t need to worry about finding water.   I was carrying on my back two liters of emergency water, but I wouldn’t need to drink much of that because I could keep filling my water bottle along the way.  During summer months this section is parched and water can only be found in some waterpocket tanks.

A night obstacle illusion really boggled my mind.  As I ran along the riverbed, it seemed like I was always running uphill.  But I knew this was impossible because the creek flowed to Lake Powell. It really looked like and felt like I was running uphill.  I even had to stop and look at the waterflow carefully to convince myself that I was actually running down hill.   For the section I ran, the creek would actually lose nearly 1000 feet.

The starry night was spectacular.  At times I would turn out my light and just look up into the sky.  I was so far away from any town or city so there was absolutely no light pollution.  It seemed like I could see millions of stars. But then I saw a light up on the mesa. It looked like the moon was rising, but there was no moon.  Finally I concluded that it must be some car headlights at Hall Creek Overlook.   They turned out but later turned on again and were shining brightly down toward me.  As I continued to run, I noticed that the light was now above the top of the mesa, floating in the sky!  I was astounded to realize that I was looking at Venus rising.  I couldn’t get over how bright it was here in the dark desert.

My night run continued well.  Finally I could see the glow of dawn appearing.  I could tell that a spectacular sunrise was coming, so I climbed out of the creek and made my way to the Waterpocket Fold in order to climb up and get a better view.

Climbing and running all over the white sandstone slickrock was a blast.  I could see why they named this the Waterpocket Fold because there were plenty of pockets in the slickrock with puddles of water.  The sunrise was spectacular.  I had such an amazing feeling watching it, knowing that I was in such a remote location, and the only one there to see it.

After the color show was over, I made my way down from the Waterpocket Fold and continued my run.   I soon arrived at Halls Narrows.  The creek started carving its way into the Waterpocket Fold making a spectacular three-mile winding slot canyon.   I knew continuing would involve wading and swimming, nothing I was interested in doing, so instead I headed up and over using the wagon trail to Halls Divide.  Going up I couldn’t find the trail, but at the top I did and running down the other side was a complete blast. 

At the other side of Halls Narrows, I did a little exploring inside the Narrows until deep water stopped me from going further.  Back out, I looked at my watch.  It was 8:45 a.m. time to turn back.  I was very close to the park boundary and about six miles from Lake Powell.  It would have been nice to make it to Lake Powell, but I had already run 21 miles.   I could always return and try to go further.

Back up on Halls Divide, I stopped for breakfast and to shed my jacket.  I would have to stick with the long pants because they were needed for protection against all the prickly bushes and tumble weeds along the way.

Now with daylight, it was much easier to stay on the wagon trail.   It was still pretty faint but I got very good in being able to relocate it.  If I lost it, I would simple do a big zig-zag ahead and would always find it again because it just went straight.

The scenery was spectacular and my pace slowed and I had to stop often for pictures.   The formations and colors were an amazing sight.

I wanted to see the double Brimhall Arch which actually is a bridge because it was create by water.   I figured out the right slot canyon to run up in the fold.   It was pretty frigid inside, and there were even ice pools.

The canyon made a sharp turn in the fold and I had to climb up a cool rock ladder that someone had constructed.  

But soon my way was blocked by a deep pool.  I recalled reading about this.  I was hopeful that I could still get a glimpse of the arch, so I instead climbed high up, as high as I could go.  I scaled up a crack and then made my way along a cliff ledge.  I was disappointed to see that my view was still blocked.  My GPS was telling me that I was only about 1000 feet away from it, but I couldn’t see it.  

I could see a good way down on the other side to avoid the pool, but it was too risky, I really needed a rope.   So I turned back but really enjoyed the time exploring inside the Waterpocket Fold.  There are dozens of similar slot canyons in the fold.  You could explore for days.

Back out into the valley, I continued my run back up the valley.  When I lost the trail again, I decided to take a detour and run into the foothills of the Waterpocket Fold.  

The colors were spectacular and I had a blast running up and down the ridges.  This place is truly a runner’s playground.  Finally I came back out and went back to work to finish up my run

 

The afternoon temperature was starting to get warm, into the 50s.  I was glad that it wasn’t much warmer.  This was perfect for a warm winter run. 

I realized that I had not needed to drink much because of the cool weather.  I would go through only two water bottles for the first 21 miles and four for the last 21 miles.

The views were ever-changing.  I ran up Muley Twist creek far enough to pick up a trail I knew started at the mouth of the canyon. I was able to make good time and run some good fast long stretches.   I recalled how I had “run” this remaining stretch back in 2002 after about ten miles.  It had been a painful death march that left me injured.  But today after running nearly 40 miles, my legs felt fresh as I was springing up and down the rolling trail.  What a difference.

Finally my car came into sight and I finished my 42-mile run in about 12 hours, 20 minutes.  It had been a perfect day.  I love doing these adventure runs even more than running in the races.  For me, this it running at its finest.   I reached home by 7:30 p.m.