H2H2H Flagstaff to Humphrey's - and back

FKT time again!  Flagstaff weather this week is gorgeous, in between bouts of winter, so I clearly needed to make a run for the mountains while I still could.   I was happy to discover a version of Humphrey's Peak FKTs that involved starting at Heritage Square in downtown Flagstaff, running to the top of the mountain, then coming back down.  40+ miles and ~6000 feet - only one hill!

I had seen the whole route at one time or another, as part of the Flagstaff Loop, running over the pass on the AZT, scouting the in-town section, and most helpfully on a backpack trip with John this past summer.  I hadn't seen one part of the Schultz Pass trail in several years (and never in the uphill direction) but put a few stars on my Google Map and figured I could figure it out.

I stashed a gallon of water near Schultz Tank the day before, making it a self-supported attempt.  While I was there I checked out the pond - yes, still some water in it, but it looked quite shallow and muddy, so I opted against treating it (unsupported option) and stashed the water instead.

John dropped me off before he went to work and I got a couple photos at the start.  One with me:

And one with the location, but in the dark I didn't manage to get both me and the location in the same picture (I need to figure out a better way to do this when John isn't there to help):

I used a flashlight on the bike path, glad I had seen this part recently and didn't need to figure out the street crossings and the route around the pond.  I was slightly surprised to see a few other runners out, but Flagstaff has so many active outdoorsy people that I shouldn't have been.

I love this sculpture along the bike path:

Early dawn light with a view of the peaks that I'm heading toward:

Yep, just over there!  The pointy one on the left is Agassiz, and Fremont is on the right - Humphrey's Peak *might* be in the middle, but it's in the background and I'm never sure if it's visible or not:

At the trailhead for the start up toward Schultz Pass (do you suppose they'll ever put in a bathroom here?  Would be nice):

Loving the path that winds up through the Ponderosa pines:

Hmm, the one intersection I wasn't sure of.  I pulled out the phone to check - stay to the left, got it:

Making a note behind me to stay to the left on the return as well (also a nice look at the fun singletrack trail along here):

The "Secret Trail" from the top parking lot, angling out to the road:

Sunshine, yay!

I found my water jug and spent a few minutes filling the Camelbak bladder and Spiz baggie, tucking away the lights, and getting out the iPod and trekking poles.  Someday I'll find a vest that fits me and also can carry as much as my little red pack (which is slowly wearing out).

Just as I was gathering my stuff together, I saw a woman hiking up the trail so I jumped up and got moving.  No need to make someone step aside to let me pass if I can help it.

I headed on up the Weatherford Trail, ready for some long switchbacks up the side of the hill.  A less-than-stellar selfie at the wilderness boundary sign:

Aspens!  So pretty, even without their leaves:

Oh yeah, I forgot how many rocks there are on this part of the trail.  And down trees.  Eventually I reached the first saddle:

I like the traverse along the north side of Fremont Peak, all shady and a good trail without much up/down.

Back in June we had climbed through some snow drifts, but those were long gone.  Just a scattering from a recent bit of precipitation:

A brief break at the saddle on the west side of Fremont, then it was time to tackle the big switchback above treeline that you can see from various directions.  Hello over there, Humphrey's:

I like the view down into the bowl and imagine this might have once been a giant volcano, with lots of little cones all over the place:

An occasional glimpse back toward town, not easy to see though:

I passed a hiker on the switchbacks and he commented on my running speed.  I told him I wasn't exactly running, per se, but he seemed impressed anyway.

Another view to the north:

I love the rock formations up here, especially when I can frame Humphreys in between them:

And one more side of the mountain to take a picture of, this one in the direction of the Snow Bowl:

Now the trail leading up toward the summit - lots of rocks (big and small) and some nice trail signs along the way:

I tried to push the pace just a little, until my legs complained, then backed off until they didn't.  The altitude didn't bother me, so the summer/fall of hiking and climbing seemed to do some good.

After a couple small false summits (which are good to know about, glad we were here recently), I turned the corner to see the last section that eventually leads to the top:

The final short climb - there are a couple ways to go (and when it's windy that can help you decide), but it turns out that straight up works well:

Yay, back at the top of Arizona!  Also really happy that there's hardly any wind for once.  Made it to the top in 6:30.  I wonder if I can get back down in less than 5.5 hours?  And holy cow, Ted ran this whole up-and-back in 7:44!

Signing the log book:

Checking out the view - time to go back the same way:

On the way back across the rocky part, I met and chatted with the woman from the start of Weatherford Trail, also the guy I had passed on the way up the long switchbacks.  They also had a long day of climbing from Schultz Tank to the summit and back.

The fun traverse below Agassiz Peak - I enjoyed running this part and the big switchback down to the next saddle:

Tree tunnel - no snow today:

Starting down the other side of Doyle Saddle - I've never noticed this down in the trees before.  Just continuing my trend of seeing old crashed vehicles while running FKT's.

The lighting on the aspens was really nice in the afternoon:

The switchbacks were still rocky.  I was glad to be using trekking poles.  I'm not sure I descended much faster than I climbed up this part.

Finally back to runnable trail, yes!  And then back to the water jug.  I sat a few minutes, removed my tights, moved things around, eventually got myself moving again.  Only ~9 more miles and all the hard parts behind me.

Starting back down the Schultz Pass trail:

I was glad to be listening to podcasts to pass the time, not minding all the little ups and downs and how long this trail can seem sometimes.

Oh right, I should take a picture once in a while.  Back on the bike path and getting closer to town!

It got dark right before I arrived at the end - I didn't quite break 12 hours, but that's OK.  John was waiting for me, Hi Honey!!

Hey look, it's HER:

That was fun!

And I'm glad to be sitting down today  :)

Great Basin NP

Great Basin!  We had planned to visit at least once previously but got sidetracked and veered off.  Finally, we were parked reasonably close to it.  Considering how remote this National Park is, a drive of less than 3 hours could be called "close".  John had a bit of time between jobs and we prioritized the trip.

We're glad we did - it's a beautiful place.  The cave is currently covid-closed, but the trails are open and there's a big mountain to explore.  Here is Wheeler Peak (in the background on the right) from a park overlook, with a wonderful hands-on sculpture for another way of "seeing" it:

A bit of aspen color in the valley below - we've been lucky to see yellow-leaved aspens here and there this fall:

Oh, and this beautiful carving of a bristlecone pine graces the back of the sculpture:

Next mission = find those bristlecone pines in person.  We drove up the hill and set off on a hike in that direction:

There's one!  So gnarly and interesting - and old!  Some have been living for thousands of years.  Hard to imagine.

Mail check:

Reminds me of our Dad and his wood carvings - love you Dad!

Not tall but very majestic:

Hammerhead cones:

The trail continues up the valley toward the only glacier in Nevada, at the base of Wheeler Peak.  There is also a "rock glacier" here, which we've never heard of - this seems to be it:

We ate a snack and admired the scenery, and all the while John was making suggestions about taking a shortcut up to the top of Wheeler.  Initially I told him "no way" because we didn't have a topo map and I couldn't tell if his ideas would result in some ridiculous side-traverse adventure.  We planned to go back down and around to climb up on trails.

Then we saw this scree slope that seemed to lead up to the top of the ridge in between rock spires (with an airplane pointing the way for good measure):

Sure, why not, I'll try that.  Good training for rogaining, or something.  So we started up the steep scramble.  The rocks were loose but didn't slide far, and the slope was manageable for me.  We usually descend scree instead of trying to climb it; this was a different and interesting experience:

From there we could see the tiny glacier down in the shade:

A closer look at the glacier:

John took a couple photos, because he's a mountain goat and had plenty of time while I was working my way up the rock pile:

Made it to the big rock pillar!

Checking out the path above us, as it narrowed but didn't pose any particular obstacles:

Taking a minute to admire the fingers across the way - there's some great scenery around here:

Isn't it grand?!

Looking down the chute, just one long slope of scree scrambling:

We topped out on a small ridge and it was all easy rock-hopping from there over to the trail.  Nice!  Well, there were major wind gusts that threatened to bowl people over, but the trail itself was straightforward.  Some more climbing and eventually we were at the top of Wheeler Peak.  Lots of rocks up here too:

Excellent views, which would be even better on days without smoky haze (we've been getting wildfire haze off and on, but nothing nearly as bad as people in California are dealing with):

John contemplating other routes to the top (for another time):

The multitude of protective alcoves at the summit should tell you something about the amount of wind that typically blows through here - good place for a snack:

We followed trails back down, eventually (finally) making it off the windy ridge into the sheltered valley.  Thank you, Wheeler Peak!

Yep, we were there, and we enjoyed it!

We'd like to go back to Great Basin again someday, if our travels ever took us through that area (or if we nudged ourselves in that direction).  The campgrounds look nice, there are more trails to explore, and hopefully the cave will reopen eventually.  It's always worth a visit to a national park.

Zion NP - Kolob Canyons

Just a quick post for once!  We've done a few random things in the past several weeks, so I'll share some pictures and short stories.

Starting with the west side of Zion at the Kolob Canyons entrance.  It's so close to I-15 and we've driven past multiple times but never had the chance to stop.  It's not an easy place to access while towing a travel trailer, for one thing.  While we were staying at the Three Peaks park near Cedar City (which I can recommend - $5 sites, great views and fun rocks to explore), it was only a short drive and we took a morning to do that.

The main focus was a hike up Taylor Creek.  What a lovely trail, through autumn-colored trees and along running water.  And best of all, through lots of great rock layers and Zion-scale views.

So much geology to see along the way:

I didn't realize how much I missed running along actual running water.  It was cathartic.

And there's one of those views I was talking about - giant rounded formations with flat, vibrant sides:

One of the most colorful trees on the trail:

More views on the other side:

At the end of the trail is the Double Arch Alcove, a dark and cool destination.  We never figured out if there are actually two real arches, or just two arches-in-training, but it's beautiful nevertheless:

Hmm, almost looks like a "slice of Bryce", similar to nearby Bryce Canyon but stuck on the side of a high cliff:

The alcove, where we paused for a snack and to listen to voices echo:

One more great view, this one from the end of the road (with another short hike) and another reason to love Zion National Park.  I don't feel like we truly understand this place yet, but the good news is that there are plenty more trails and canyons to explore another time!