Snow Day
You’ll have to excuse my absence for the past several days (and for the next couple of days). You see, I’ve been getting job and family stuff taken care of so that The Hammer and I could head out on our annual anniversary trip.
You see, tomorrow is our five-year anniversary. Yep, five years.
Five years ago
Every anniversary, we head out to Zion National Park and stay in one of the cabins at the park lodge for a few days. We mountain bike. We road bike. We hike. We run on pavement. We run on trails.
We pretty much do what we love doing together. For us, it’s a perfect vacation. A perfect vacation which requires a huge number of very different kinds of shoes.
Yes, this is really all the shoes we brought along on our trip. For a fun exercise, see if you can determine the brand and name of each pair of shoes, as well as what activity each pair of shoes is for and to whom each pair belongs.
Right now, however, neither of us is wearing any shoes, because it’s snowing in Zion National Park. A blizzard, basically. Stay-inside weather.
So, not a bad time to sit by the fire and tell you about yesterday’s unexpectedly awesome hike.
Friends to the Rescue
The Hammer and I reserved our cabin and arranged time off from our jobs months ago, so we watched with increasing dismay as the weather forecast for Southern Utah has turned unseasonably cold and unseasonably wet. But we loaded road and mountain bikes for both of us anyway, as well as shoes for pretty much any occasion.
And a good thing, too. Because our bike shoes have remained unused, and our bikes have remained locked up to the truck, getting colder and wetter as our trips progress.
On our first day here, though, The Hammer got me out on a run on the road up the canyon to the end of the “River Walk” trail and back to our lodge. We’d guess that it’s about a nine-mile run, though — thanks to a very narrow canyon, The Hammer’s GPS had some trouble getting us a reading, leading to what I consider the most awesome Strava track of all time (check it out soon, cuz The Hammer says she’s going to be deleting it within a couple days).
But the weather didn’t look good for the next few days, and there was just no way I was going to do a big run every day of the trip. I’m just not conditioned for that.
And then Kenny and Heather rescued us, by crashing our anniversary trip.
“Let’s hike the East Rim Trail,” they said. Eleven miles, point to point. None of us had ever done it before, but on paper it looked like a lot of fun.
Paper, as it turns out, didn’t remotely do this beauty of a hike justice.
East Rim
Zion National Park is famous for its cliffs and red sandstone beauty. So it was just a little bit surreal to start our hike in a snowstorm, with the red cliffs covered in snow and us dressed like this:
What was really great about it, though, was how the snow completely changed the experience of hiking in Southern Utah. The color palette changed from being dominated by reds and browns to white and green.
A half foot of powder wasn’t enough to make for really slow going, but it was enough to soften and mute our footsteps.
Somehow, being able to see snow clinging to the walls — and resting at the bottom — of Jolley Gulch made it even more vertigo-inducing.
Here’s Kenny, contemplating whether rolling a giant snowball off a cliff counts as trundling.
There’s something really wonderful about hiking with a group of people who are all more-or-less the same temperament and fitness as you. We chatted and laughed the whole time, staying warm by staying in motion. Taking quite a few pictures on the go, but rarely stopping for more than a minute or two for another group selfie.
What was kind of amazing was how, as we descended 2500 feet in about six miles, the depth of snow gradually decreased, and then disappeared.
In the end, this trail connects with the Observation Point trail, where all the recent rain has made the moss on the rock walls grow vivid green:
Total time, about 5:15. A longish, but by no means brutal hike. So unlike what I’ve ever experienced — or would expect to experience — in this area.
Unexpected awesomeness is sometimes the best kind of awesomeness.
And that’s not even taking into account the “Big Ass Double Burger” with sweet potato fries I ate at Oscar’s afterward.
Comment by AngieG | 03.2.2015 | 12:20 pm
Congratulations!!! Awesomeness at any level is, well, Awesome. Have a wonderful trip. Miss you both.
Comment by zeeeter | 03.2.2015 | 12:49 pm
Fantastic part of the world. We did the emerald pools trail to the top last year. Left the lodge at 90 degrees, and experienced a heavy hailstorm which left the ground white at the top. In July! Spectacular place to hang out – enjoy your time there.
Comment by MattC | 03.2.2015 | 1:15 pm
Sadly, we’ve never been there…pathetic, considering it’s only around a 10 (or so?) hour drive. It’s on my list tho. Very cool of you to have this nice little anni-vacation every year (we order carry-out Chinese…kind of ho-hum in comparison but it works for us).
Fatty…your slippers are SO cute! (and don’t even bother denying that you’ve ever worn them!)
Comment by MattC | 03.2.2015 | 1:16 pm
Maybe “Annication” works better…
Comment by Scott | 03.2.2015 | 1:29 pm
Happy Anniversary!
Comment by BostonCarlos (formerly NYC) | 03.2.2015 | 2:36 pm
wow… I can’t believe it’s your 5th anniversary already! Congratulations! Time flies when we’re all having so much fun.
Comment by Corrine | 03.2.2015 | 3:08 pm
Happy Anniversary and glad you had a great trip in spite of the weather. I have always wanted to go to Zion. Very envious. And I can’t believe how many pairs of shoes you guys brought. That’s amazing. And I bet you would have used all of them, if it hadn’t been for the snow!
Comment by MikeL | 03.2.2015 | 3:10 pm
Too cool. Congrats.
Comment by Kate | 03.2.2015 | 3:39 pm
We were at Zion for the first time this summer and it was beautiful. An overnight was definitely not enough time. Your hike sounds wonderful, the shoe picture is hilarious, and my efforts to learn map and compass navigation/orienteering have led to some Strava maps that legitimately look like the one in your picture.
Happy anniversary!
Comment by MattC | 03.2.2015 | 4:00 pm
Oh, and just a random thought…hopefully you actually WENT somewhere in your super-nice duds (the 1st pic) and didn’t just do that for the pic…(not sure where you would go up there dressed like that, but there must be SOMEWHERE).
If not I give you HUGE credit getting Hammer all gussied up like that for just a pic outside sitting on a bike ’sidesaddle’. You’re both looking mighty nice I might add.
That’s a wedding picture. – FC
Comment by Jeff Dieffenbach | 03.2.2015 | 4:52 pm
Fatty is great.
The Oatmeal is great.
This Fatty post is about mountains and running.
This Oatmeal classic is about mountains and running.
It had to be done.
Comment by spaceyace | 03.2.2015 | 6:30 pm
Happy anniversary! Love the bike wedding pic. And the green moss/red rocks pic.
Comment by Sylvia S. | 03.2.2015 | 9:21 pm
Happy anniversary! What a beautiful place to be. :-)
Comment by Justin L | 03.2.2015 | 9:25 pm
First HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
SECOND…. i know you got the wahoo kicker, but i gotta tell you, with my wahoo i just got into the beta with Zwift.com it is amazing. i rode for an hour tonight around the island, the wahoo adjusts for up and down each hill, it was amazing, most fun i ever had on a trainer. as i sit here, i keep thinking i wanna get up and ride again. You are a technology guy, you gotta get into the world and check it out if you haven’t. I never thought i could ride indoors, its great
Comment by Mark in Bremerton | 03.2.2015 | 9:26 pm
Happy Anniversary! Beautiful country, definitely on our list.
Comment by Joan | 03.3.2015 | 1:24 am
5 years already? Wow, time flies. Happy Anniversary. What a great trip and amazing photos.
Comment by Tom in Albany | 03.3.2015 | 6:43 am
Happy Anniversary Fatty and The Hammer!! Many more!!
I love Zion. I can’t wait to go back someday with the family – though my wife might freak out going to Angel’s Landing.
Comment by CVR | 03.3.2015 | 8:31 am
congrats!! do you still have the Superfly? I find it hard to give up my “old” bikes due to experiences I have had with them. Plus that is still a sweet bike after all these years.
Comment by DC Commuter | 03.3.2015 | 10:09 am
Who is that old bald guy standing next to a young beautiful woman on a bike?
Comment by MattC | 03.3.2015 | 1:00 pm
ahhh…your wedding pic…I can only assume you already posted that (5 years ago), sadly I don’t recall it…(did I mention I have almost zero short-term memory?) Still a great pic tho!
Comment by Brian in VA | 03.3.2015 | 2:03 pm
Happy Anniversary to you two! That wedding pic, I mean could it be any more adorable? Curmudgeon that I am, even I went, “Awwwww!”
Sounds like a great trip and that hike looks amazing!
Comment by Heidi | 03.7.2015 | 1:20 pm
Fabulous photos – the shot with the moss is amazing. Happy belated anniversary!
Comment by Derek | 03.16.2015 | 8:22 pm
Beautiful! Happy Anniversary! We’re planning on heading there in June through July and we’re looking forward to it!
Comment by Stephen Warren | 03.17.2015 | 9:53 am
Nice pics, awesome site, will be back again for sure.
Happy Anniversary!