trailer running: el Canyon Grande .... b.w.o. St George

After Zion , the next major stop would be the North Rim of the Grand Canyon . I had done the South Rim a few times on cross country trips as a kid , so I really wanted the North Rim .

I have a number of friends who run the St George Marathon, and they speak highly of St George . St George is in SW Utah, only an hour or so from Zion, and 2 hours from the Grand Canyon , it seemed a natural to hang there for a few days and replenish . Serious coffee , costco , showers ! It occurs to me as I write this , how does a town founded by Mormons end up with a name like St George ?

Shout out to my bro Mark who looked up ST George and found it has a great urban trail system and close access to BLM and Anasazi land . Its a marvelous community and the run , bike , horse trails rival Sacramento ….. though Sac gets the nod . I did a hard 5 upstream along the Virgin River and held it together enough back down to make a good 10 mile tempo . The usual thinking is that people do the marathon here because it is a serious net downhill course and it gives you a better chance to qualify for Boston….. well you better know how to run up too ….. and though its not Colorado Plateau altitude the air is still a little thin !!!! After 3 days of hard hiking in Bryce and Zion and 2 days of hard running in St George my legs were trashed ( but in a good way …. wink wink ) when I got to the Big Ditch .

St George suburb

..... only kidding . Not really a suburb but where the trail washed out . X-urb

Though only a few miles away as the Condor flies, it is apparent right away that the North Rim and the South are very different . You seem to walk right from the forest to the chasm here . Sitting atop the Plateau at 8500 feet in mid September is pretty neat . The alpine meadows that are mixed in with the forest are looking golden , the Aspens are starting to show that yellow and orange they are known for, and the high altitude buzz is pretty crisp ! Its a completely different experience ….. solitude , even more awe inspiring views, a slower pace, and a definite feeling of going back in time !!

The campground at the Canyon sells out years in advance and they don't save a certain percentage for walk ins . It hopefully avoids the problem of people making the out and back trek for nothing as its 50 miles down a one way street with no other options . I stayed in the Kaibab National Forest and it was awesome . You drive through it for many miles to get to the actual national park …. but its all good as they say . More trails than you could do in a month and many with canyon views. Dispersed ( free ) camping at its best .