Zion 100

I have heard the attitude isnt too bad at Zion that its the slick rock that is difficult. I just got back from a double out at Bear Lake which is about 6000 feet could feel it some and Zion's lowest is 3660 feet and highest is like 8000 so dont think that will be too bad....of course climbing and climbing and climbing in the altitude makes you breath very heavy but I breath very heavy climbing those types of climb in low altitude also ha

I went to both Zion and Bryce in the fall after IMAZ. They are both gorgeous, but I thought Bryce was much more spectacular! However, I could tell a HUGE difference in the altitude. I was fine in Zion, hiking and jogging lightly around with no problems. At Bryce I ran like 20 feet to throw a snowball at my husband and it took me forever to catch my breath afterwards. I simply cannot imagine running any sort of distance at that altitude. I'd love to, but I don't think there is any way I could train for it here in Houston.

I just came back from a two week vacation – started in Sedona, AZ. Traveled north to Zion Mountain; Bryce Canyon; Page, AZ, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Along the way, we hiked our butts off, including a an ascent to Humphrey’s Peak (12,633’) the day after we ran 10 miles in the desert of Sedona (4,300’). We live near Baltimore, MD so there’s not much elevation here. We felt the elevation the first couple of days, but we seemed to acclimate pretty quickly. Granted, we were had 5 days in Sedona before went to the higher elevations so there was some transition time. Hiking and running in Bryce Canyon National Park is nothing short of surreal. The Zion Course looks terrific. We had been to Sedona many time, when we got to Zion all I could think was “Sedona on steroids.” However, if I had to pick a favorite place to hike/run. I would have to go with Bryce. Attached is my wife running at Bryce with the Hoodoo rocks in the background.






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Running Bryce.jpg (118KB - 31 downloads)

Zion ranges from 3600--7500' (or so). Bryce is 6000-8500'. It does take a few days to acclimate. I spent a few days in that area earlier this year. We had two gorgeous days in Zion and pretty much got snowed out in Bryce (there isn't much to see when visibility is 150' and there is 3-5" of snow obscuring trails).

Gorgeous picture, I love it!

I couldn't really compare Sedona and Zion - they were both beautiful but in different ways. I personally like Sedona better. Bryce I would more describe as Sedona on steroids then I would Zion. But, that's only for the area of the park with the hoodoos whereas the beauty of Sedona covers much more ground.

I did a similar trip - Sedona to Paige to Zion to Bryce then back to AZ, NM and home. It was a great vacation!