I sought something to motivate for while on Thanksgiving vacation. Since Angels Landing is an overrun clown show requiring a permit I decided to give this a go instead. It was a moody day with intermittent rain. On the way to the trailhead I noticed the summits were all shrouded by dark clouds. The Eye of Heaven would by more the Eye of Sauron. Oh well.
I parked at Squirrel Creek TH and warmed up jogging over to Short Creek. The trail wasn’t immediately obvious. It seemed to start in the creek before turning right up a short embankment and out of it. So I started my watch standing in the middle of Short Creek at the intersection with the private property road.
Made quick time over the ATV trail in soft sand with poles. Thanks to the previous FKT setter for suggesting them. I found the turnoff of short creek and the trail along squirrel creek easy to follow. Once the trail became disjointed by sandstone slabs I found it more difficult to follow. Cairns generally guide the way but I briefly got off route on a couple occasions before picking up the sandy trail again. The switchback turnoff from Canaan Mountain Trail onto the Arch Trail was not obvious but I picked it up.
It’s notable that the arch itself requires a brief descent at the end to access. I wasted some time looking for it before seeing it off to the right of the trail.
Descending was easier than ascending with regards to staying on route except for two locations. I almost missed the hard right from the arch trail onto Canaan. And then again at the intersection of Canaan with squirrel creek. In both places I blew right by the intersections but quickly noticed my uphill tracks had disappeared. So on the descent it’s worth paying attention to your uphill tracks.
Once I was back on squirrel creek I bombed down the steep sections. There aren’t many places to be concerned about losing the trail there. I charged back along the ATV trail and finished in the creek where I began at 1:37:31. I’d love to give it a rip again having previewed the route and try to take it under 1:30 but chances are I won’t be back there to run this route again in this lifetime. Intimate knowledge with the route would make it much faster.