Bryce Canyon Half Marathon
Cannonville, Utah
Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Bryce Canyon Half Marathon started at 6:00 AM just outside the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park which is famous for its beautiful panoramic scenery of colorful hoodoos, grottos, and other assorted rock formations. The temperature was 55 degrees with a small breeze and partly cloudy skies as I began to race walk the event. The elevation was 7652 feet. The first 1.7 miles was a gradual downhill, followed by an 8% downhill through the north end of the park. The rest of the course was a gradual downhill finishing in Cannonville, Utah at an altitude of 5800 feet and a temperature of 73 degrees. One side of scenic highway Utah 12 was devoted to the race and the other side was devoted to the traffic which alternated its direction with lead and following police vehicles. There were three water/Gatorade stations in the first half of the race and five water/Gatorade stations in the last half of the race. The volunteers were enthusiastic and friendly; however, they were not able to keep up with the demand for Gatorade by the nearly 2000 participants. The event was well organized and enjoyable; however, the finisher’s medal and age group awards were not very impressive.
Cannonville is a rural Mormon farming community, located in southern Utah which is noted for its beautiful National Parks and Monuments. There are only 124 students in grades 7-12 in the local high school and the nearest department store and significant grocery store is at least 80 miles away. It is 270 miles from both Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. It is worth the effort to get there.
My wife, Gerda, and I spent a full week in this part of Utah visiting three national parks, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Capitol Reef, and two national monuments, Cedar Bluffs and Grand Staircase Escalante. The scenery of the area completely overwhelmed us with its beauty, causing me to take more than 2100 photographs.