Portal Overlook Grit Hike: Grow Your Grit Above the Colorado River
- Justin Shannon, Ph.D.
- 4 days ago
- 11 min read
Moab Grit Hikes Series | Deer Creek Retreat, Old La Sal, Utah
The Mountain Meets the Desert
In Old La Sal, you have been living at elevation. Cool nights, aspen-filtered light, the La Sal Mountains filling every window. And now the scenic view of the Moab's desert is calling. Hiking and the La Sal and Moab area, go hand in hand.
The Portal Overlook is the hike that bridges your two worlds — the quiet mountain retreat of Old La Sal and the raw, red-rock drama of the Colorado River canyon below. From the rim, a 360-degree view stretches from the iconic fins of Arches National Park to the very peaks you woke up beneath this morning at Deer Creek Retreat. On a clear day, you can look back toward the La Sals and try to pick out the mountain peak above the main cabin or tiny home. The scale of it — desert floor to alpine summit in a single glance — is one of the most arresting sights in southeastern Utah.
But this post is not just about a trail. It is about what the trail can grow in you.
Angela Duckworth's research makes a claim that changes everything: grit is not a fixed personality trait. It is a muscle — and it can be strengthened (Duckworth, Ch. 5). That means your past is not your ceiling. It is your training ground. The Portal Overlook is one more rep.
Getting There from Deer Creek Retreat
The drive from Old La Sal to the trailhead is a beautiful 43-mile journey through the transition from mountain forest to high desert — roughly 60 to 70 minutes depending on your pace.
Head west on Deer Creek Road toward UT-46
Take a right on UT-46, over the ridge into New La Sal and on to US-191
Turn right onto US-191 North and enjoy the cruise toward Moab
Drive through town and continue north
A few miles past the Colorado River bridge, towards Arches National Park entrance
Turn left onto UT-279 (Potash Road)
Drive approximately 4.2 miles along the river — the JayCee Park Recreation Site will appear on your right; park here, the trailhead is at the back of the lot
Trail Stats:
Stat | Detail |
Distance | 5 miles out and back |
Elevation Gain | 900–1,200 feet |
Difficulty | Moderate to Strenuous |
Drive from Deer Creek Retreat | ~43 miles / 60–70 minutes |
The trail begins with a steady climb over rocky switchbacks on Kayenta sandstone ramps. Near the top, a few narrow sections carry significant drop-offs. If heights make you cautious, slow down and breathe — the view from the overlook is spectacular even if you never go to the very edge. This is a trail that rewards presence over bravado.
Is Grit Inherited or Intentional?
Before your boots hit the switchbacks, consider the question Dr. Angela Duckworth puts on the table at the start of her "Grit Grows" chapter: is grit something you are born with, or something you build?
Her answer, drawn from twin studies comparing identical and fraternal twins, is decisive: grit is far more built than born (Duckworth, Ch. 5). Perseverance of effort — grit's "keep pushing" half — shows moderate heritability of roughly 30 to 40 percent. Consistency of interest, the long-term passion component, is even less hereditary at around 20 to 30 percent. The takeaway is clarifying: your genetics provide a starting range. Your daily choices, your reactions to setbacks, your willingness to stay in the discomfort — those determine where within that range you actually land.
The creation comes from the creator, but the follow-through is yours. David Epstein, in his book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, adds a complementary insight: "Our greatest strength is the exact opposite of narrow specialization. It is the ability to integrate broadly" (Epstein 150). Grit is not about a single gift or talent of an individual person — it is about an integrative, persistent effort that turns whatever a person is given in body, mind or spirit into something that lasts.
If you have ever internalized a label like you're just not a finisher, take note. That label is a snapshot, not a sentence. Its a mindset and in that moment might just hold you back. The Portal Overlook grit hike will offer you a chance to revise that thought process — one switchback at a time.
Desert Survival 101: Hike Like a Local
The Moab desert is stunning, dry, and ancient, and it will not soften itself for the unprepared. Here is what to pack and how to think before you leave Deer Creek's driveway in Old La Sal.
The Essential Kit
Water — the One Gallon Rule: Carry at least 3 liters per person for this hike. Pre-hydrate with a full 20 ounces before you leave Deer Creek Retreat — getting a head start on hydration makes a measurable difference at canyon temperature.
Electrolytes: At 10 percent humidity, water alone will not replace what you sweat out. Bring some kind of electrolite tablets, maybe Gatorade, or salty snacks to prevent the sun and heat bonk.
Sun shield: Wide-brimmed hat, polarized sunglasses, and SPF 30 or higher. The sandstone reflects UV light upward, it reflects the sun similar to snow — protect the underside of your nose and chin too.
Navigation: Cell service drops once you descend toward the river. Download an offline map through Gaia GPS or AllTrails before you leave. The moab visitor center might be a good resource spot, not only to ask directions, but to pick up a paper map.
Desert Life Hacks
The Wet Bandana: Soak a cooling towel or bandana and wrap it around your neck. It can drop your perceived body temperature by several degrees on exposed sections.
Time the Shade: Because the Portal trail sits on the west side of the river, the canyon cliffs provide natural shade in the late afternoon. The sun sets quick, even at the higher elevation, because of the rock formations. If it is a hot day, plan your hike around that window.
Don't Bust the Crust: The black, bumpy soil off the trail is biological soil crust — living organisms that take decades to grow and prevent erosion. To avoid destroying the biographic soil stay on the trail or on solid rock. This is not just a courtesy; it is how the desert stays alive.
Why Grit Grows with Age — and Why That Matters on This Trail
Here is something Duckworth's data consistently shows: older adults score higher on the Grit Scale than younger people (Duckworth, Ch. 5). Part of that is generational — earlier generations often endured harsher realities that forged resilience by necessity. But most of it is maturity. With time, we develop long-term thinking, learn to embrace discomfort as information rather than threat, and channel energy into fewer, deeper pursuits rather than scattering it across a dozen half-finished ambitions. Proverbs captures the arc: "The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their gray head" (NKJV, Proverbs 20:29).
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison and emerged not shattered but sharpened — his vision for reconciliation and a free South Africa honed by decades of reflection amid relentless setbacks (Duckworth, Ch. 5). Winston Churchill endured business failures, electoral defeats, and humiliating political resignations and returned, refined, each time. Timothy Keller, facing terminal cancer in his final years, reframed the experience not as diminishment but as deepening. In his interview with The Atlantic, he wrote: "As God's reality dawns more on my heart, slowly and painfully and through many tears, the simplest pleasures of this world have become sources of daily happiness... I can sincerely say, without any sentimentality or exaggeration, that I've never been happier in my life" (Keller, The Atlantic, 2021). Aging, for Keller, was not a series of losses but a stripping away of idols — a slow, clarifying fire that left what mattered most standing.
The Portal Overlook hike is only a few hours not 27 years. But the principle is the same. The harder sections of the trail are not obstacles to the view — they are the reason the view means something and makes a much deeper inpression once you get there.
The Grit Scale: A Mirror, Not a Verdict
Halfway up the switchbacks, when the sandstone is radiating heat and your legs are asking honest questions, is a good time to ask yourself an honest question of your own: where does my grit actually wobble?
Duckworth's 12-item Grit Scale measures two things — consistency of interest and perseverance of effort (Duckworth, Ch. 5). Rate statements like "I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge" and "New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones" on a scale of one to five. Average your scores. The result is not a grade. It is a mirror. It shows you where your passion tends to lose its direction and where your perseverance tends to crack under pressure. Take the Grit Scale here and use your score as a baseline — not a ceiling.
Most people discover they score higher on perseverance than passion consistency. They can push through a hard day. What is harder is staying loyal to the same pursuit across months and years when the excitement has faded and the work has lost its novelty. David Epstein reinforces why this slowness is not a defect: "Deep learning is slow. The slowest growth, the researcher wrote, occurs for the most complex skills" (Epstein 165). Learning to challenge yourself on a hike, taking in the moment overlooking Moab valley, is not a pit stop but a lifestyle change. The most meaningful things you will ever build — in your faith, your relationships, your work, your character — will take longer than you initially planned and much more of a process than a check list. That is not failure. That is the nature of anything worth finishing.
Why We Quit — and Why We Do Not Have To
Duckworth identifies three common quitting triggers: boredom, doubt about whether the goal is worth it, and disbelief in your own capacity to succeed (Duckworth, Ch. 5). Most people abandon meaningful pursuits not from inherent weakness but from entanglement in one of these three psychological traps. They are not weak; they are just underprepared for the interior terrain.
Fear — of failure, of wasted effort, of looking foolish — is the engine under most quitting decisions. Love, in contrast, is stabilizing. It shifts the motivation from self-protection to genuine care for the goal, the people, and the calling involved.
That said, not every exit is a failure of grit. Brené Brown draws a careful distinction: "Owning our story can be hard, but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy" (Brown 161). Walking away from a goal that was never truly yours, or that no longer aligns with who you are becoming, can be an act of courage — a reclaiming of authentic direction rather than an abandonment of grit. The difference is whether you are leaving out of fear or out of clarity.
Carol Dweck's growth mindset research completes the picture. When boredom hits — and on a trail like this one, there will be a moment around mile two where the novelty has worn off and your legs are simply asking to stop — the fixed mindset says the meaning is wrong, not worth it. The growth mindset says this is the forge, what will it take to get to next. Dweck writes: "The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it's not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives" (Dweck 117). The boring mile is not a detour from the trail. It is the trail.
The Four Assets of Grit — Built on the Switchbacks
By the end of her chapter on grit's growth, Duckworth identifies four psychological assets shared by gritty people — not as fixed traits but as cultivated habits (Duckworth, Ch. 5). They are worth naming as you climb.
Interest — Gritty people maintain genuine, sustained curiosity about what they do. Pierre-Auguste Renoir continued painting masterpieces through crippling rheumatoid arthritis that deformed his hands into claws. He did not push through the pain; he loved the work so deeply that pain could not separate him from the brush (Duckworth, Ch. 5). The Portal Overlook rewards the hiker who is genuinely curious about what the canyon looks like from the rim — not just collecting a summit for the photo, but actually wanting to see it.
Practice — Deliberate, targeted effort aimed at specific weaknesses, not just going through the motions. Nelson Mandela did not merely endure his 27 years in prison; he studied Afrikaans, read voraciously, and strategized constantly. The cell became a training ground (Duckworth, Ch. 5). Every switchback on this trail is deliberate practice — not in athleticism, but in the habit of continuing when the comfortable option is to stop.
Purpose — Connection to something beyond personal reward. Winston Churchill did not see his wartime speeches and strategy as a career move; he saw them as essential to the survival of free civilization (Duckworth, Ch. 5). What is your purpose on this hike? Not the summit itself — but what does showing up for hard things, consistently, over time, say about who you are becoming?
Hope — Stubborn optimism that your actions can make things better, even when the evidence is thin. Thomas Edison recast every failed experiment toward his light bulb as data, not destiny (Duckworth, Ch. 5). On the trail, hope looks like believing the next switchback will reveal the view — and, then, of course, taking it anyway.
The View: Portal Overlook Grit Hike
The La Sal Mountains have outlasted every hiker, every season, and every trend that has ever passed through this canyon country. They are not impressed by short bursts of enthusiasm. But when you reach the rim of the Portal Overlook, when the canyon opens and the Colorado River glitters far below and the fins of Arches catch the light to the north and the peaks of the La Sals rise to the east — you will feel something that short bursts of enthusiasm could never produce.
You will feel the quiet, solid satisfaction of someone who stayed with it.
Look back east toward the La Sal Mountains from the rim. Somewhere up there, above the tree line, is the ridge above Deer Creek Retreat — the place you woke up this morning, the place you are going home to tonight. You have connected the mountain to the desert with your own legs and your own grit. That connection is yours. Nobody can take it from you, and nobody can give it to you. It only comes from doing the work.
"Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another" (Duckworth 14).
The Challenge: Grow Your Grit at Deer Creek Retreat
Duckworth's invitation is not to admire gritty people from a distance. It is to build the muscle yourself — one rep, one step, one honest showing-up at a time. The Portal Overlook is one of those reps. And Deer Creek Retreat is the base camp where the training happens.
Lincoln failed in business twice, lost four elections, and endured a nervous breakdown — and returned each time to the same north star: preserving the Union and advancing human freedom (Duckworth, Ch. 5). His grit was not born in the good days. It was built in the hard ones. Your version of that story does not have to be historic to be real. It just has to be yours, pursued faithfully, one day at a time.
Stay in the main house and begin your grit-building in a space that holds you well — a full kitchen to fuel your mornings, a porch where the La Sals fill the horizon, and the kind of stillness that makes it easy to think clearly about what you are actually chasing and whether you are chasing it with everything you have. Cook something real. Rest deeply. Plan tomorrow's trail with intention.
Stay in the tiny home and let simplicity do what simplicity does best — clarify. Strip away the noise, the distraction, the performance, and what remains is the essential question: what are you building, and are you willing to stay with it long enough for it to matter? The tiny home is for the person who already suspects the answer is yes and just needs the space to commit to it.
Either way, you are waking up tomorrow at the base of the La Sal Mountains, closer to the trails than any hiker in Moab, with the Colorado River canyon waiting 43 miles to the west and a Duckworth style Grit Scale score waiting to be improved.
Take the free Grit Scale at GrittyGritGrit.com. Book your stay. Set the alarm. The muscle does not build itself — but every rep counts, and this is a very good place to start.
Reserve your stay at Deer Creek Retreat — main house or tiny home — and come grow your grit above the Colorado River.
Cheers!
Justin
Works Cited
Brown, Brené. Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution. Spiegel &
Grau, 2015.
Duckworth, Angela. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Scribner, 2016.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Updated ed., Random
House, 2016.
Epstein, David. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. Riverhead
Books, 2019.
Keller, Timothy. "Growing My Faith in the Face of Death." The Atlantic, 7 Mar. 2021,
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/tim-keller-growing-my-faith- face-death/618219/.
The Bible: The New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982.