Friday May 5, 23.0mi/37.0km

Crescent Creek (201.4/8250ft) to Muley Canyon (225.1/5920ft) (UT) +0.8mi water

It was a cold morning at our campsite, only 34F/1C. We were camped pretty high up, so it’s just an elevation effect. We left camp just after 7am, hiking the Pennellen Pass alternate, since there’s too much snow on the main route which goes over Mt Ellen’s summit.

Nice morning light over the entire valley.

Unsurprisingly, there were still patches of snow along our route, which was at 9000ft elevation.

I like the cool geometric patterns in the ice crystals.

Looking south, we had terrific views of Mt Pennell.

It was a nice dirt roadwalk all morning, and Shadow found this weird skull in the middle of the road.

What a beautiful mountain!

After about 3 hours of hiking, we took a break at Pennellen Pass. The signs were entertaining.

Of course I had to get a photo of Shadow getting a photo, ha!

We had a nice break in the sun, but it was still chilly even though it was much warmer now at 10am. The dirt roadwalking continued….

Looking west towards Capitol Reef NP, and the Waterpocket Fold:

We began to descend more steeply from the pass, and it got noticeably warmer.

Neither of us needed water, but we stopped at Airplane Spring anyway to check it out.

There was a memorial plaque to the crashed plane, for which the spring was named.

Most of the day was roadwalking, which was quite relaxing. No complicated navigation necessary!

We stopped to get to water, and I had one of the most interesting water experiences of all my hikes. These huge plastic tarps collect snow and water, and funnel it into giant plastic tanks.

So Shadow and I climbed up onto one of the tanks, and tried to figure out how to get water out of them. It was a fun puzzle, eventually we removed the lids by unscrewing the 8 plastic bolts.

… And lowering a water container on a string to fill it up, since the water was 8 feet down at the bottom of the tank. It was like fishing for water!

After successfully getting water, we had another hour of road walking. And then some excitement to end the day. A super steep descent into Muley Canyon! It looked so far down.

Shadow trying to figure out the spot to descend.

There is only one spot to descend into the canyon and pretty soon we found it, it was marked by a few cairns. We got below the top band of cliffs, had a little traverse, and then descended the impossibly steep scree slope. Looking back up at the scree slope we had just come down:

I’m glad we got that done today, I would not have wanted to do that steep descent in the early morning. We walked for a few minutes in the Muley Creek wash, and then started looking for places to set up camp.

We settled on a spot amongst some trees to help block the wind. It seems like it’s always windy here. But at least it’s much warmer at this lower elevation! We made our dinners and had a little social evening before heading off to bed at 8pm. Fun day!

Thursday May 4, 11.5mi/18.5km

Hanksville / Highway 95 (190.5/4880ft) to Crescent Creek (201.4/8250ft) (UT) +0.6mi wandering aimlessly

What a varied day! I was up at 7am, and packed up my scattered gear, which took awhile. Then after breakfast I made a few phone calls (happy birthday Jeff!), and we departed the Airbnb at 10am.

First stop was the post office. I mailed out some items I wasn’t using (rainpants) and Shadow had received a new backpack to replace his older falling-apart one.

The post office took awhile, and by the time we left it was almost time for lunch. But first a stop at the quirky convenience store that is inside a rock!

And it’s a Sinclair store, so the dinosaur was just begging to be ridden, haha

I saw this building next door. Burritos, margaritas, AND free WiFi?!? Yes please.

We ordered food and while waiting we signed the board that all the adventurers sign. It was mostly Hayduke hikersz but also a bunch of bikepackers riding from Alaska to Patagonia. Wow.

As we left, a large group of motorcycles pulled into the parking lot. It was some sort of charity ride fundraiser for a politician…. in Georgia. Weird.

We walked out to the road and started hitching back to the trail. It only took 20 minutes to get picked up, a couple women from Eugene Oregon were here on vacation in their van, and gave us a ride. Back on trail, it was an afternoon of easy roadwalking uphill.

I could see Mount Ellen getting closer.

At one point we had to hike from one road to another across a gully, it was scrambling fun.

The road walk went on….

When I looked behind me, I could see everything I had hiked last week was far below me to the east.

We passed by some strange old mine, with a gate that really boggled our minds.

Just before we got to our planned camp spot, I started seeing snow. It was noticeably colder up here at 8,000 ft.

We got to a junction where the main hayduke route and an alternate route split off. We are taking the alternate which stays lower at 9,000 ft, and goes over Pennellen Pass. The main route would turn right and go over the summit of Mount Ellen at 11,500 feet… But there is still quite a bit of snow up there.

We camped right next to Crescent Creek, near the junction. It was definitely cold up here at 8,200 ft.

I’m camping in a forest, and NOT in sand. I love it!

Wednesday May 3, 3.0mi/4.8km

Upper Poison Spring Canyon (187.5/4680ft) to Hanksville / Highway 95 (190.5/4880ft) (UT)

I was awake before 7am, and with just 3 miles to the road, I was done hiking by 8:30am. Poison Spring canyon became smaller as I hiked upstream toward its starting point.

Once I arrived at highway 95, I started hitching to Hanksville. The small town is 18 miles north of the trail crossing, and even though this highway is a regional thoroughfare, it gets little traffic.

While I waited for a car to come by, I had a nice view of the upcoming Henry mountains.

A few cars came by, and kept driving. After 30 minutes of waiting (and only 7 cars), a very nice couple from Durango stopped and picked me up. We had a really fun conversation all the way to Hanksville, and they let me take their photo, which they insisted be “a wacky one”, haha!

I said goodbye, and I went inside to get food at Stan’s burger Shak. The bison burger and chocolate shake were excellent.

I finished my meal and was sitting there charging my phone and searching for places to stay (the Hanksville Inn is permanently closed, and the only remaining hotel Whispering Sands is expensive), when another Hayduke hiker walked over and said hi! Shadow is originally from the Netherlands and lives in California, and he has hiked tons of trails, including an attempt at a calendar year triple crown. I was excited about having another hiker to talk to, and I forgot to take any photos the rest of the day.

We talked about trails and hiking for awhile, including the ridiculous experience that the Hayduke has been thus far. He solved my question of where to stay in Hanksville, giving me the phone number of a guy who has an AirBNB here called “Granny’s Nook”, and at only $125 a night it’s by far the cheapest in town.

We walked to the post office together, I picked up my two packages (maps and microspikes), and his package (new backpack) still hadn’t arrived yet, so he chose to stay another night in town and join me at the AirBNB. Cool, company!

I hit up the tiny grocery store, which was able to get me about 75% of my usual resupply…I’ll have to supplement with a visit to the convenience store tomorrow morning. We spent the afternoon at the Airbnb talking, relaxing, and avoiding the sudden dust storm outside. I had one of the best showers I’ve had in a few years, and then spent a couple hours washing sand out of all my stuff – tent, backpacking, etc.

We made a nice simple pasta dinner, and I stayed up way too late, since I had access to lighting after 8:30pm, ha!

Tomorrow, I have a couple town chores, and then hopefully a quick hitch back to the trail!

Tuesday May 2, 25.3mi/40.7km

Fiddler Cove Canyon (167.9/3960ft) to Upper Poison Spring Canyon (187.5/4680ft) (UT)
+1.2mi dirty Devil scouting, +4.0mi dirty Devil high water alt, +0.5mi looking for spring

I knew it was going to be hot again today so I started early at 6am in the nice cool temperatures.

The rock formations in Fiddler Cove Canyon were cool, this one looks like a statue watching from above.

I believe this one was called “the bowling pin.”

This one wasn’t named on the map, but I called it the lobster tail.

Within 30 minutes I was at the Dirty Devil River, and I poked around its shores and even walked out to a little rockbar island.

I judged it to be very crossable, as I couldn’t find any spot that was deeper than my knee. I did notice lots of quicksand though.

The usual Hayduke route follows this river upstream for about 5 miles, crossing it probably a dozen times, and even walking in the river. I didn’t feel like dealing with that much quicksand, so I took the high water alternate route, which goes up Hatch canyon.

It was easy walking and it had its own neat little rock formations to look at.

At one point I ducked under these two boulders, but that was the only obstacle in the whole canyon. There were no pouroffs to detour around, or tricky navigational spots.

Canyons always look nicer in the morning light.

Near the top of the canyon, I found this wall with all these springs coming out of it. And ferns were growing out of each little spot!

There were so many! Each one had a very fast drip of water, so not really enough to stand there and collect water in my bottles. But taken together, all of the little springs added up to be a small flow on the canyon floor.

After 4 miles of meandering through Hatch canyon, I climbed up and out of it. I found this cactus thriving in a talus pile on my ascent.

The ascent was steep but not navigationally tricky, and within 20 minutes I was on top at a dirt road. Looking back down on Hatch canyon:

I walked on the dirt road for an hour and a half getting a whole new set of views.

I could even see down to the Dirty Devil river.

A group of Jeeps passed me, and one of the drivers stopped and asked what I was doing, and he said he had backpacked this section before they had established the Hayduke route. He gave me a liter of ice cold water, and then left to catch up to his friends. I made it down to the road crossing of the Dirty Devil River shortly after.

It seemed perfectly wadeable, and much easier than anything I had done in Dark Canyon a few days ago.

I was quickly on the other side, and I went to scope out the USGS gaging station, which monitors the flow of the river.

I started my hike up Poison Spring Canyon, and it was starting to get hot.

I found the first shady spot to stop and take a break, dry out my socks and shoes, and do some minor foot maintenance for blisters. Eventually I lost my shade as the sun continued to move across the sky, and I hiked another two hours up the canyon to a beautiful little spring.

It was hidden under a boulder, and behind a small masonry wall that somebody had built. Genius! It keeps out all those nasty cows. I opened the little trap door and put my bottle in to fill it up, it was so cold and perfectly clear.

I sat there under a nearby shady tree for probably 2 hours while I made my lunch, relaxed, and looked at my maps.

I finally left that nice little spot around 4:30, and by then much of the Canyon was in the shade.

I hiked until about 6pm and then setup my tent in a side wash, I think it was called Butler Wash. After consulting my maps, I realized I only have three miles to go to the road tomorrow! Nearo (Near zero) day into Hanksville! I’m definitely looking forward to getting a shower and some real food.

Monday May 1, 24.9mi/40.1km

Landing Strip on Browns Rim (148.9/4920ft) to Fiddler Cove Canyon (167.9/3960ft) (UT)
+3.4mi Hite, +1.4 Red Benches alt, +1.1 routefinding

I slept great in my little spot hidden in the bushes, and I slept later than I usually would, starting down the trail/road at 7:30am. I noticed even at that early hour it was already 70F/21C.

I walked for an hour on dirt roads, and it was exciting to see the Henry mountains getting even closer.

I turned onto the paved Highway 95 for 5 minutes before quickly leaving it, heading toward the old Hite Marina for some water refilling.

I was now in the Glen Canyon National recreation area! This area is based around Lake Powell, which was created when the Glen Canyon dam was built in the 1960s.

It was a 30 minute walk along a hot paved road, and I would have hitched a ride, but no cars were going my direction. A few vehicles were headed the opposite direction, and one guy stopped and gave me a liter of water and even an ice-cold root beer!

The little general store that used to serve the marina customers had clearly been closed for a few years at least. Since there’s no more lake in this area (it has receded), of course there’s no more marina either.

Across the street was the Ranger station and public bathrooms.

I spread out my stuff on one of the shaded picnic tables and hung out for an hour. I recharged my phone and headlamp, drank 2 liters of water and refilled another 3 liters, and did some planning with my maps.

After consulting with a couple of friends on my inReach device (thanks Mark and Rich!) I decided that the upcoming Dirty Devil River might be cross-able, so I hiked out. I was able to get a ride back to the main highway with a pickup truck going my direction. The driver warned me that the Dirty Devil River sometimes ran high and it could be uncrossable. I guess I’ll find out in 15 miles! I walked a mile on the paved highway, and crossed over the Colorado River.

I walked a dirt road for 4 miles up Rock Canyon, on a very hot (85F/29C) afternoon. Blech.

The road turned a different direction but I continued up Rock Canyon using the wash. I loved seeing all the neat rock formations and cliffs.

And even this amazing little piece of petrified wood!

To get out of Rock Canyon by scrambled up an easy slope to….a class 4 climbing section, which contained a chimney.

It was narrow, so I had to take off my pack and attach it to a short rope, and haul it up after me. It was grunty but do-able.

The view from on top looking back to where I had just hiked.

Looking ahead, I could see the whole upper plateau area, which is called the Red Benches.

I walked across this plateau for seemingly forever, across little high spots….

…. And sometimes through short little washes.

One of the high spots contained a very unique cairn. My map called it the Jenga Cairn.

Someone had built another very square Cairn nearby. It was weird seeing such time-consuming things being built way out in the middle of nowhere.

Finally after 3 hours of walking, I was starting to descend into Fiddler’s Cove Canyon. It was now after 8pm and starting to get dark, so I didn’t waste any time getting down.

I followed the cairns downhill in the fading daylight, and near the bottom I came across this cow skull in the dark, which made it much more creepy.

I quickly put up my tent, ate some food, drank a little bit of water (I’m trying to save some in case I have to backtrack tomorrow across the dry plateau), and was asleep by 10pm. A long, hot day!

Sunday April 30, 18.0mi/29.0km

Dark Canyon (132.1/4700ft) to Landing Strip on Browns Rim (148.9/4920ft) (UT) +1.2mi routefinding

Today was a difficult day for making forward progress. The stream in dark Canyon seemed to be running a little high, and I wasn’t 100% sure that getting through all 7 miles of the canyon was possible. If I couldn’t safely cross this stream, I would have to turn around and go back the way I came yesterday. To optimize my chances of success, I decided to minimize the number of stream crossings, and get an early start. I started hiking down the canyon at 6:45. For a while I was able to stay on the left bank of the stream, which was running loudly.

Early on I had 4 crossings in quick succession, all were at spots where the stream was wide, and therefore shallower.

Then I was able to walk for a while on the left bank, while watching the stream roar down this little chute.

Some of the hiking was actually nice, along these sandy benches.

At one point in the morning I stopped to refill my water. It looked like a translucent chocolate milk…gross. Even after letting it settle for 10 minutes it was still quite brown, though about half an inch of sand did accumulate on the bottom of the bottle.

The springtime wildflowers were a nice distraction.

Eventually the path on my side of the stream would dead-end into a cliff, as the stream meandered within the canyon, and I would have to backtrack to a spot where I could cross the stream. Sometimes I backtracked almost half a mile.

Crossing #5 was surprisingly straightforward, while crossing #6 took me awhile to find the optimal place to cross. After these two crossings, I was able to walk on nice rocky benches above the stream for a couple miles.

I came to Lost Canyon, which is a side Canyon that is almost to the end of this section, so I knew I was almost done with Dark Canyon. I dropped my pack and walked up Lost Canyon for 10 minutes to explore and perhaps find clean water.

No clear water to be found, but plenty of blooming cacti.

With only half a mile of Dark Canyon to go, I thought I was done with stream crossings. But they were two very tight bends in the canyon where the stream ran right up to the cliff. Bummer. These last two sets of crossings (#7 & 8, #9 & 10) weren’t easy but I was able to make it safely across. For crossing #10 I actually used my little rope as a hand line, and got pretty wet in the process. I dragged myself up onto the sandy shore and walked over to a shady spot to take a break and relax and have lunch. I was done with Dark Canyon! While I was walking to my lunch spot I actually came across another human, which was shocking. Jamie (and his dog Grizzy) are hiking down here on a 3 day weekend trip, going to camp in Lost Canyon.

I told him I was just there 30 minutes ago (and 4 stream crossings ago) and he told me I could’ve just hiked over this saddle between Lost Canyon and here, and avoided the last 4 stream crossings altogether. D’oh!

I sat under a tree by the stream and had lunch, and washed the sand out of all my stuff.

Once again I made my dinner (which requires boiled water) at lunchtime, since I have a water source here. Then I will eat my lunch at dinner.

I filled up on dirty water for the next 20 miles which will be dry. I then proceeded to hike 1200ft/350m up the Sundance trail, which goes straight up this scree field.

A hot and sweaty hour later, and I was on top of the climb and had a cool view back down into Dark Canyon.

For the next hour I walked a combination of the Sundance trail and some cross country walking. This little snake seemed just as surprised to see me, as I was to see it.

It was pretty easy walking on slickrock, marked by the occasional cairn.

I came to a dirt road and followed it for the rest of the day. This cool little rock formation was called “[a derogatory term] and Papoose Rock.”

To the west I could see the Henry mountains, where I will be next week, after my resupply at Hanksville.

There was technically one water source along the road walk, a neat little pothole. But unfortunately it was polluted by cows. Cows are the worst.

At 7pm I stopped for the day, and walked a ways off the road to setup my tent amongst the bushes.

I was so tired and so happy to lay down and fall asleep.

Happy Justin Timberlake day!

Saturday April 29, 19.7mi/31.7km

Beef Basin (115.8/6040ft) to Dark Canyon (132.1/4700ft) (UT) +3.4mi many wrong turns

It must have been a very cold night because I woke to a tiny bit of frost on my tent. But by the time I had packed up and started hiking, it was already 50F in the sun. After a couple miles, I came to the fable Valley trailhead.

It was hilarious seeing an official sign and registration book in the middle of nowhere. It was a beautiful trail though.

Gradually I got used to hiking on a trail again, so far it has been mostly walking in washes and on roads.

The trail stayed at the same elevation, while the valley below me started dropping rapidly…

… Until it was deep canyon. I’ll never get bored of the scenery here with the red rocks and green trees.

The trail even passed by this little arch, which was not on any map or sign. Secret arch?!

The trail turned away from the main deep Canyon and into a side canyon, and there was water there! Clear, cold water!

I think that is the point that the official trail ended, because after that I was mostly hiking on cattle trails up the valley. The hiking became steeper and rockier, until eventually I came face to face with a chimney. Hmmm…not climbing that!

I spent another hour climbing up that canyon, finding detours around the steep bits, and eventually coming out on top of Dark Canyon Plateau. I think those snowy mountains to the West are the Henry mountains.

I had lunch at a junction of dirt 4wd roads. Before I started my descent into Young’s Canyon and Dark Canyon, I thought I would stock up on water. After seeing the cow-polluted pond I decided to skip it.

The descent down Young’s Canyon started off familiar enough, in a shallow wash.

When there were giant pour-offs, I had to find a way around them through the cliffs on the side. Looking back at a big 50 foot pouroff that I detoured around:

That first these detours were like a fun puzzle I had to figure out the best way through the terrain. But after like 8 or 10 of such detours I started to find them annoying. The biggest one was a full-on climb out of the valley and back up to the rim, only to descend all the way back down to the canyon floor again. Blah.

The 1000-foot descent down the steep scree field was interesting.

Looking back up at what I had just descended from:

Eventually I got to actually walk on the canyon floor, and when I did it was pretty easy and fun walking. I even found this weird little cairn with a survey marker in it.

It’s easy walking on slickrock!

There were two bonus (surprise) challenges for the day. The first was the gauntlet of poison ivy, which I think I successfully dodged it all in the 1/4-mile section where it grew.

The other bonus challenge was actually leaving Young’s Canyon. The trail kind of ended at a waterfall, so once again I had to scramble up onto a ledge to be able to hike around it and get down into Dark Canyon. Finally I was in Dark Canyon! (And out of Young’s Canyon). By now it was after 7pm, so I decided to set up camp as soon as I found a spot. It took me another 30 minutes to find a flat spot, that was also safely above the stream. Crossing the stream was not trivial, and it seemed to be running higher than normal.

Tomorrow, the Hayduke route follows this stream downstream for 7 miles, which means constant crossings of the stream as it meanders back and forth within the canyon. I hope it remains cross-able for all 7 miles, otherwise I will have to turn around and go back up that terrible Young’s Canyon again….

Friday April 28, 20.5mi/33.0km

Devils Pocket Campsite (98.6/5400ft) to Beef Basin (115.8/6040ft) (UT) + 3.3mi Needles Alternate

I didn’t get my usual 8 hours of sleep, for some reason a random windstorm came through at 1am and tried to flatten my tent. It was gone after 20 minutes and I fell back to sleep. Weird. I was on trail at 6:45am, hiking through the Devils pocket.

I passed through the same gap I had come through last night (the first mile of today is just retracing my steps back to the main trail).

It was a perfect morning for hiking, probably 50F/10C. I quickly came to the Chesler Park trailhead, which meant I was almost out of Canyonlands NP.

I had no idea there were more campsites this far south in the park. Horsehoof used to be an arch until it collapsed about 20 years ago.

After about an hour of walking I left the dirt road I had been traveling and turned off into Butler Wash.

The rocky parts made for some really enjoyable walking, the soft sandy parts…. not so much.

I walked up Butler wash all morning, it was probably about 4 hours until I reached the top. To exit the wash I had to climb up the last rocky bit of it, which apparently contains this neat little arch formation.

I believe the guidebook authors called it “Seldom Seen” arch.

I passed through the arch and then had to overcome a small 6ft/2m cliff. Previous travelers had stacked some rocks and a large log as a sort of ladder, but it was still strenuous and awkward. I had to take off my pack, and then haul it up after me, using the small cord I brought for that purpose.

And then, right around lunchtime, I found an amazing surprise. Water!!

I had not expected to find water anywhere in this dry wash, and my next expected water source was another 5 miles away in dirty cow country. So, I stocked up. And I swapped my lunch and dinner meals, so I could boil water and make my dinner now and not have to carry that water all afternoon.

It was a relaxing little spot at the top of the Butler wash. After another 30 minutes of scrambling and hiking through rocky terrain, I exited the drainage and crossed over the divide into Beef Basin. The view to the west was spectacular.

I dropped down off the divide, and I hiked cross-country through Beef Basin.

Pretty soon I saw my first living beef (aka cows), though they were too shy for a photo. I did follow their paths all afternoon though.

Hiking down Beef Basin wash wasn’t that exciting, but I was able to avoid all the soft sand by sticking to the cattle trails.

By 5:30 p.m. I had come to the end of the wash, and decided to stop for the day. I didn’t want to setup my tent in the cow-infested valley, so I scrambled up 50 feet to the top of a little mesa, and pitched my tent under a small tree. Perfect!

Hopefully the wind doesn’t come back tonight, I’m 1000ft/300m higher in elevation, and it’s pretty exposed in this region.

Thursday April 27, 18.9mi/30.4km

Needles Outpost (84.0/4920ft) to Devils Pocket Campsite (84.0/5400ft) (UT) + 18.9mi Needles Alternate

I packed up early at 7am but then I had to charge my phone and headlamp at the camp store. I sat on the porch for an hour while things charged, and I caught up on my phone stuff. I hiked out at 8:15 and went cross-country up a wash for 30 minutes to Cave Springs trailhead.

It was funny that they put a sticker on the map to say they are updating the map. Why not just put a sticker with the new name over the old cringe-y name?

I walked up salt Creek Canyon for an hour and started seeing more needle formations.

The walking was very slow in the soft sand.

This formation looks like a mushroom!

These were cool, they had red bases with white hats.

After an hour I turned off on to the peekaboo trail. Love the name.

It immediately climbed up out of the valley, and on to a rock shelf. The first thing I saw was a little window….presumably to play peekaboo.

Right next to the window were these ancient pictographs.

The trail continued climbing slowly upward, and I followed cairns until I lost the trail. Or so I thought, it was hiding right behind me in a giant crack.

After I climbed the ladder, I was up on the uppermost rock shelf, which was really neat.

I walked on the slickrock high above the canyons below, for over an hour.

It was a very interesting trail, sometimes it even went through a small hole to cross over to the next valley.

Eventually I descended off the rock shelves and into Lost Canyon.

I followed Lost Canyon uphill until it ended, I climbed up and over another rock shelf, and then dropped into Wooden Shoe Canyon (the sign still had the old name).

I had to climb up and over another pass, to get over to Elephant Canyon. Along the way I had to hike through a tunnel between two enormous boulders.

I descended into elephant Canyon, and filled up my water. As soon as I started climbing back out of elephant Canyon, I saw heaps of Needles formations.

At the top of the climb, I turned around and saw behind me the snow-capped La Sal mountains in the distance.

I crossed a high plateau known as Chesler Park.

I turned on the trail toward Devils kitchen.

My assigned campsite was not in an ideal location, since it forced me to hike a mile off my route. But at least the scenery was nice. Finally at 5:30pm I arrived at “DP1” (Devils Pocket #1), my home Sweet home for the night.

Tomorrow I have just a couple miles in Canyonlands NP, before I rejoin the official Hayduke route. Unfortunately the official Hayduke route avoids the most scenic areas of the park, and it also avoids the only resupply option. So I think most hikers will do some sort of alternate route through this area like I did.

Wednesday April 26, 17.2mi/27.7km

Rustler Canyon (73.0/4240ft) to Needles Outpost (84.0/4920ft) (UT) +2.3mi Loop Overlook + 3.9mi to Needles Outpost

I started out at 7am and it was cold in Rustler Canyon.

After a mile I came to a huge pour-off, which was clearly impassible.

I skirted the obstacle to the left, weaving my way through shelves of rock. A few minutes later, I was at Indian Creek, which was clearly in some minor flood stage. And very muddy.

I

I knew I had to cross the creek at least once, but I was hoping I would not have to cross it 3 or 5 times depending on how it weaved through the canyon.

I hiked along one side of the river as long as I could, before I got squeezed up against a rock wall, and then I would cross at a shallow part and hike on the other side. Ultimately I did have to cross 3 times, but it didn’t make much difference since my legs were muddy from the first crossing.

After I crossed Indian Creek for the final time I had to ascend out of the canyon. Routefinding was a little tricky, but I managed to find a route through the cliffs via a gap.

30 minutes later and I was way above Indian Creek.

For the next hour I meandered through plateaus and pinnacles.

As I was stepping up on to a rock, it broke off from the ground and landed on my shin.

My bruised and bloody leg.

The cut was pretty deep, so I made sure to rinse it out with plenty of clean water using my Sawyer squeeze filter, which kind of acted like a syringe with the nozzle.

All bandaged up and ready to go.

Just before lunch I decided to take a detour to the “Loop Overlook”, a spot which has a view of the 270-degree Bend in the Colorado River. Unsurprisingly, I had to hike up a wash to get there. But this one was all smooth rock, almost like a water slide.

The Loop!

I ate lunch at the overlook and enjoyed the view and the breeze on the increasingly warm day. Rather than backtracking to rejoin to the main route, I hiked via a different track, which saved me distance but definitely didn’t save any time, given the amount of scrambling over boulders I had to do. Once I was back on the main route, it wasn’t long before I was on a dirt road.

I’m in Canyonlands! Number 2 of 6 National Parks. I hiked the road for almost an hour to the Needles Ranger station.

There were some really strangely shaped rocks along the way.

I refilled my water and dumped my trash at the Ranger station, and I tried to adjust my camping permit to get a closer campsite for tomorrow night….no luck. It was almost 3:45pm so I quickly left the Ranger station and hiked the 30 minutes over to Needles Outpost.

The Nedles Outpost is a privately owned campground, and I had a box of food mailed here a few weeks ago.

I paid for a campsite and a shower, and since it was a hot day I bought an ice cold root beer as well. Never tasted so good!

I exploded my food box on a picnic table outside. This is what 7 days worth of food (24,000 kilocalories) looks like.

Unbelievably, they also had a hiker box. I never thought I would see a hiker box on the Hayduke!

They also had it adorable puppy named Coco, I thought she wanted my food but really she wanted more belly rubs.

Once I had my food all sorted, I walked to my campsite and passed the weirdest sign.

I setup my camp, took a shower, rinsed out my socks, updated my blog, and charged my battery. As I was finishing dinner I got this nice view.

Interesting day. Tomorrow, Needles /Canyonlands!