Wednesday May 10, 1.6mi/2.6km

Hole-in-the-Rock Road / Escalante town (311.9/4600ft) to Below Fiftymile Bench (313.5/4860ft) (UT)

Sleeping indoors always feels a little weird since it stays dark inside even though its after sunrise. We slept in until 7am and then ate breakfast while packing up and doing laundry. Our cabin is pretty large, so stuff was spread out everywhere.

I ran over to the post office to get my maps, I love that everything in this town is like a 1 minute walk.

After spending all morning packing and relaxing we finally checked out of the cabin at noon and ate lunch at the cafe on the property.

Shadow and I each had a pizza, and while I was waiting I browsed their little library.

After lunch I walked down the street to Nemos takeout restaurant and ordered a milkshake….which took forever to get. Waiting almost 30 minutes for a milkshake is ridiculous, and it was 3pm by the time we started hitching back to trail. The first part of the hitch was tricky, 5 miles on the paved road, but eventually we got that ride. The 2nd hitch down the 34-mile dirt road was much trickier, since so few cars were heading down the remote Hole-in-the-rock road this late in the day. We sat there for 2 hours, and almost called it quits and head back to town, but then 2 women stopped and gave us a ride! Amazing.

They had hiked the PCT in 2019 and knew all about hitching back to trails, and we chatted for the long 1.5-hour drive to our trailhead. They dropped us off at 8:15pm, and by then we had only 30 minutes of daylight remaining.

So we hiked for 30 minutes, and then found a flat spot on the side of the trail / 4wd road.

I can’t believe we actually got a ride down that remote road! Tomorrow, we climb up Fiftymile Bench and enter the wilderness!

Tuesday May 9, 13.7mi/22.1km

Coyote Gulch (299.4/3810ft) to Hole-in-the-Rock Road (311.9/4600ft) (UT) +1.2mi searching for non-sketchy bypass

I woke up after a great night’s sleep, the sound of the nearby Creek was so peaceful. We got an earlier than expected start at 6:45 and hiked in the Coyote Gulch stream.

After a few minutes we came to an impassable Rockfall that was blocking the creek, and despite thoroughly investigating all the possible ways through the boulders we could not find a route there. In the past hikers used to scramble through a small hole between the boulders, but that has since been blocked up with more debris from the stream. So we had to backtrack a minute and then walk up a slanted, sketchy, slickrock shelf to get around the obstacle. Shadow went first.

It was a little sketchiest part of the Hayduke so far and I would not do it again. With that obstacle behind us the rest of the day was relaxing walking up the shallow Coyote Gulch stream.

The lower section of Coyote Gulch had half a dozen cool little waterfalls.

Yes, we went chasing waterfalls. And I even had that song playing on my phone, ha!

A mile later we hiked by a feature called Cliff Arch, which was a nice surprise since it appeared behind us.

The stream meandered within the valley and we got to hike through some little grassy sections to cut off the corners.

Then we got to the coyote Gulch natural bridge, it was huge!

I’m not sure of the difference between an arch and a natural bridge, but this one was so thick you could drive over it. We saw a dozen people hiking downstream this morning, as it’s a popular place for an overnight backpacking trip. We passed one couple hiking upstream with very large packs, and I was curious what was inside of their packs…. since most of their gear was strapped to the outside!

Soon after we hike through a little Narrows, apparently in high water it can be chest deep. It was only ankle deep for us.

It was such a verdant little canyon!

Next up was the Jacob Hamlin Arch, a huge Arch that we actually got to see twice because the canyon wrapped around 180°.

And then we started to leave Coyote Gulch, and headed up Hurricane wash. At first the wash was green, there was water, and also quite a few wildflowers.

And it was nice to walk along the cliffs in the shade.

Pretty soon though we came to a gate, and the canyon mostly disappeared, and the wash became quite shallow and sunny.

It was a slow slog walk through soft sand, but at least I got to look at some interesting scenery as we walked through this very short little narrow mini-canyon.

For the last 2 miles, we left the wash and hiked on a pretty decent Trail all the way to the Hole-in-the-Rock Road. Behind me and saw a sign, so we were now leaving the Glen Canyon recreation area.

And pretty soon we were in the parking lot. It was 1:50pm…. now time to wait for a vehicle to drive by and try to hitch the 39 miles to town.

We waited one hour and saw three vehicles go by in the wrong direction, and one SUV going our direction but they were too full of stuff to take us. Then finally a group of ATVs stopped and gave us a ride!

I had never ridden in an ATV before, and it was actually really fun and faster than a car on this dirt road.

After an hour and 15 minutes in their vehicle, the nice couple dropped us in Escalante at a convenience store / cafe. We walked directly to the local pub restaurant that was open (there are several but most of them are closed on Tuesdays), I ordered a spicy chicken sandwich…. amazing.

Shadow and I got a photo together, we have been hiking together for a week and I didn’t have any photos together yet.

After the restaurant, we walked to the Gear store (Utah Canyon Outdoors) and I bought a new water filter, fuel canister, and exchanged (Warranty) my darn tough socks. We grabbed a cabin across the street at the Escalante Outfitters, unfortunately there was only one cabin left and it was the big expensive one, but it was still cheaper than anything else in town. But it was nice and big with room to spread out, and for only $80 a person it seemed reasonable. We spent the rest of the evening sorting out our gear, eating junk food, and watching TV…. The usual town stuff, haha.

Tomorrow we will try to get a hitch back to the trailhead, which will be interesting, since it’s so far and on a very remote dirt road.

Monday May 8, 22.2mi/35.7km

Halls Creek (NA/3800ft) to Coyote Gulch (299.4/3810ft) (UT)

We got an early start, hiking out at 6am in headlamps. It was a 2000ft climb to the top of the Waterpocket Fold, and we wanted to have that finished before it got hot. The nearly-full moon was a cool sight.

We had a couple of miles of Halls Creek to finish before starting the climb, and it was strange seeing the moon against the sunrise on the rocks.

I found a huge piece of petrified wood lying near the stream!

We had a short break and inspected the climb, choosing our route thru the slickrock.

About halfway up the climb there was a surprise water source! Shadow had found a pothole in the rock, so it was a great excuse for a break.

We kept going up the slickrock for another mile, and it was easier than the bottom half, as there were more cairns to follow and it wasn’t as steep.

We took a long break at the top, since there was phone signal, and we needed some info on our upcoming descent thru Stevens Canyon.

I loved looking at the view back to the east, I could see the Colorado River, a ton of canyons and plateaus, and even a small town.

Finally we got moving again, beginning our descent into Stevens Canyon. It started out in a shallow wash…

…which gradually became more entrenched in the rock as we continued.

Then there was a big dryfall, and we spent 30 minutes walking along the rim, before finding a route down to the bottom of the Canyon.

We made it down to the bottom and it was pleasant walking for a while.

Then there was another dryfall, and we had to scramble up onto some ledges just above (100ft?) the stream.

I loved walking these slickrock ledges.

Shadow coming around the bend.

He usually walks faster than me, but today he stayed behind me most of the day, I guess I’m more comfortable with heights and exposure.

Sometimes the path was right on the edge!

But most of the time it was on really wide slickrock benches.

It seemed a long way down to the stream, and we soon had to descend to the bottom again.

We descended on a slickrock ramp, which was actually much less scary than I thought it would be. There was almost no exposure, and it wasn’t steep.

Once we were at the bottom, we hiked in the shallow stream, or a green jungle of bushes.

Walking in the stream was much nicer than the jungle.

There was one spot that we had to climb up 15ft to get around some deep water, and there was this hilarious staircase made of a rockpile for descending.

Finally, after 9 hours since we started our descent, we were at the Escalante River. It was about knee deep, and not too bad to walk in.

The famous Stevens Arch was around the first riverbend.

More Escalante River walking.

Stevens Arch!

After just over a mile in the Escalante river, we turned off to go up Coyote Gulch. It was very shallow, not even ankle deep.

We saw several other weekend backpackers, and took the first available camping spot we found, since it was after 7pm and we were exhausted after that long day.

It was a perfect spot! Hidden behind some bushes and up on a sandy bench, I could hear the other campers nearby but didn’t see them.
Tomorrow is a town day, hopefully we can get a difficult hitch into the town of Escalante.

Sunday May 7, 23.9mi/38.5km

Muley Twist Canyon (248.7/4840ft) to Halls Creek (NA/3800ft) (UT) +0.4mi to Muley tanks water, +16.0mi Halls Creek/Stevens Canyon alt.

I had moved my tent to a less windy spot overnight, so when Shadow saw my tent was “gone” in the morning, he hiked out early trying to catch me. I figured out the situation and got moving at my usual time of 7am to go catch him. The last mile of Muley Twist Canyon was just as impressive as the first.

I exited that canyon, and hiked briefly along Halls Creek before turning off to Muley Tanks, our water source this morning.

The Muley Tanks are two big potholes in the rock that collect water, and there was plenty.

Shadow was there waiting for me too. We refilled our water and hiked out to Halls Creek again. We were on a pretty well used footpath, so it was easy to follow. There wasn’t much excitement but it was pretty scenery.

I finally got a photo of one of the fast-moving lizards that seem to be everywhere here.

We walked downstream along the dry Halls Creek all morning, and I entertained myself with the scenery. The cliff had a huge hole in it, so big that trees were growing!

We kept walking south along Halls Creek, on an alternate route. The main Hayduke route had turned off to climb the Waterpocket Fold (cliff on our right), and then follows the Escalante River for like 29 miles. For the alternate, we will be following Halls Creek all day today, and then climbing the Waterpocket Fold tomorrow and following Stevens Canyon (skipping the brushy and likely deep Escalante River).

We stopped and had lunch in a shady spot, and then hiked on with excitement. The first mile looked the same…

…but then there was an option to walk a 4.2 mile narrow canyon! Cool.

It’s called the Halls Creek Narrows, and was my favourite part of the Hayduke so far.

Sometimes it got real narrow, and the water was almost waist deep.

How deep is this water? One way to find out!

There were dozens of these toads (frogs?) everywhere.

Shadow taking the lead in walking through one of the deeper parts. He is 183cm (6ft 0in) tall.

It was such a deep canyon with some nice shade, and lots of green.

This one short section was especially deep, and I had to take off my pack and lift it over my head. It was chest deep on me.

After two hours we exited Halls Creek Narrows, and we were back in the main Halls Creek wide valley.

The trail was a little less easy to follow but it was still mostly there.

Sometimes the trail would cross a little wash and disappear in the vegetation, but we would always find it again on the other side. Or sometimes find a cattle trail which was just as good.

We stopped for the day around 6pm, and setup our tents among some cottonwood trees.

Most of it was easy walking today, so we managed to hike almost 24 miles which is quite far for the Hayduke. Tomorrow, we will hike up 2000ft/600m to the top of the Waterpocket Fold, and down Stevens Canyon!

Saturday May 6, 23.9mi/38.5km

Muley Canyon (225.1/5920ft) to Muley Twist Canyon (248.7/4840ft) (UT) +0.3mi water

After a great night of sleep amongst the trees, we hiked out at 7am. Pretty soon we left the canyon and went cross country for a couple hours. Some of the rock formations around here are crazy looking, like this pointy mountain.

And then we saw this pointy finger!

This little cross-country section was fun, and we even found some cattle trails to follow for a little bit.

We dropped into a very small canyon for a few minutes before climbing right back out again.

Of course there was some walking in a wash too.

There was a spring at the junction of two little canyons, and I wandered around amongst the cattails to find the best place to access the water. When I finally got to it I discovered it looked a little funny, like an orange color.

It smelled and tasted fine, in the orange color was actually the sediment on the bottom. So I was very careful not to disturb the bottom. This would likely be our last water source for the rest of the day, since the next reliable one is 18 miles away. After this we took a little alternate/shortcut (saves 1mile), that a previous hiker Nic Barth had established. It went by these cool coal seams.

An added bonus was more cool rock formations like this drippy, melted-looking rock.

Desert wildflower!

It was after 9am so we decided to take a nice long snack break before descending into Swap Canyon.

It was a perfect temperature for hiking today about 60F/16C, with just the right amount of clouds. The descent into Swap Canyon was actually really easy, with no technical or steep sections at all. Within 10 minutes we were at the bottom.

It was a really enjoyable Canyon to walk, with hardly any annoying soft sand, and lots of good scenery.

I enjoyed the shade from the little cliffs nearby.

I haven’t yet seen a plant with both pink and white flowers!

We walked down Swap Canyon for a couple hours, and then when it ended at a larger valley we stopped for lunch. Looking ahead to the Burr trail switchbacks, which also means we entered Capitol Reef National Park.

Our lunch spot was pretty windy, so we did not stick around very long after finishing our meal. We had a couple miles of dirt roadwalking to do.

Ah, The official “welcome to Capitol Reef” sign along the road. There is a large geologic feature here called the waterpocket fold, it’s a 100-mile long wrinkle in the Earth’s crust. Very cool.

We saw like five cars pass by us on the short roadwalk, which was a little surprising given we are really far out from any town. At the top of the climb was the Muley Twist Canyon trailhead. There was a trail register so we even signed in!

This is a very popular dayhike, so most of the names in there we didn’t recognize, but there were a few Hayduke hikers as well.

The canyon started off shallow with this really cool grippy red sandstone.

Then it got a little deeper and I was walking on some gravel surrounded by taller sandstone walls.

When the canyon would go around a bend, the outside of the band was all cut-under and eroded, making these neat overhangs where water would drip down and create stripes.

After a few miles the canyon walls got *really* tall.

And then the cut-under corners became much more pronounced, becoming kind of like caves.

At one spot we had to hike through a pile of jumbled boulders, which created these little cave passageways. Shadow tried the first one which didn’t work.

The second little cave worked though!

Towards the end of the day the Canyon started to get a little wider, and we could see more of the surrounding landscape. Like these cool flatiron mountains, just like in Boulder CO!

After walking Muley Twist Canyon for almost 10 miles, we decided to stop for the night as it was almost 6pm.

With all the cross-country hiking, and also the Swap Canyon we did this morning, it was almost a 24 mile day….my biggest one yet on the Hayduke! We made dinner and then started to head to bed around 8pm, and it got really windy. I was holding up my tent so it wouldn’t be flattened by the wind. The wind was also so strong it was blowing sand through the mesh of the tent, and I was basically eating sand while laying there. Gross. I moved my tent to a slightly better spot, which didn’t really help. So I moved it to an even better spot, a 5 minute walk away tucked into some trees and bushes. After all of the tent-moving and sand-cleaning, it was 10:30 before I finally got to bed, sheesh.

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!