Kane Creek outside Moab

Woke up, got outta bed, hiked. Saw a couple more arches in Arches, then followed dirt roads and a pipeline with some x-country to a wash, where we got our first little bit of potholes and slickrock. That fed into Courthouse Wash, which we were supposed to take all the way to town. Unfortunately just before hitting the main wash, there were huge pools that would require swimming, which we were nonplussed about in the 50-something temps. A bit of scrambling got around that, but then the main wash was fresh beaver hell. Wall to wall bamboo and cattails. We'd push through that but multiple times came to deep pools we'd have to swim through. Maybe on a warmer day after we've got our legs under us? None of our trail notes mention this, so I'm guessing it's new. After a few times, we bailed and ended up on jeep roads and bike paths to Moab. If we'd bailed on the other side we could have done a nice slickrock route to town, but we didn't have much of a choice as to where to exit the canyon. Anyway, if anybody planning to hike the Hayduke this year or next  reads this, I'd recommend bailing to the left when you hit the very first swim, and seeing if there's a place you can get back into Courthouse after a mile or so. If it's not obviously f---king awful, you're further than we got; maybe the beaver stuff ends and you'll have a nice walk. Maybe.

Moab for resupply. Heavy food bag. Camped on the Colorado outside town. ATVs and car-campers are noisy. I thought I brought earplugs for mosquitos, but no, I brought them for other people. 

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