Sep 24: Grosvenor Arch, Round Valley Wash

A road day but a good day, calloo, callay!

Dirt road almost all day today. We climbed up Death Ridge Road (really) and got decent views of badlands-type hills (Mudhills?) from the top. We were deciding whether to follow Jamal's route across ridges to Headquarters Spring, but the ridges looked pretty nuts, so we just stuck to the road. The road did turn the wrong way a mile or two further off, but the descent down a wash was pretty easy. It was tight and brushy with juniper at the top but opened up lower and wasn't bad. The wash basically hooked us in with another road that took us to Grosvenor Arch. As soon as we hit that road, we started seeing a small handful of vehicles, and the majority of them, unprompted, slowed down and offered us water. The first guy to stop knew of Haydukers and was doing a paleontology dig nearby. So, water problem solved, it would seem. (He also said Headquarters Spring was probably dry.)

Grosvenor Arch was nice, if a little diminished by car accessibility and setting compared to Stephens or those in Coyote Gulch. 

Finished the day with a little more road to end at Round Valley Draw. Big day, probably 25 miles. RVD is the end of a section of the official Hayduke, which mostly goes to show you that the sections are not well-designed for thru-hikers and a second edition of the guidebook is in order with more sensible starts and ends of sections.

1865 is a great podcast. Thanks for the tip MFS. Also listening to Unfinished: Short Creek, the eponymous town which we will pass through on the hike! Oh, and Julie of the Wolves. And recited poetry. Re-memorized Invictus today. Still trying to get Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night 100%.

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