Adventures in Onionism

I finished thru-hiking the Hayduke Trail two weeks ago. It was an incredible experience. Overview:   The Hayduke Trail isn’t a trail, it’s a route. It’s a mix of trailless canyons, washes, gullies, jeep roads, some trail, and a tiny amount of pavement. The route connects many of the highlights of the Colorado Plateau in Utah and Arizona. It takes you through Arches, Bears Ears, Canyonlands, Glen Canyon NRA, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase, Bryce, Grand Canyon, and Zion. The route is approximately 800 miles long, and it took us 5.5 weeks, September 8 to October 15. We hiked westbound from Moab to Zion, and everything written here is from that perspective. I would rate this hike as very difficult, somewhat on par on a per-mile basis with my previous trips to Alaska or the Sierra High Route. The route includes significant class 3 scrambling. The weather was very hot, resupplies are far apart, and there was not a lot of water, so we had to carry heavy packs, and doing this scrambling w...

We finished the Hayduke Trail today. Got up and hiked down into the East Fork of the Virgin River. Aside from a hunter who was glassing the valley shushing us when we were discussing navigation, we didn't see anyone. (Side note: after discussing it, we think there were two days in which we saw no other humans, but zero days in which we saw no other humans or cars in which a person would probably come back to by the end of the day.) The East Fork was freezing cold, but the aspen were gorgeous. We entered right about Rock Canyon, and there are some petroglyphs just opposite there. We explored upstream a bit but not too far; adding freezing creek crossings seemed unnecessary. But descending was of course also cold, we basically had to cross the creek every few minutes. It obviously got warmer as the day went on, so it was fine. We stopped at Poverty Wash, where I went all the way to the grotto and a brief narrows at the end. It's worth checking out, though you just walk in the bru...

Walked the highway frontage OHV trail to the edge of town and the soon-to-be old location of Bee's Marketplace, the local grocery (they're currently building a bigger new location right on the highway a bit further north). Bought way too much food. Check the expiration date on your grocery store pastries, kids.  Then walked through town, stopping at the post office to pick up even more food, send a couple things home, and pet a stray dog. None of the four people at the Post Office, including two employees, live in town, so they couldn't tell me where to pick up a used paperback. (I finished Ed Abbey's terrific Fire on the Mountain. The plot and its politics are a little simplistic but the description of the desert ranch life is beautifully evocative.)  Got coffee and verified with NPS that the East Rim Trail to Observation Point is in fact closed. So that means our hike essentially ends with the Barracks section of the East Fork of the Virgin River, which is actually su...

Well, not quite yet. We're in a draw just outside town. A little too close to the noisy highway to be truly pleasant, but in or close to the Cottonwood Point Wilderness. The timing was such that we could have camped in the nothing-but-sagebrush before the highway that we've been in all day and had more to walk tomorrow, or in slightly nicer junipers closer to town, except the highway is indeed really loud. (My fault, I of course always push for more mileage.) Neither of us wanted to go get a hotel room in town, as it was a further walk plus we don't know if smelly hikers will be received well. Anyway, we walked roads all day, and there was plenty of water, but often nothing but sagebrush and tumbleweed as far as the eye could see. I quite liked, except for one sandy bit and a small headache.  One of the checkdams early on had some cow water. Then Yellowstone Spring had basically a swimming pool of water. Then Maroney Well was running, though it tasted of iron.  As soon as Y...

Chugged a protein shake, coffee, and water this morning in order to be well hydrated before potentially never seeing water again. Then took off, and the miles came much easier than yesterday. The walls of Kanab Creek were still impressive, but rapidly came down in height as we moved along. We passed a junction with Jumpup canyon and then started finding trails that occasionally cut the corners off bends in the now-dry creek. The trail was occasionally sandy, but a heavy red sand that wasn't that bad to walk on.  The creek did reappear once, cold and clear just north of Chamberlain Canyon, so I drank more there, but was still carrying 7.5L or so, which was quite heavy on my shoulders. We finally turned out of Kanab Creek into Hack Canyon, and the trail got better, with big cowboy cairns. Obviously just a use trail for cows, but it made following it easy. We only saw around 5 cows total all day though. There was one more spring, Willow Spring, that had a nice flow and a nice concrete...

Couldn't have scripted it better. I woke up, and immediately my stress over having to haggle about route choices dissolved because Nano and I agreed we should just start walking and stick out our thumbs/furiously wave hankerchiefs at any passing boats. So I washed off in the creek and we started following crummy game trails downriver. (There really isn't one at first, just walk the water's edge until you get to the boulder field, the whole reedy area is a big seep.) Ten minutes of that, and some use trails across a boulder field, and we started smelling bacon. Literally, from across the river, we smelled the bacon of the river group camped the closest after Deer Creek Falls. And the water was flat there, so there was no noise, and we could hear them.  OK Nano, how do we do this? Make a joke about smelling the bacon. Done. They respond jokingly, but no "where are you headed?" to segue to the truly important topic. Oh well, nothing to it but to do it: "uhh, if ...

What a day! Only 13.5 miles thanks to crazy terrain. The night at Teddy's Cabin wasn't such a great sleep, as I was afraid to use my mattress on the metal cot, and the springs weren't all that comfy with just my sit pad. Anyway, we got a decent start and rolled off the porch steps down the drainage into Saddle Canyon. It was brushy at first but honestly not bad, because there has been a fire in the last few years and the regrowth is pretty slow. Still, we were only making about a mile an hour. There were a few pour-offs that required climbing around (left-right-right? Or was it right-left-left? Doesn't matter they were small.) Then there was a big honking pour-off that necessitated going on a ridge way above it. The route had a few cairns and you can either stick to the ridge, or whenever you can, drop off to the left and another wash that will put you back in the main wash soon enough. Anyway, after this giant pour-off, the canyon narrowed and there started to be a bun...

I'm sleeping on a cot outside an NPS cabin built and named after Teddy Roosevelt, who supposedly visited this spot (hunting, of course). I honestly can't remember any other NPS-owned cabins in National Parks that are open to the public. National Forest sure, but I guess this is a remote part of the park. Anyway, today was all dirt road. It started quite cold, with lovely aspen and ponderosa pines. It didn't ever really get hot, just a lovely fall day. We did 26 miles or so along the rim, twice getting great views over the whole canyon. Then we reached Swamp Point and the top of the North Bass Trailhead. We descended just a tiny bit to Muav Saddle and the cabin. Tomorrow we leave the trail and start the big-time craziness. Notes: no water sources today. Carried 7.5L from north rim last night, thanks to mild temps still have plenty left. The road is generally good but silty in places. Saw maybe three cars drive by all day, half a dozen are parked at the North Bass Trailhead. ...

We headed back to the South Kaibab trailhead. We could have gotten food at the deli, since they opened while we were standing there, but the line was too long, people were waiting for them to open. Caught the bus and just headed back down. Nano was happy that we ran into a ranger. She was cool, and didn't ask to see our permit, but he insisted on showing it, since we are exactly on schedule, and it was such a hassle to get ("Aggressive itinerary! Hikers were warned.") Once across the river we took a pitstop at Phantom Ranch to mail postcards and buy delightful expensive lemonade. Lunch at Cottonwood Campground, and then the amazing climb up North Kaibab. It's gorgeous. Unfortunately it's also popular with mules. The last few miles from Supai Tunnel are just beat to hell and full of that awful pulverized manure dust several inches deep. At least there's water right at the top, where we washed our feet and tanked up for yet another 25+ mile waterless stretch tom...

The rodent did indeed keep us up much of the night. Luckily he didn't eat our packs or anything else that belongs to us, he just ate the cactus right next to us all night. We woke up 1.5 hours earlier than usual so that we could try and get to the rim before the post office closes and before it got too hot. Mission accomplished. The Tonto Trail isn't my favorite, never being maintained and slowly getting more and more overgrown with cacti and other sharp or scratchy plants. But at least it's fairly level. (Aside from the one unnamed gully right before you get to Tipoff, the junction with the South Kaibab trail.) We used the facilities at Tipoff by 11, had an odd conversation with a guy telling us we absolutely had to go to Sedona, and we were on the rim by 1:30 or so. I felt great, had drunk coffee, had just enough water left, and charged up the trail. We played name-the-movie-this-quote-comes-from much of the way up. We are both terrible at it. One of the shuttle loops is ...

All aboard the struggle bus! Rough terrain today. Left the saddle and contoured, then in and out a couple canyons, down into 75-mile canyon and out to the river, then Papago creek, with some class 3 climbing then right back down a slide, then Hance rapids where we saw a commercial group take the rapids and then onto the Tonto trail and then hot hot hot and we finally got to Page Spring a little after 2:30. I carried 7 liters from there. Up onto Horseshoe Mesa, back down to Cottonwood Creek (which had water) and back to the Tonto trail and contoured to the Grapevine canyon (which kinda sorta had water but not really, though it sure looked like lower down canyon there was water.) There's a mouse in our campsite and I'm not happy about that, for the sake of every piece of gear that is salty (which is all of them). We're getting up early to try and get to the post office before it closes and to do the climb to the rim before it gets hot. 

The river crew started a little later than we usually do, but it was neat to learn about their setup. Then we rode away with them. I think we did two named rapid (Kwagunt and Sixtymile). I would have appreciated a little bit more terror. I was in the biggest boat (18 instead of 16) and I got splashed, but that's it. The water is pretty low (7-9K cfs, I think they said) and these aren't the big rapids but it was still fun. We saw bighorn and a heron, making for more wildlife in an hour than we've seen so far hiking combined. They dropped us at the Little Colorado confluence, we forded the Little, which was nice a bright blue from minerals, and began the hot, hot climb on the Beamer Trail.  Did I mention it was hot? The clif section finally ended and we had a long section of river access. I doused myself at least three times. Finally made it to Tanner beach (I mistakenly took a high-water route for the last bit--the route right along the water goes, even though it looks like ...

The Grand Canyon. We woke up early and got moving because it was cold. After some road walking, we got to Nankoweap trailhead, which was full of campers and vanlifers. The views would normally be great, but were quite hazy due to smoke, so we didn't hang around and began our descent. Actually there was a little climbing at first, but then we started descending. Then a lot of hot, hot contouring, then more, and hotter descending where the bottoms of your feet are getting hot and every one of your toes is curled in your shoes because the trail is so steep and the rock is so shitty. (Apparently NPS says Nankoweap is the hardest named trail in the park? Wouldn't want to climb it. Seems like people who do cache water on the way down. They're gonna need it.) Finally, burning feet made it to flat, cactus-filled ground, and running water in Nankoweap creek. It was only a couple inches deep, but washing socks and myself, brushing teeth, and hydrating potatoes was delightful. We also...

Did a good large day today, around 28 miles. We were spoiled by AZT water caches again, though they weren't exactly where we hoped they'd be (c'mon guys, get it together!) The aspen were beautiful all day. The plateau opened up a lot so we walked through very nice meadows much of the day. The AZT was very easy to follow. Muzzle loader season has started, so in addition to literally just having heard a shot, we saw hunters all day long, including one posted up right next to a pond that was supposed to be one of our water sources. We figured we'd opt for a cache instead. We reached the East Rim, which is supposed to have good views, but they were totally smoked out today. We finally split from the AZT at the end of the day, and started a short road stretch that takes us to Nankoweap trailhead, where we'll begin the descent into the canyon in earnest tomorrow.  Podcasts: 1865 (I can only take so much, it makes me sad); Sam Harris (Interesting, but I'd like to hear ...

All Kaibab all day. Pretty monotonous scenery, though it did slowly change from mostly juniper to mostly lodgepole and (I think) ponderosa, with some aspen that are changing colors. It's an interesting change from the canyons, and there has been some fire in recent years, so it wasn't truly monotonous. We were concerned about water, so our packs were pretty heavy, but there were multiple caches at road crossings later in the day, and a good guzzler, so we actually got very well hydrated. I expect the first half of tomorrow to be similar, but eventually we'll leave the AZT and won't be coddled anymore.  (Really the AZT is pretty well maintained and signed, despite burns, so the walking was easy.) We got 27 miles for the day. Nano and I are pretty good partners. He can be much faster than me on certain terrain (e.g. sand) but doesn't enjoy suffering as much as I do. So some evenings (Hackberry sand day) he's way ahead and stops about where I'll get to by sunse...

Nano found us a ride back to the trail--turns out an employee at the thrift shop is an Arizona Trail trail angel, so he just asked her. Funnily, I separately simultaneously almost found us another ride by chatting with someone at the library. We were hiking by 8AM and started Buckskin Gulch right at the highway. It's pleasant enough, but it's a solid 10+ miles before you get to the famous narrow part. I hiked the whole thing with Amy in 2011, but Nano had never been. We dropped our packs at the Wire Pass junction and did an out and back in the amazing narrows. There were quite a lot of people.  We'd been considering whether to go to the Wave. It's not on route, but you can pretty easily make it on route. What you can't easily do is get a permit, since they only give out enough for 20 people a day and getting one on foot is basically not going to happen (apply 4 months in advance or at 8AM the day before in Kanab). Anyway, we didn't. Something something saving it...

Walked 6 or 9 miles to highway 89 and hitched into Kanab. The spot where we were hitching was rough since people were going 80 miles an hour, but a woman turned around and came back for us. Took care of our post office, gear, and food resupplies, and we could have been ready to hitch back to the trail by noon. But we stayed the night, so I wrote postcards at the library, then managed to thread the needle by finding a restaurant that has outdoor seating, serves beer, requires mask, and has vegan options (Wild Thyme). The bakery was also excellent. Kanab is a decent resupply town but it is less pleasant to walk around than Moab, as there are basically no crosswalks. Just run (hobble with a pack full of 7 days of food) across four lanes whenever. I found an Ed Abbey paperback at the thrift shop, so I'm all set. 

The morning was very nice. The night before was very cold, so we kept layers on and started walking. We filled water at Iron Spring, which tasted so metallic I could feel it in my dental fillings. Then we finished the Under the Rim Trail and enjoyed the views from Rainbow Point. We saved a mile going around Yovimpa Pass instead of around Promontory Pass, there was also good water at the pump house/well at the pass. Maybe they used to pump water from there up to Rainbow Point? Anyway, we were done with the park, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We walked on a road for a while, and then left it for a wash. It was nice, but messy from cows. The water source there was essentially dry and far too cowy to do anything with. The wash had nice fall colors, the first time we've seen red maple leaves in a canyon, I think. Unfortunately, this wash ended in Park Wash which was an awful sandy mess. It was really hot, so we were glad to come across a full stock tank with a functioning gas engine-pow...