It was March 8th 2015, Wade and I were our way to begin our thru hike on the Hayduke Route, our packs were full, we were ready, however, we had no idea what was truly coming our way out there, we were eager and excited though to begin our journey. After a 45 minute car ride from Moab we reached the Arches National Park boundary, this was the beginning of our hike on the Hayduke. We got of the car thanked Mike for giving us a ride, put our packs on and headed down the road into Arches. Just like that we went from being "normal people," to thru hikers on the Hayduke. I am no stranger to the life of a thru hike, in fact I prefer it to "normal, everyday life," but for Wade this was his first thru hike and I could see the excitement and nervousness for leaving everyday life behind in his eyes. For the next 3 months the desert would become our home, our teacher, at times our enemy, but it also became our joy and passion. It became a world in which we both grew whether it was from deep struggle and challenge or simple beauty, it allowed us to grow as people and to gain a stronger appreciation for the natural world and all of it wonders.
The Hayduke is a tribute of sorts to Edward Abbey, a man that could write poetically and beautifully, and yes, he was an asshole at times, but his love for the desert lands was contagious and his books are among my favorite. I understand his words and his message, so there we went down dirt roads in Arches where Edward Abbey was a ranger for a few seasons, we ended up in Courthouse Wash, quickly learning that there was no keeping our feet dry, that we would haver to walk in the water and quicksand and through whatever we could to make it through the wash and that is what we did. We camped that night in Courthouse Wash, our first night out :) so pumped!! The next day we finished our hike through Courthouse Wash and found ourselves in Moab, we spent the night and walked out of town and up towards Hurrah Pass the next day. Now it was really beginning, the desert was waiting for us and the realization of what we were doing had started to kick in. From the summit of Hurrah Pass we headed towards Canyonlands NP, around 89 miles from the beginning and that was also where our first food and water cache was. A lot of this land was 4X4 roads, or cow land, in Lockhart Basin we found 5 cow carcasses that were in fact contaminating our water sources, we enjoyed a bath in Indian Creek and the views night after night and day after day were breath taking. The air was warm during the day, but the winter temps seemed to linger at night. We got lost trying to find our first cache near big springs TH, eventually realizing we were on the wrong road (silly us) it was a huge relief when we did find our cache!!
From that cache we headed through Canyonlands and into Butler Wash, a place that seemed to never see people, a place that seemed far removed and lonely, the walls were all around us trapping us down in the wash, making one feel so small and humbled. Climbing out of there allowed us to see an amazing view of the needles just as the sun was going down, the orange glow lit up the sky. Onwards we hiked toward Fable Valley, Youngs canyon, Dark canyon, these canyons were off the wall awesome, they had pools in them that seemed as though they were part of an aquarium, beautiful beyond belief, when we got near the Sundance trail there were people camped everywhere, so we decided to take 6 liters of water and hike up the Sundance trail- 1,200 feet in the dark, it was exhausting, but fun, something about scrambling at night with the moon lighting the way that makes me happy :) The following day we hiked all the roads which finally brought us out near Hite Marina. We could see the Henry Mountains not too far off, that was where we were headed in the next few days, up over Mt. Ellen and towards Capitol Reef NP. We hitched into Hanksville from there because I was becoming very sick with Crohns and needed a break. From there we went up into the Red benches and then down Fiddlers Cove to the Dirty Devil River, 5 miles of walking in this river and in quicksand and then finally enjoying a great spring because we had been carrying water for 27 miles.
Again we reached the highway after miles of roads and washes and it was now time to head up in the Henry Mountains, we got misplaced trying to find our way initially but soon we were gaining elevation and leaving the desert for mountains, a few miles up the road and all of a sudden we were post holing, for miles and miles this went on. We camped at the pass below Mt. Ellen and summited the next day, again snow and post holing, but once on the ridge the hiking became easier. How strange it is to be standing on top of a snow covered peak looking down 1000s of feet and only seeing desert, what a contrast it was. What a site it was.
By now we were a little over 150 miles into our trip, we were moving a lot slower than we thought, I was sick and my disease was really beginning to effect me. But I was not quitting. It is hard to remember day by day and all of the canyons we hiked through. We hiked in Tarantula Mesa, sadly I did not see one tarantula :( we hiked through canyons that looked like castles and kingdoms and no words can ever explain their beauty. We got lost for 4 hours one day before Capitol Reef NP and spent the day just trying to find our way, we were only using a map and compass, no GPS. We agreed to do this hike the pure, old school way, map and compass even if we got misplaced sometimes. We did get lost, but we did end of making it to the Burr Trail and into Capitol Reef NP where our second cache was :) our walk up the Burr Trail was spectacular, the colors of the rock against the sky was overwhelming, I must of taken 30 pics just on that 2 mile section. Ok, so now we are in Capitol Reef, what is next? Oh, yes, Lower Mulley Twist Canyon, up the red slide to Middle Moody Canyon and then.... the 26 mile hike in the water in the Escalante River. Yes, in the water up to our waists and bushwhacking on the beaches when the water was too deep, only to be thrown back out into the river by the brush at any given moment, poison ivy bordered many sections of the River, so we constantly had to watch where we stepped and pay attention to how the river twisted and turned and where and how how navigate this river without trouble. It was quite fun, but after 2.5 days of walking in a river I was over it.
Getting out of the Escalante River and heading up Coyote Gulch was quite a shock. In 7 or so miles I counted 52 tents, the smell of brand new gear and fresh showered people smelled awful to us, it was like a city park out there, so we blasted through Coyote Gulch, Hurricane Wash and got to our next cache which was on the Hole in the Rock Road, our shoes were covered with holes, so we decided to hitch into the town of Escalante to get new shoes, well, they did not have any shoes, so we fixed our shoes with super glue and headed back to the Hayduke. Leaving the Hole in the Rock road we hiked up 40 mile and along came Monday canyon, which was a bouldering puzzle, boulder after boulder for hours, then Rees Canyon and Rogers Canyons, all of which were difficult in their own ways. All of which were spectacular in their own ways as well.
