Musical Interlude

Well, blogging is usually the first thing to go in the evening in that short time between making camp and going to sleep. I promise they will come. In the mean time, I do need to be a content creator. I couldn't pretend to be part of the creative class without it! 

I have a lot of music pop into my head throughout the day, so I thought I'd pass them on to you! I don't think I could embed tracks or anything, but here's a list to get you by! (Have I already devolved into considering listicles as content?!) These are all songs that have found their way into (at times, mind-numbing heavy rotation) into my head. 

• "Blowin' Smoke" Kasey Musgraves
• "Merry Go 'Round" Kasey Musgraves
• "Step Off" Kasey Musgraves 
• "Biscuits" Kasey Musgraves
• (We were listening to a lot of Kasey Musgraves on the drive to Moab.)
• "Take It Easy" The Eagles
• "Rodeo" Garth Brooks
• "Another Christmas Song" Stephen Colbert 
• "Jingle Bell Rock"
• "We'll Meet Again" Johnny Cash
• "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
• "When Two Worlds Collide" John Prine & Trisha Yearwood
• "Knock Me Up" Folk Uke

There are plenty of other songs getting stuck in my head, and while they seem like they'll never go away, they get lost in the wind. There's a song I can't pull from the ether as we speak that isn't "Love Hurts," but reminds me of "Love Hurts." Oh well, I'll probably do a few more of these throughout the trip. 

Also! DARK CANYON! Crazy! Get in there quick. If it's ever been on your list, get in there now! When I was at the Needles, Canyonlands backcountry was booked solid the whole time. They were sending people over to Dark Canyon. I don't want to sound like one of those "last one in types," but I think this spot is on the cusp of blowing up, like feels like it'll be getting a multipage spread in "Backpacker" soon.

 

 

 

Hayduke Day 3 - I am the Roadwalker

After a pretty awesome complimentary hot breakfast, I left the Aarchway (this is not a post sponsored by the Aarchway Inn). Did a nice alternate taking me past the Maverik station to grab a couple things and I was on my way out of town. Before making my way along the Colorado River, I stopped by my first cache of the trip. While I have used caches before, it is always a relief to find them actually there when I return. I'm sure by writing this I have jinxed myself for caches further down the line.  The road walking was pretty nice for the most part. The asphalt wasn't as painful as I could be, as it probably will be later in the trip. Weather was great. I developed a small case on sunbumps on my hands, so I've been trying to keep them covered as much as possible. 

I came around the corner near the Amasa Back trailhead and saw the hill I would have to climb and decided to take a break. I'm usually very anti-technology in the backcountry, but this was road walking, not the backcountry. I started listening to the million podcasts back logged on my phone. That really did it for me. Got me up that hill. On the morning of Day One I had heard on the radio about how it's bad to listen to music or movies or podcasts all the time when you work out, about how disassociating from your body makes it impossible to pick up on signals from your body. Here I was doing exactly that! Oh well, I just gotta hike my hike. 

Made it up the hill. At one point, I'm taking a break in the shade of a boulder when I hear a side-by-side stop and there's conversation. I peek around the corner, and two hikers are getting in the side-by-side. I wonder if those are Hayduke folks? Come to find out later, they are! Those are the two that started a day ahead of me! The night I spent in Moab, they spent out in Lockhart Basin where the winds shredded their tent. That is what inculminated from passers by and the internet. I was THIS close to meeting other Haydukers. Oh well, maybe further down the trail. 

I did have a guy stop and ask how I was doing. He said had seen me earlier in the day, but had had a transcendent experience since then. When he saw me again, he felt he had to stop. I thought it was awesome that he stopped to check on me. I wish I had been more than a mile from my planned campsite. Oh well, you can't get them all exactly where you want to. I am sending him more good vibrations for thinking of me.  

Hayduke Day 2 - Courthouse Washing

 

I re-enter Arches into upper, upper Courthouse Wash. No dirt road walking today, but a decent amount of sand. As I'm walking, an odd, dark-colored bird catches my eye. It seems to hover, but is still making progress. As it moves closer to me, it turns. It's a star shaped bird. It's not a bird, it's a friggin balloon! Before I can get my camera out, it has floated past. I've seen dead balloons in the backcountry before, but I've never seen one getting there. Please remember that releasing balloons is littering. 

My maps show an alternate coming up. The Slickrock Alt. I pop my head up to scope it out because usually straight lines on maps of the desert mean hiking over cryptobiotic soil. I don't like hiking on crypto. I'm happy to see that it is slickrock as far as the eye can see. Rolling slickrock. The views are nice, but they are amazing once you get to the top of the Great Wall route. The downclimbs on this route were pretty spicy. This is a section that having a partner would be helpful, but this was an area where I was glad I have done my fair share of downclimbs when I guided canyons around Zion. 

Once I hit the bridge over Courthouse Wash, I took a break in the shade. This is where I felt I wasn't staying as hydrated as I would prefer. Item added to town list: hydration kit for my Dromedary. Also on this list is maybe a new pair of pants as the zipper blew out on Day 1. Also on the list is maybe a new pair of underwear as the elastic isn't so hot anymore on this pair. 

Once I get moving again, I start to find Courthouse is filled with water. Signs of beavers start popping up everywhere. I had no idea there were beavers in Arches. I refill my water bottles from one of the ponds. The rest of the walk down canyon is pleasant. Feels like parts of the Escalante, but I am trying to avoid making comparisons to other areas on the trip. Trying to take each location on its own merit, even though those similarities are maybe from the same formations of rock, surface processes, or structural geology. 

 

Big beaver pond in Courthouse Wash

I hit Route 191 around 5pm. The wind was brutal all day. The place I was thinking of camping is inside the national park, so I needed to find accommodations at a campground. For the heck of it, I checked prices of hotels, and one was cheap and less than a mile away! Really roughing it on the Hayduke so far. On the other hand, the wind was brutal. I could feel it inside the building and the lights were flickering during some of the gusts. 

After I dropped my bag at the Aarchway Inn, I walked into town. Picked up new pants and underwear, a hydration kit for my Drom, a couple small carabiners for whatever. Dinner was a small package of cookie dough. 

The cab companies in Moab are pretty nonexistent. One of the perks of staying at the Aarchway is they have a shuttle service! Thank goodness because I did not really feel like walking all the way back. Also, yes, it is spelled Aarchway.  

 

Hayduke Day 1 - Bella becomes a film director

 Hayduke Day One is actually here. I got up early to go drop the last two caches, one on the edge of town and a water cache towards Hurrah Pass. Drop those and head back to the hotel to see how Shandee and Bella are doing. They are getting ready to go. We hit the City Market and Gearheads for last minute purchases. I eat breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe (chorizo scramble, it's amazing). After those errands, we realize there is nothing else keeping us in town and we may as well head out to trailhead. 

We weren't procrastinating per se as I was wanting a midday start since I wasn't going far that day. Arches National Park has instituted a moratorium on all overnight backcountry use. It's been at least a decade since they have updated their Backcountry Management Plan, and since the last update, there has been a 500% increase in backcountry use. While they figure out how to deal with the all the people in the backcountry, they've said, "No people in the backcountry." At least not overnight. So I won't spend the night in Arches. 

 

At the trailhead, which is actually just the park boundary in Salt Valley, the wind is ripping! I repack my pack with the last minute stuff. I change into my hiking clothes. I've gone over my car's quirks with Shandee. We watch Bella walk down the road for a while. Now everything is ready and there is nothing keeping me from waking. EXCEPT! Bella has decided that she should shoot a video of me starting the trip. As we're saying goodbyes, Bella is giving direction as to how far she wants me to walk before I turn to face the camera. How to wave. How to hold my head. When to turn around and keep walking. She says she'll add sad music later. I execute Bella's directions. After filming is done, we yell final goodbyes. I'm walking into the park, Shandee and Bella are headed back to Springdale. 

Everything you hear about the Hayduke is all found in the first day of the hike. There's road walking, there's sandy road walking, there are sandy washes, there's navigating. No water or exposure yet though. 

 

And this is actually a pretty nice section. 

I find a spot for the night outside the park. As the sun is setting in a most spectacular show of color, the wind settles down. I throw up my tent anyways because you never know when the Moab Spring Wind will strike! Eat dinner, get in the tent, read, go to sleep. 

Hayduke T minus 0.5 - The Deferral

We left Hanksville to do the final day of caching. Since we already did the long drives down the Hole-In-The-Rock Road and the Burr Trail, today's drops went quickly! 

We made multiple stops at Hite. The complete disappearance of Lake Powell from the marina is such a jarring sight. I used to wonder what Glen Canyon would become if the Glen Canyon Dam were to disappear. How would the vegetation come back? What would become of the lake sediments? How would the river course develop? Well, Hite answers many of those questions. It was once a busy "marina," but now you can drive all the way to the end of the  boat ramp. The river is still about a half mile away. It is a wild sight. There is a good chance Lake Powell will never fill again, so what a shame that the original town of Hite was flooded for only a handful years. My understanding is itnwas mostly a ghost town by then anyways, but it didn't have to be. With all the amazing scenery around there, it could easily have become the next Escalante. 

After Hite, we made a stop in Blanding for fuel and to drop off my rent money. It was sad to see the "No Monument" stickers on a few cars around town. Blanding is the gateway community to the new Bears Ears National Monument, and many, mostly white residents, hate it. The monument encompasses sites sacred to several local tribes. Looting and vandalism have been ever increasing, so the tribes asked then-President Obama to designate the area as a national monument to protect it. It was controversial before designation and controversial still. Many land-uses are still allowed like grazing and mining, but the spiritual sites are more protected. However, Blanding has a long tradition of looting these sites as a community activity. For that side of Blanding's history, I recommend Craig Childs' "Finders Keepers" on the ethics of archeology. The first place we saw an anti-monument sticker was at the gas station where the driver of that vehicle and our crew were the few whites I saw. It was all natives walking in and out of the store and getting fuel. 

After Blanding, we started making our way to the Needles. Dropped off a cache on the Beef Basin Road. Dropped off another just outside Canyonlands. I wanted to try to drop it at Needles Outpost, but they were closed. We were there during the hours it was supposed to be open according to their signage, but I guess it was not meant to be. The State Trust land it sits on is for sale, so they may be resigned to their fate or maybe they just had to make a town run? I don't know, but if you have around 1.5 million dollars, you can own an 11 site campground with camp store and two fuel pumps. Tough to pay that loan off. 

 

We stopped at Newspaper Rock! Such an amazing site. I could sit and look at this for hours. The depictions of animal tracks alone is worth the time. The layers of carvings you can see. Why are they there? Was it religious or cultural or just a creative outlet? Is it a greeting post? Is there an energy that draws people to make their mark on panels like this? Is the same energy at work when modern people feel the need to make their mark next to it? Or is it just hubris on the part of the vandal?

Finally made it to Moab, where we are a traditional Moab dinner of Fiesta Mexicana. Stayed at the semi-traditional Rustic Inn. Next day I hit the trail! 

Hayduke T minus 1 - Roadtripping across southern Utah

We left Springdale this morning to begin the journey to Moab, and starting the trail. I dropped food and water caches closer to the Grand Canyon a few days ago. As Shandee, Bella, and I make our way across southern Utah, we've been dropping other food caches. We've been seeing some spots I've never visited before, and it's been great! Grosvenor Arch, the Burr Trail, the Notom-Bullfrog Road. I can't wait to walk back through these places!

Tomorrow, we'll make our way through Hite and over to the Needles on the way to Moab. Depending on how the caching goes, I'll start walking on Saturday. 

Hayduke T minus 2 - Terrible intro to the Hayduke

A couple things. This is all pretty rushed, I decided to blog this trip just yesterday. I won't have consistent service throughout the trip, so I won't be updating daily. I don't really have time to go through a great history of the Hayduke Trail. But I will say that it connects all the southern Utah national parks and the Grand Canyon. The "official" trail is about 800 miles long, but tons of alternates change the mileage drastically. More will come as the trip goes along.

I do have an InReach and you can follow my progress or get in touch at https://share.garmin.com/ZackPennington

I also plan to keep Instagraming at @pennze 

That is all for now!