Author: kaulua26

Sunday, May 7th, 2023, 1130-1500Hwy 89 to Wire Pass14 miles, elevation 4750′ First thing in the morning, I booked a flight from Las Vegas to Denver for May 16th, committing to a pretty tight timeline. I left myself about a week to finish the Hayduke through the eastern Grand Canyon. I planned to meet Sky at Jacob Lake at the end of the day to start from there. Since I’d already walked the section from the Utah\Arizona state line to Jacob Lake on the AZT in 2019, I decided to skip it in the interest of my limited time. But I still felt a need to hike the 14 miles from the highway (where I’d gotten a ride to Kanab[…]

What follows is kind of a bullet list/summary of the days and activities of a week off from the Hayduke (Sunday, April 30th–Saturday, May 6th). I needed time to rework my plans for the upcoming Grand Canyon segment and hopefully let some of the snow melt. But first, a bit of an explanation is in order: During this interim, I had time to really assess my situation, coming to terms with many concerning factors. To follow the official Hayduke route through the western Grand Canyon in the spring of 2023 was straight-up impossible. The record snowpack had not only made the Kaibab plateau difficult to traverse, the snow melt also led to extreme flooding in most of the major side[…]

Saturday, April 29th, 2023, 0645-11201.5 miles south of LeFevre Cabin to HWY 89, then ride to Kanab15 miles, elevation 5350′ I felt especially cold overnight. It was significantly warmer in my tent but the wash was quite chilly…down to 31 degrees once we started walking. It wasn’t a very good site but we didn’t have much of a choice. I knew it would be blazing hot later and still couldn’t reconcile such oscillating conditions. I would slowly transition from wearing all my layers, including puffy, to nothing more than my dress and sunbrella. Another typical day in the desert. We were walking fast in the morning, anxious to get to town, where the conveniences of a car also tempted us.[…]

Friday, April 28th, 2023, 0645-1910Mile 35 of Bryce Extension to 1.5 miles south of LeFevre Cabin28 miles, elevation 5900′ This was one of my longest days on the Hayduke and it certainly felt like it at times. We got an early start and immediately enacted new plans. Overnight, we’d noticed that we could take a lower elevation route called the Grandview Trail. It stayed well below the rim and outside the park, only rising to 7900′. The main Under the Rim route would have taken us over 9000′ and we’d already been encountering a lot of snow at much lower elevations. For some reason, the south end of the park seemed to be holding more snow, perhaps because a lot[…]

Thursday, April 27th, 2023, 1000-1910Tropic to just south of Noon Canyon Butte, mile 35 of Bryce Extension, just outside of park boundary 20.5 miles, elevation 7740′ We got a late start, as I was once again dragging my feet. Tropic was actually easy to leave, since all we had to do was simply walk out of town, resuming the trail on what’s known as the Bryce extension. The official Hayduke route skips the best parts of the park, entering it far to the south at a remote trailhead. But I wanted to see all the hoodoos and pillars that the park is famous for. It was named after a Mormon guy, Ebenezer Bryce, which gave rise to my invented Bryce[…]

Tuesday, April 25th, 2023, 0630-0930Paria River 0.5 mile south of Sheep River to Willis Creek Trailhead, then ride to Tropic8.5 miles, elevation 6300′ I hiked the final miles of this leg as if I was being pursued by the Paria meerkats. Or maybe it was the possums…I couldn’t keep them straight. It felt pretty warm when I woke, with temps in the mid 40s, but as soon as I started crossing the river, I was freezing again. A cold wind was blowing straight into my face and my feet quickly felt like blocks of ice. I should have put my neoprene socks on but I was too stubborn and cold to stop. Town awaited. We turned up Sheep Creek right[…]

Monday, April 24th, 2023, 0650-1945Lower Hackberry Trailhead \ Yellow Rock alt. to Paria River 0.5 mile south of Sheep River20.5 miles, elevation 5230′ It rained for awhile overnight, but only lightly. The wind really picked up several times but luckily the trees kept me sheltered. Everything was pretty damp and covered in sand in the morning. Still, I felt like I’d been extremely fortunate with hardly any precipitation during the journey, mostly just a few nights when I was already in my tent. I couldn’t complain. We got ready early and immediately started up the alternate trail to Yellow Rock. This was one of many alternate attractions suggested by Jamal Green on his page Across Utah, and as usual, it[…]

Sunday, April 23rd, 2023, 0640-1800Round Valley Draw \ Hackberry Canyon confluence to Lower Hackberry Trailhead \ Yellow Rock alt.21 miles, elevation 4690′ I was pretty excited to wake and pack this morning because I was seeking redemption for the failed Round Valley Draw adventure the day before. I’d decided to do an out and back up the canyon, adding 5 miles total to my day. Such extra miles were no big deal and the canyon was very much worth it. We left our packs under the cover of the junipers, as the ravens were already soaring above, looking for an opportunity. It was typically cold (30s) and felt even colder deep in the canyon. RVD was a classic slot canyon,[…]

Saturday, April 22nd, 2023, 0640-1800Grosvenor Arch S8 to Round Valley Draw and Hackberry Canyon confluence.21.5 miles (but only 9 official trail miles), elevation 5750′ I got an early start so I could take more pictures of the nearby arch. The light wasn’t as good as the night before but I did manage to catch some of the sunrise. We walked a little ways down the road to our cache, which we’d originally intended to leave by the arch, but couldn’t make it all the way due to the road being muddy, icy, and covered in snow. In retrospect, this was a good thing, since I’ve learned that burying food in the vicinity of people and picnic tables is a recipe[…]

Friday, April 21st, 2023, 0640-1830Right Hand Collet Canyon to Grosvenor arch 25 miles, elevation 6230′ It was 25 degrees under the trees and 23 degrees in the wash in the morning. Three nights prior, the low had been 60 something. I’d never been on hike with such temperature swings, except maybe the GET and MRT. There was one benefit to the freezing temps: the quick mud in the creek was quite firm to walk over, making for easy travel for a few miles. But I still wished it would warm up some. It was supposed to be back in the 60s by the end of the day. I thought we only had a few miles left before beginning an easy[…]