Category: Desert Winter Thru Hike

Thursday, Feb 20th 2025, 0710-1830Buckskin Mtns to Colorado River mm106, Section 518 miles. I wasn’t quite sure what to do by the end of this day. I’d planned to get to Parker on Friday, but was once again ahead of schedule. I could easily make it to town, but since the Parker OVR motor race was taking place over the weekend, all the hotels were either booked or the prices severely jacked up. The Quality Inn had rooms for over $200 a night, which left the very lowly rated Budget Inn for $125. I’d already booked a night for that rate on Friday and didn’t want to spend any more money on a crappy room. There were no Airbnbs anywhere.[…]

Wednesday, Feb 19th 2025, 0650-1830Bill Williams River to Buckskin Mtns mm 88 Section 523 miles. Sometime in the night I heard many splashings in the river nearby. The noise was like a loud ker-plunk, followed by another and another. It was a comical sound, bringing the image of a kid doing a cannonball into a pool. What animal would be making such a sound? Certainly not a burro. A large fish or turtle? A Bill Williams River dolphin? Gulch Otters? An Escalante beaver? God I hoped not…those were the worst! The strange thing was, I didn’t hear any other noises like grunting, breathing, hooves on the ground, etc. Finally I landed the most plausible explanation: it must be a squadron (this[…]

Tuesday, Feb 18th 2025, 0730-1830Bill Williams River to same river, mm 65 Section 523 miles. Oh what a day. It started with a bang, needing to walk about a mile and a half down the river. I wasn’t sure what to expect, given that I hadn’t asked the rangers how much water was being released. I’d seen the river flowing at the end of the previous day, but it was hard to tell how high it was. Apparently it can fluctuate a bit. I started worrying about the upcoming fords sometime in the middle of the night. What if they were too difficult? I got a late start intentionally because it was cold in the morning, thus not fun to[…]

Monday, Feb 17th 2025, 0710-1840Past Leroy Tank to Bill Williams River, mm 42.5 Section 525 miles. It was another long but incredibly productive day! I didn’t get as early of a start as I wanted to. It was chilly in the morning, which I should have taken better advantage of because it got pretty hot in the afternoon. The morning was relatively easy-going as I walked across a low valley between ranges. I was glad to put the Harcuvar range behind me as I headed north and west on a series of dirt roads and in washes. The valley seemed really remote, so I was surprised that I had cell signal. I could see some towers on top of the[…]

Saturday, Feb 15th 2025, 0700-0800End of Section 4, mm50 hitch into Salome1 mile. I had a restful sleep, despite the highway noise, which was pretty minimal. Pulling a massive day before will do that to a person. I was on the highway bright and early, trying to get a ride. There was a sketchy car parked right where I started, so I walked a ways down the road to get away from it. On the one hand, drivers might think I’d broken down. But on the other hand, the car looked so sketch that it also would reflect poorly on me. Besides, people are leery of the broken down vehicle act, a fraud to get people to stop and then[…]

Friday, Feb 14th 2025, 0720-1820North Big Horn Mtns mm25 to End of Section 4, mm5025 miles. The rain started just as I was finishing dinner in my tent the night before…yes I eat in my tent cause it’s not like there’s anything out here that will go for my food. Water maybe, but not the food. I barely want my food. It rained all night, off and on, but was only ever a mere drizzle. It was probably the most peaceful night I ever spent in my tent while getting rained on. I just loved it, especially the sound of  the soft pitter patter on my tent walls. Bliss! It was still raining in the morning, so I delayed my[…]

Thursday, Feb 13th 2025, 0700-1745Beginning section 4 to North Big Horn Mtns, mm2525 miles. My campsite was relatively peaceful, considering my proximity to the interstate. I actually slept just fine without my earplugs in. The traffic was just white noise. I did wake up to an unusual sound in the middle of the night: raindrops on my tent! It was a brief event, not amounting to anything measurable, but I did enjoy it. Sometimes the sound of rain beginning to hit my tent can be very ominous and threatening, but this was actually comforting. From reading Buck30’s journal, I was also lucky that the wind was blowing from the west and keeping the smell of the giant chicken farm away.[…]

Tuesday, Feb 11th 2025, 0710-1800Gila river tonorth boundary of Signal Prak Wilderness, mm40, section 3.25 miles. I heard some sniffing, then a dog was grabbing at the foot of my quilt, trying to drag me out of my tent. I kicked at it and screamed…my worst fears coming true. Then I woke up, thrashing about but there was no dog. It was all just a dream! But immediately I heard a dog barking in the distance and occasionally a second one would chime in. The dog was barking pretty much incessantly, which was so damned annoying. But anytime it would stop, I’d get worried that it was coming over to try to eat me. I preferred hearing it and knowing[…]