Twig Adventures

GC Prep and Day 0

February 14-17, 2024 To begin this long adventure, I took a direct flight from Miami to Phoenix, utilizing some miles for a free one-way ticket on American Airlines. I also enjoyed a free checked bag as an AA credit card holder, because oh my did I have a lot of crap to bring along for this trip. I managed to fit it all into 2 bags, which was really quite incredible considering how much the other participants brought. Not surprisingly, my ultralight backpacking experience came into play. The typical rafter approach is to bring copious amounts of gear to ensure a comfortable experience…after all, the raft carries the weight during the day. But considering how much lugging and packing of[…]

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2023 Recap and 2024 Wish-list

I always enjoy marveling at Google bread-crumbs of my ramblings over the past 6 years…mostly by foot. I love how distinctly so many of my trails are depicted. Such a presentation really drives home how much ground I’ve covered on my hikes. In 2023, I added a significant number of dots in Utah and down the coast of Oregon, the result of hiking the Hayduke and Oregon Coast Trails. I also connected the Bigfoot Trail to the PCT to the Tahoe Rim Trail, for a total of about 2300 miles for 2023…notice the nice symmetry of those figures, completely unintentional:) This brought my total to over 17K miles since I began thru-hiking in 2017. I figure I might as well[…]

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Hayduke Route Summary & Stats

First and foremost, a huge thanks goes to Mike Coronella and Joe Mitchell, the creators of this route. Their passion and vision for exploring the Colorado Plateau was groundbreaking. Such a challenging and remote route was only made possible by the information generously shared by them and others that followed in their footsteps. There are some notable mapmakers and alternate-seekers that also deserve some accolades: Jamal Green, Andrew Skurka, Li Brannfors and Nic Barth. I also benefited greatly from information contained in many blogs and videos by these intrepid hikers: Buck30, Wired, Katherine Cook, Carrot Quinn, Constantine, Plants, and Samson the Bear. Carrot appropriately described the Hayduke Route, as this: “Walk cross-country towards a canyon, over lumpy slickrock and/or sagebrush[…]

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Hayduke Bonus: Zion Canyon & The Subway, Zion National Park

Wednesday Oct 11th-Thursday Oct 12th, 2023Total distance: 12 miles Day 1: Zion Canyon Day hiking, 2.5 miles After finishing our Buckskin/Paria hike, Worm and I headed straight back to Zion National Park (well, besides a long pit stop for AYCE pizza in Kanab). We had just enough time in the afternoon to drive to the park headquarters and take the tourist shuttle into the main canyon. On the way, we went past Checkerboard Mesa, where we’d ended our Hayduke hike a few days beforehand. We couldn’t continue to the official Hayduke terminus of the Weeping Wall because a 2018 landslide destroyed the trail. We also had a timeline to make our permitted dates for the Buckskin Gulch hike, so we[…]

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Hayduke Bonus: Buckskin Gulch and the Paria River

Monday, Oct 9th to Wednesday Oct 11th, 2023Total distance: 45 miles You can watch Worm’s accompanying video here. To celebrate finishing the Hayduke, we walked down some MORE canyons! This was all thanks to Worm, who scored us some last minute permits and also provided his wheels to get us to the hike. While I’m at it, note that most of the pictures posted here are also his…basically if I’m in the photo, he took it! I also must thank our Hayduke cohort, Sky, who shuttled us from Lees Ferry to Wire Pass trailhead so that Worm’s van would be waiting for us at the end of the hike. Sky’s impeccable timing meant that they just so happened to be[…]

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HayDay 44: Zion, the Promised Land and the Finish

Saturday, Oct 7th, 2023, 0700-1300East Fork Virgin River & Poverty Wash to HWY 9, later a visit to the Weeping Wall6 miles (this is a guess, I forgot to check) It was a lovely night and we woke to our last day on the official Hayduke route. In true Hayduke style, we had to face several more challenges, even though we only had a few miles remaining. First was braving the cold water in the morning, but this was pretty easy. I’d gotten really used to wet feet on the Hayduke and the water wasn’t all that cold. Next we had a final waterfall to bypass. I was so glad I downloaded the bypass description from Across Utah, because there[…]

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HayDay 43: The Barracks

Friday, Oct 6th, 2023, 0700-1830Short Creek to East Fork Virgin River & Poverty Wash 20 miles, elevation 4600′ It was a good night, warm with just a little wind, enough to keep my tent dry. It was hard to believe the 2 nights before had been so cold. We heard a motorcycle buzzing around for awhile, but fortunately it didn’t get too close. In close proximity to a town or road, getting run over in the night was my biggest worry. To begin the day’s hike, we quickly left Short Creek to climb alongside Squirrel Creek. We collected water at the bottom but need not have bothered. The second creek was flowing quite a ways up and we found tons[…]

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HayDay 42: Colorado City

Thursday, Oct 5th, 2023, 0700-1830Maroney well to Short Creek, 3 miles north of Hildale12 miles, elevation 5130′ It got really cold and damp overnight, due to our proximity to the well. I woke around 2 pm to find heaps of condensation on my tent, both inside and out. I was so chilly, I had to put my puffy on to sleep again. I hadn’t felt such a chill since the spring. By dawn, the wet had turned to frost. Worm was pretty soaked since he cowboy camped. I detested packing a wet tent, but at least we were on our way to town and I could dry it somewhere there. We went about 3.5 miles to reach the highway and[…]

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HayDay 41: A Cache and Pool Party in the Desert

Wednesday, Oct 4th, 2023, 0650-18301\2 mile south of Hack Canyon mine to Maroney well27.5 miles, elevation 5070′ The wind really started to blow overnight, causing my tent to flap annoyingly, so I dropped my center pole and went into bivy mode. I only tried this briefly in the storm 2 nights prior, but it worked pretty well for most of this night, since there was no rain. I was able to position the mesh over my face so I could breathe and the extra layer kept me warm. It got pretty chilly…down into the low 40s. I was in a hurry to get to our extra food, so I left Worm in his cowboy cocoon (how he got his trail[…]

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HayDay 40: Slowly up and out

Tuesday, Oct 3rd, 2023, 0650-1830Scotty’s Castle, Kanab Canyon to 1\2 mile south of Hack Canyon mine23 miles, elevation 4170′ I slept well, enjoying a pretty still night, especially compared to the thunderstorm the night before. We resumed our 20 mile escape from the Grand Canyon via Kanab Canyon early in the morning. After only a mile, we came to Showerbath spring, which is revered for the water that dribbles like a shower from an overhang, lush with maidenhair ferns. Our timing was poor, since the spring is best enjoyed in the afternoon when the sun is hitting and it’s hot. I had no desire to soak myself under it. In fact, I became quite chilled just trying to collect water[…]

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