Twig Adventures

Wednesday, April 5th, 2023, 0700-1500S2 Rustler Canyon mm 35.3 to Needles Outpost.14 miles, elevation 4800′ It wasn’t near as cold as I feared it might be…only 32 in the morning. My tent site was great after the wind died overnight. I woke to clear skies and soon the sun was hitting. We shortly turned upstream into Indian Creek and did another tricky climb out of the canyon. Once again, there were several routes and we kind of went with the flow of the most obvious one. It was a fairly easy scramble up, assuming ones takes the time to scout for the best options. There were many nooks and cracks in the cliffs, providing access for animals and humans alike.[…]

Tuesday, April 4th, 2023, 0640-1730S2 mm 5 BLM camp to Rustler Canyon mm 35.328 miles, elevation 4050′ What a great night…so not what I expected! I was toasty and content in my quilt. Once again, I was very glad to have a tent because it was so much warmer and protected from the wind and sand. I love my 1 lb tent! I was using my old (2016) camo DCF Zpacks Solplex for this trip, since I figured it would take a lot of abuse in this environment. Goodby zippers! I already replaced one slider a few years before and brought an extra in case I needed to again. But it held up just fine to the light rain and[…]

Monday, April 3rd, 2023, 0840-1730Moab to S2 mm 5 BLM camp near Colorado River16.5 miles, elevation 3950′ I heard the wind beating at the door all night and didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. The forecast called for 50 kt gusts through the day, and some rain then snow overnight. Tuesday might have some more snow and then temps in the 20s overnight. Boo. The problem was, if we waited around town another day or two, we’d miss our permit for Canyonlands NP. It cost us $46 for the privilege of pitching our tents on bare earth, with not even a pit toilet at the site. It was the same situation we got every night, the[…]

Sunday, April 2nd, 2023, 0730-1500Arches National Park, S1 mm 11.7 to mm 24 Lions Park\Moab12 miles, elevation 4,000′ A coyote call to dawn was a great alarm clock in the morning. It was 32 degrees as I awoke but I felt pretty warm all night. One of the downsides of wash camping is that they can be cold sinks. Also there’s no protection from condensation, but thankfully it was dry and breezy enough for this not to be a problem overnight. We climbed out of the wash to begin an alternate across the slickrock and the sun hit us almost immediately. It warmed pretty quickly and soon we were stripping layers and donning sun protection. The slickrock alt was very[…]

Saturday, April 1st, 2023, 0630-1800Arches National Park: Devils Garden to S1 mm 11.7 BLM land.17 miles, elevation 4,300′ After all the planning, running around, and fretting, it was finally time to start hiking this trail, er, I mean route! It wasn’t too cold overnight and I slept really well…with earplugs to drown out the highway noise. We were up and moving before it was barely light. We walked 2 miles on a bike path to get to the park entrance. A nice lady picked us up just beforehand but her timed entry permit wasn’t until 9 am. Just our luck, the timed entry requirement had just gone into effect this day…go figure. The ranger asked her to turn around and wait[…]

This is a long post, to reflect on my preparations and travels prior to the hike. It encompasses several weeks, just to give an idea of how much pre-planning this hike involved. I spent some of the time visiting family and friends in Colorado, which was a good way to acclimate to the at altitude. I had planned to head to Utah sooner, checking out some day hikes as I placed food and water caches with TS. But it was so bloody cold and snowy that I extended my stay in sunny (and kind of warm) CO. I spent the extra days at my friend Jolly Rancher’s home near Westcliffe \ Rosita. I met him on the Colorado Trail in[…]