Start: Hunter Canyon Dryfall
Finish: Colorado River
Daily Mileage: 16.9
Trip Mileage: 60.5
Elevation gain/loss: 2120/2705ft
I hardly slept last night, which happens to me sometimes backpacking. Needless to say, I was awake when my alarm went off and I got up and hit the trail at first light. The trail kept along the same 4×4 track until it reached the edge of the plateau that we were traveling on. I got some great views from a cliff a few times when I walk out to the edge.
The track eventually disappeared and I continued on the same course towards the supposed exit point where I would descend the canyon wall. From a high rock outcrop, I saw a lot of footprints traveling towards the edge of the cliff, but none going back. I figured these must have been base jumpers as I saw a couple parachutes below me briefly one of the times I went out to the rim. I follow the footsteps backwards and came to the point of weakness in the canyon wall where you can descend. It was slow, steep, loose going but not all that difficult to get down. At the bottom I rejoined the main road which I had left yesterday morning.
There was tons of OHV traffic on the road, two and four seat side by sides (SxS). It was a bit dusty at times, but everyone smiled and waved and it was nice to see the friendly nature of everyone out in the wilderness. I passed a group of guys by the side of the road with their trucks and they gave me two apples and tried to give me some bars but I said I had plenty of those. They couldn’t believe what I was doing but I seemed to inspire them which is always satisfying.
It was a long road walk up to Hurrah Pass, but it was a great hike. The road climbed up on a series of ledges. The rock was heavily weathered and eroded and carved by the elements which was incredibly scenic. On foot it was much easier for me to take in and appreciate. I got to Hurrah Pass before noon which is good considering that was where I had intended to stop today. Obviously, I wasn’t going to stop at noon. I took a long break and talked to a few people up there. One off-roader said I was the toughest son of a bitch he’d ever met after I point out the route I had taken to get here.
I continued on the 4×4 track down from Hurrah pass, with much of the same eroded rock on this side of the pass. When I was nearing the bottom, a pickup truck pulled up to me and told me that he had a lodge a mile further and he’d give me water and anything I wanted if I stopped by. I found it funny that the guy was driving an old truck fully loaded with water jugs down the same road people were using SxSs with roll cages and helmets.
I stopped by Base Camp Lodge and got my water. Tom, the owner has a 300-pound African tortoise that likes to wander and go for a hike each day. It will cover up to 10 miles in a single day. His tortoise had gone out for his daily hike and one of his workers went along to track it and he needed corral it back home for the night. Tom asked if I wanted to come along and help get the tortoise back home. Initially I thought that I would just decline and continue on the trail but then I figured why not? This was pretty unique. So, I hopped into Tom’s truck and we went off in search of the tortoise.
We got to a wash where Tom’s worker had followed the tortoise, but he had lost track of it coming to meet us. We went back to track it and we went separate ways. I thought I saw something that looked like tortoise tracks and followed those myself and shortly saw the tortoise charging towards me full speed. I got the others and we began to corral it back to the truck. Tom’s worker had to go back to base camp to clean some rooms so he did that and they had me drive the truck back to where the tortoise was off-road. Where else would someone hand keys to someone they had just met and told them to do a bit of off-roading in it unsupervised?
I got back to the wash and Tom and I lifted the tortoise into the truck and then headed back to Base Camp. Tom gave me a cold beer and I hung out for a bit. Tom offered to let me stay in one of his unfinished native mud huts next to the lodge but I felt I wanted to keep going a little further.
Tom said there was some wind caves I could camp in a few miles along my way, so I decided to check those out. I got to the caves intending to stay inside and put down my pack, but looking at them closer it looked like water could puddle in them and it was supposed to rain tonight. So, I begrudgingly decided to continue on and find a tent site. I ended up finding an actual campsite inside a wash with a fire ring beneath a cottonwood. A nice spot!
Today was really a fantastic day. I was smiling most of the day waving at all the 4x4s passing me and everyone was smiling and waving back. I had the kindness of Tom and the other guys who gave me the apples and it’s really nice to see that people can just be nice and friendly in these trying times. A friend of mine told me that one of the reasons they did a recent long distance backpacking trip was to restore their faith in humanity. That’s not a reason that I’m doing this trip but I felt fantastic today with all the positive encounters I had!