Start: Poison Spring 4×4 Track
Finish: Hotel in Hanksville
Daily Mileage: 20.0
Trip Mileage: 244.4
Elevation gain/loss: 1784/1358ft
I got up as normal and started hiking down the track, enjoying views of the Dirty Devil Canyon below. It was nice, but I definitely think that Hatch Canyon was way more scenic and a very good alternate to take, apart from the sketchy exit climb. I wandered down the track for a while before I came to the Dirty Devil River, which I had to cross. Sloppy Joe was sitting there, apparently waiting for me, and announced that the river was deep, flowing fast, and didn’t look crossable, at least here. He said he could maybe scramble to another area of the river to cross, but he wasn’t sure what to do.
The river was full of silt and impossible to see through the water at all; it was basically liquid flowing mud. We went up and down the river at the crossing, poking around, gauging depth and water speed. It quickly got deep close to the bank, and the water rushing past our trekking poles was enough to make them vibrate in our hands. Eventually, we decided to just get in the water, feel around, and see where we got where the water appeared shallowest due to ripples. The water was immediately thigh-depth and was pulling on our legs and poles. I started edging my way across the river, feeling with my hiking poles where it was shallower or where there was a rock that I might stand on. It was definitely not a straight crossing, and it got to waist depth. With the speed of that water, that was about my limit. However, I was able to continue edging my way across the river, where it seemed shallowest, and when I got near the other side, I was able to make a dash towards the bank. I made it!
Sloppy Joe was still in the middle of the river and expressed his concern about the safety of the crossing as he was standing waist-deep in water. I gave him directions as best I could to follow the path that had worked for me, and he eventually made it out of the river. We were pretty wet and dirty from the river, and our hiking poles were even full of water and mud. We started hiking ourselves dry, continuing down the 4×4 track, now through Poison Spring Canyon.
Knowing that I was going to be in town today, I can never quite enjoy a hike as much when I have an end in sight. There’s not much to say about Poison Spring Canyon; it was 16 miles of canyon to traverse. There was some water along the way from a pipe spring protected by a brick enclosure to keep the cows away. It was pleasant walking. Sloppy Joe and I continued hiking together for the rest of the way through Poison Spring Canyon and then Arsenic Canyon until we got to Highway 95, which would take me for a town stop and resupply in Hanksville.
Sloppy Joe is continuing on and not stopping in Hanksville since he had heard it was difficult to hitch in and out of town. We exchanged contact info to stay in touch and went our separate ways when a 4×4 drove up the road we had been walking. I stuck out my thumb, even though I wasn’t quite situated to hitch since I figured this could be an easy way to potentially get to Hanksville. It’s always best to hitch when a vehicle is already stopping at an intersection, and especially in remote country like this. The people said they could take me to Hanksville, so I quickly jumped in after they did a little bit of shuffling to make room. Maybe the easiest hitch I’ve ever done!
I got to town, checked into my motel, and did my typical town chores, including laundry for the first time I was able to this hike (Day 13…) and binge-eating. I’ll leave town later tomorrow just to rest up for a little bit.
