Start: Willis Creek headwaters near Bryce National Park
Finish: Park Wash
Daily Mileage: 24.3
Trip Mileage: 540.8
Elevation gain/loss: 2922/4468ft
As the weatherman predicted, it didn’t get too cold last night. Some clouds rolled in, which helps hold in the day’s heat. Once again, I was up and ready to roll before it was light enough to walk. I think I just need to set my alarm back a few minutes. The day’s length is changing rapidly right now, and I can definitely notice the difference from when I started the trail to now and the amount of daylight I have. Sunrise is about 7:40, and sunset is about 6:40. I had almost an hour extra when I started the trail.
I was pretty low on energy this morning, probably because I didn’t sleep much last night; not sure why. The trail continued as it had through the pine forest below the rim of Bryce. A couple of miles from where I camped, I intersected the actual Hayduke once again. Occasionally, the trail would rise and cross a saddle, and I could see the rim of Bryce, but for the most part, it was buried. I was ready for a change in pace and was getting bored with the scenery.
I met a backpacker on the trail, Haiku, and he’s actually planning to do the Hayduke next spring. The second person I’ve met like that. We exchanged information, and then he mentioned that there was three feet of snow at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This is quite a surprise to me since I was standing at 9,000 ft. of elevation which is higher than the North Rim, and there was no snow here. He got me pretty worried because three feet of snow at the North Rim would pretty much destroy the last third of my trip. In a couple of days, I was going to place a cache at the North Rim, and I also have to do some hiking across the North Rim in a couple of places, so it will be pretty tough to do with that much snow.
The trail climbed nearly to Rainbow Point before it went back down under the rim again. I decided instead to cross Rainbow Point and go down another route which will get me to the same place. I want to see Bryce from the top, not more from the bottom anymore. The perspective shift was good, and I’m glad I decided to do that alternate.
At Rainbow Point, I managed to get some cell signal and looked up the North Rim and some webcam footage, and everything looks fine, no snow. That was quite a relief. I was pretty worried about my trip after hearing that from Haiku, and it eased my tension to briefly check in with the outside world to confirm that everything was okay.
I had lunch at an overlook from the top of Bryce near Rainbow Point, eating my tortillas, sausage, and cheese. Always nice to have lunch with a view. Heading down, I grabbed a little bit of water at Riggs Spring. There was supposed to be water further on, but I wanted to get some now just in case. It was just the bare minimum for the night and not really an ideal amount. I left Bryce National Park, heading south now towards the Grand Canyon.
I briefly walked some tracks before the trail dumped me into a glorified drainage ditch. The drainage was so tight that I had to walk through it toe to heel at times. Due to this I kept kicking the back of my legs and managed to tear open one of my poison ivy blisters. I cut off the rest of the loose skin and doused it in Neosporin and bandaged it to protect it. My poor legs have really been taking a beating while recovering from the poison ivy.
I did get a little bit more water in the ditch where it started to run. I didn’t know there was supposed to be water there, so it was a pleasant surprise. There was still supposed to be a good water source closer to where I was camping for the night, but I’ve learned my lesson, and if I see a good source, I’m going to grab it from now on. I had to walk down the drainage for a couple of miles before I hopped out and got on a track that paralleled it. The track was much more pleasant.
I’m now hiking south towards the Sun, which can be draining in the afternoons. I was losing energy and enthusiasm with the drainage ditch and roads, but then the wash transformed, and a canyon started to grow. Just before that, I came to the water source I intended to grab from, and right where it just started, there was a big cow patty sitting in it. I could still treat water like that, but not something I prefer to drink. So, it ends up it was good that I grabbed the water from the other places because now I’m set and don’t even have to touch the cow flavored water.
The canyon grew, and grew, and it was a different type of canyon than I was in before. The rock was about the same, but the trees were about the only vegetation inside the canyon. It was big pines, though, just growing out of the canyon walls and everywhere, and that was a cool site to see, not just the normal vegetation.
I enjoyed the canyon winding around for a while until eventually the walls started to shrink. A 4×4 track came in and started going straight down the wash. This is the point I intended to camp at today or at least where I intended to get to, but I still had some more energy and wanted to get a little bit further to make tomorrow’s day into town a shorter. At first, the road was straight in the wash, but then it went on to the sage flats next to the wash.
Everything was covered with sagebrush, and there were no flat or open spots for camp. I ended up walking a couple of miles until near the end of the road where l I found a spot next to an old corral. The spot was otherwise pretty scenic, right under No Man’s Mesa, which is a great view. I wasn’t expecting much south of Bryce, especially when I started in the drainage ditch today, but the terrain has really grown and is fantastic again. There should be some more good stuff tomorrow before I hit the road to town.
