Start: Park Wash
Finish: Trail Angel’s house in Kanab
Daily Mileage: 17.8
Trip Mileage: 558.6
Elevation gain/loss: 282/992ft
I continued down the wash that I was following, which went around No Man’s Mesa. I really liked the look of the Mesa and the surrounding canyons. They also let me start the day in the shade, though first thing in the morning that isn’t always the best. I’ve been split in the mornings, sometimes just wearing my hiking shirt, and sometimes wearing a wind shirt as well. Today was a wind shirt morning.
Down the wash, I followed some cow trails initially, which were more direct than walking through the circuitous wash. There are some pros and cons to having cattle out here, but overall, I would still prefer they not be out here. They’re all over in wilderness and wilderness study areas, which doesn’t seem right to me.
I came down the wash for a while, eventually joined up with a 4×4 track, which continued to follow the wash, though it was much easier walking. The 4×4 track would take me all the way to Route 89, where I would hitch into Kanab. Along the route, there were occasional canyons but lots of cow activity, so it wasn’t the most exciting trail.
Not much else to say about the track to Route 89. I was just cruising right along flat straight gravel road faster than 3 miles an hour, and it wasn’t too exciting, especially at the end. I was just waiting for it to be over.
I hit the road just after one and set up to hitch. I needed to hitch first in the wrong direction to go to the Paria Contact Station where I needed to literally pick up a piece of paper, my permit for my next section of hiking. There is no other value other than me picking up the piece of paper. I called and emailed the Ranger Station beforehand but they said that I had to hitch to the ranger station to pick up the permit in person. Why, I’m not sure. The road was relatively busy but that didn’t seem to help with hitching. It took me an hour and a half to get a hitch with Tyler. He took me to the contact station and dropped me right off at the door. I got my special piece of paper, turned around and went to hitch back the other way to Kanab.
My hitch to Kanab took a little over an hour until Josh picked me up. I was a little skeptical initially since he wasn’t wearing a shirt and had cutoff jean shorts, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. He had done some backpacking and had some hard hitching, which is why he picked me up. He took me to trail angel Deena’s house and dropped me off at the door. Great service!
I’m going to be taking a zero day tomorrow, my last zero of the trip. I need to take this zero to line up my next two permits since I’m too early to continue hiking tomorrow. It’ll be my second and last day off of the trip, but it’ll be good because I need to plan out a bunch of stuff. Deena and Steve welcomed me in and made dinner with fresh tomato sauce from the garden. Great people!