Start: Hite Marina
Finish: Poison Spring 4×4 Track
Daily Mileage: 26.8
Trip Mileage: 224.4
Elevation gain/loss: 3932/3215ft
It was not a cold night, but there was tons of condensation inside and outside of my tent, even a touch on my sleeping bag. I got a slow start to the morning, chatting with the others, but no problem with that. I hit the road around 8:00 and reached the bridge over the Colorado River around 9:00. The bridge offered great views, and I gave a Hayduke salute. No traffic on these remote paved roads.
I had a quick scramble up some rocks before reaching a 4×4 track. Instead of staying on the Hayduke, I took an old mining road to get to the top of a plateau that the trail would later climb. This allowed me to avoid a purportedly challenging chimney climb, and getting higher more quickly to see the surrounding landscape.
After the climb, I was mostly going cross-country for most of the day, using my compass around my neck to show me the way. There were plenty of signs of old cowboy activity in the form of rusty cans of food. The going was pretty easy since it was relatively flat. At a point, I noticed that I could see for many miles around, but I couldn’t spot any form of human construction—no roads, power lines, or anything else like that. It’s pretty interesting that there are still areas of the country that can be this remote, even when I started the day on a paved highway.
I made my way up and down washes, going cross-country, following the imaginary line of the trail, subject to my interpretation. I took a break at a giant cairn, which was part of an old trail shepherds used back in the day. While on a break, I heard footsteps, and a hiker named Sloppy Joe appeared climbing up to the cairn. He introduced himself and mentioned he’s also doing the Hayduke. He asked if I wanted to hike with him, and I obviously answered yes. It’s always better hiking with a partner, especially in this cross-country terrain.
We shared our backstories as we traversed the country, heading up and down more washes and occasionally crossing between them to get where we needed to go. We reached Fiddler’s Cove Canyon, which was spectacular to look down upon. The top rocks were a yellow-gold color, and there was bright red and white sandstone deeper in the canyon. The canyon also had many tight twists going back and forth as it very casually wandered downhill. After some exploring, we found the spot where we could drop down into the canyon. Other than that one spot, the walls were mostly sheer. The descent wasn’t bad, and there was even a few cairns and an observable treadway, which made it not much of a challenge.
We walked in Fiddler’s Cove Canyon for a while, enjoying the spectacular sights of the curved stone and colorful rock. We had both planned to take the Hatch Canyon alternate rather than the Hayduke Trail, which joined the Dirty Devil River and crossed it many times. With the wet weather, the river was supposed to be running high and typically is a silty, nasty river. The alternate would allow us to skip many crossings of the Dirty Devil, and cross it only once tomorrow.
Hatch Canyon was pretty similar to Fiddler’s Cove Canyon, and we once again went back and forth as we gradually made forward progress. Both canyons were fantastic and the highlight of the day for sure.
We reached the point in Hatch Canyon where we were supposed to climb out of the canyon to join a 4×4 track that ran above it. The start of our ascent was obvious, with big, easily climbable rocks. However, above the rock, the slope turned to a mix of dirt and rock. It was loose enough to kick steps into but also loose enough to not hold when you took a step. We had to be pretty careful on that, and it was steeper than I would prefer. We went up until we hit a wall, so we had to traverse to the right to continue the ascent. This traverse was also on dirt and was immediately above a sheer cliff about 200 ft. tall. I felt like this terrain was playing for keeps, and it was a very uncomfortable traverse. Carefully, we worked our way across and then climbed up to where we found a way trail that made it easier to finish the traverse. From there, we had to climb up a couple of gullies, which weren’t too hard and were more fun.
We came to the 4×4 track and started walking along it. This road was my goal for the day, and I was looking for a flat spot to set up camp. It took about a mile, but I found my spot, and Sloppy Joe continued down because he wanted to go a little bit further. It was about 7:00 p.m., and the sun was getting ready to set, so that was plenty of hiking for me for the day. I don’t think I’ll see Sloppy Joe again since he has a more aggressive schedule than I do, but it was great to hike with another Hayduke hiker for half a day. We exchanged contact info, and he walked off into the night. Thankfully, I finally have stove fuel, so I was able to have a hot dinner before I went to sleep.