Start: Tarantula Mesa Road backcountry campsite
Finish: Swap Canyon outside Capitol Reef National Park
Daily Mileage: 20.6
Trip Mileage: 292.6
Elevation gain/loss: 1720/3124ft
It didn’t get as cold as I thought it would overnight. It seems harder to predict how cold it will actually get. Some nights get cold before I go to bed, but then there’s actually no frost. I was up in the dark, as usual, preparing to hit the trail at first light, and I wandered a little too far for my cat hole and almost couldn’t find my tent again! Easier to get turned around in the dark.
I took off across Tarantula Mesa on 4×4 tracks. It was pretty smooth sailing across the mesa, and I could see back to the Henrys that I crossed yesterday. Other than that, it wasn’t terribly scenic.
Towards the end of the Mesa, I had to leave the track to get to the one spot where you can scramble down from the Mesa so I could continue my journey. It was pretty much just taking a bearing and getting to the right point. I tried to follow the tracks of other Hayduke hikers, but it’s difficult given the variable terrain over rock and sand.
I got to the start of the descent and saw a couple of cairns and started down some big ledges. It wasn’t too difficult, but I definitely did not go down the spot that the guidebook described. I must have slightly missed it. However, that’s interesting because the guidebook seemed to state that there was one and only one spot to get down the ledges. Once again, I apparently found an alternate route. After the ledges, I had to cross over a bit and then descend a dirt and scree slope. The descent wasn’t bad, but the dirt was loose, and at one point, I slipped and fell, cutting my hand about an inch and a half long. It wasn’t deep, but I finished up the down climb and took a break to clean and bandage it to protect it from the dirt and everything around here. Wouldn’t want to get an infection in the middle of nowhere.
It’s amazing that these climbs and descents are pretty short, but when you’re at the bottom looking up, they look enormous with the sheer cliffs. In all reality, most of these climbs are only a few hundred feet, if that. It does give a much bigger sense of accomplishment, though, to look at the vertical cliffs and the apparent distance I’m going up or down.
The terrain in this area was pretty much subject to interpretation. I had a GPS track, but it was up to me to find the most efficient way through the area with the minor ridges and canyons. I did find subtle treadway at some points, which I followed as long as it was taking me in the correct direction. I’m not sure if this is an old trail or Hayduke Trail or just game paths. Sometimes the game paths takes you exactly where you want to go because the animals know how to most efficiently travel through the country.
It got hot in the afternoon, and by hot I mean probably 80 or so, but that’s hot to me. It also seems hotter in the wide open exposure of the desert, with the light colored rock reflecting more sunlight onto you. The sky in the desert gets a very vivid blue and rarely has clouds, like I haven’t noticed before in other places. Just one of those things that doesn’t really come across in pictures.
Lots of interesting rocks and minor formations this afternoon before I dropped into Swap Canyon, which I would follow down to the Capitol Reef area. Swap Canyon wasn’t difficult, just a wide wash that was easy to follow. I camped just outside of the National Park boundary since I didn’t have a permit. I was about a third of a mile away, and there weren’t many places to camp, but I found a small sandy spot. I had to clear out some weeds and other pickers to make my spot, so they didn’t puncture my tent and my sleeping pad. Looking forward to my third National Park tomorrow.
