Grand Canyon to Zion (Finish) Archives - Yeti Hikes

Hayduke Trail Day 54

Yeti — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 02:18:04 +0000

Start: East Fork Virgin River

Finish: ZION!

Daily Mileage: 9.1

Trip Mileage: 952.4

Elevation gain/loss: 2293/1383ft

It was a cold night; definitely my coldest night on this trail. I awoke to a good coating of frost inside my tent, probably because I was camped next to the river. Due to the cold, I was a little more hesitant to get going this morning since I would have to immediately plunge into the river. I fueled myself with leftover steak and potatoes from last night and an egg from Kristi. So much better than my oatmeal, even my homemade oatmeal.

I packed up and even considered wearing my down puffy, which I never do as a rule while hiking. However, since this is the last day of my trip, I can throw some caution to the wind since I do not need to manage my gear for future days. I ultimately decided to just use an upper thermal layer, my shirt, and my hard shell. I could put on the puffy if I needed it.

I hiked over to the river and stood next to it for about a minute, steeling my resolve before and wondering what I was doing out here ready to walk miles down a river in 20 degrees. I worked up the courage to step out into the river. The water was obviously cold but warmer than the air, and I quickly crossed to the other side.

I followed a series of game trails down the river where I could. The trails were often good and led to decent shallow crossing points for the river. The river would wind back and forth between the walls of its canyon, causing me to have to cross it often.

As expected, the crossings left me cold, and I moved as quickly as I could between them to stay warm enough. My fingers and toes were the coldest, but I knew my body well enough to know that I would be able to keep this up for the time being.

The canyon was beautiful, and there were lots of side canyons with slots and petroglyphs and such to explore, but I rushed past all of that to stay warm and in the drive of my last day.

About halfway through the river, I entered some narrow sections where I even had to just wade straight down the river for a few hundred yards to add to the cold. When I took out my water bottle for a drink, it was slushy and starting to freeze up while I was wading through the water. I slept next to the water bottle, so the ice had definitely formed during the day. Proof that I’m serious that it was cold out. Let me repeat, my water bottle was turning to ice while I was constantly wading down a flowing river.

There were a couple of obstacles in the river. I came to some falls at a boulder jam and managed to work my way over the boulders and drop down after some time scoping it out. The grip on my shoes is already shot after 24 days, so I just had to be careful. Immediately after that was a bigger log jam and waterfall that consumed the width of the canyon. I had read that this could be down climbed, but definitely not with the amount of water that was flowing. There was an alternate to go around the falls by scrambling through some boulders, so that’s definitely what I had to do.

I scrambled up a bit, then had to take off my pack to squeeze through and down a crack into a void below a big slab of rock. Then I had to downclimb a vertical drop, which turned into an overhang, but thankfully there was a rope there to help with that. Then just a little more scrambling down before I got back to the river.

As I went downstream, more side streams came in to join the flow of the river. I got as much as knee-deep in it by choosing my path carefully, and it ranged from calm to whitewater crossings. Shortly after the waterfalls, I reached the Hayduke exit of the canyon. There was supposed to be an easier exit a little further downstream, but it looked like I could manage the Hayduke exit, so I opted for that to get out of the water as quickly as possible.

The scramble up from the river was a good Hayduke-style scramble, being steep, rocky, and brushy. It went through, but I definitely had to study a few spots for how to continue up. I made it to a saddle at the top of the climb with a campsite and took a well-deserved break in the sun to warm up and wolf down some more food. The sun never hit me in the canyon, which is half the reason I didn’t just wait till later in the day to go into the river. It was much warmer on top, and I was able to take off my layers and quickly warm up.

There were a fair amount of footprints now, and I was able to follow a cairned way trail for the rest of the day. It was fairly sandy, which made climbing a bit harder, but there were also stretches of slickrock to break it up. I shortly entered Zion National Park proper and was presented with the famous mesas of mostly white rock that towered above me. The mesas were fantastic and amazing scenery. I climbed up to the base of them, then circled around to come up the narrow gully next to Checkerboard Mesa, the icon of Zion.

It was scenic between the mesas, but my thoughts were shifting to the end of the trail only a mile off now. I was reliving my trip and thinking about how long ago it seems when I started 53 days ago. It seemed like a different life!

I powered towards the end of the trail until I could see cars passing on the road. This was it! I waited for some cars to pass then stepped out onto the road to complete the trail! I got a bit emotional since this was a very tough trail and I had just successfully completed it. I wandered over to a road pullout and sat on a rock to process my thoughts. After a few minutes, a woman who was there with some children asked how far I hiked. Boy, did I have an answer for her! She then told one of her kids to go get me a beer! She apologized that it was water beer (Keystone Light), but I still gladly accepted. She and her kids were amazed at what I had done and asked me a bunch of questions before they left.

After I had collected myself, I went to the road and stuck out my thumb. It took about 20 minutes before a couple picked me up and took me to the visitor center where I caught a bus to Springdale. I mailed as much home as I could fit in a large flat rate box, the stuff I can’t carry on, and had shrimp tacos and a margarita to celebrate. I was killing some time before a bus was scheduled to St. George. I went to the visitor center and asked about the bus, and they said it was no longer running. Apparently Google and the bus website were wrong. That left me a bit stranded. All I could do was stick out my thumb again and hope for the best.

After about 15 minutes, Rob stopped and said he lived in St. George and could take me right there! We had a great conversation in the car, and he dropped me off right at the hotel I reserved. An amazing person, and much better than a bus ride! I strategically finished today to make it to Salt Lake City tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, in time to have dinner with family, so everything worked out.

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Hayduke Trail Day 53

Yeti — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 02:18:04 +0000

Start: Colorado City, Zion’s Backyard B&B

Finish: East Fork Virgin River

Daily Mileage: 19.6

Trip Mileage: 943.3

Elevation gain/loss: 2700/2975ft

It was a bed and breakfast that I stayed at, so obviously, there was breakfast: biscuits with sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, fruit, and orange juice. Way better than my normal backpacking breakfast. The eggs came from the chickens in their backyard too. They also gave me four boiled eggs for the road. That’ll do it.

Kristi offered to drop me off at the trailhead instead of walking through town, and I took her up on that. I decided to take one last alternate from the Hayduke. The usual route stays on roads all day through BLM land, and they looked pretty flat and straight. That didn’t look too exciting to me considering my past couple of days across the Arizona Strip. However, I noticed that there was a wilderness area directly north of Colorado City with some trails and tracks that would take me back to the Hayduke. That looked much more appealing than road walking, so I opted to do that instead.

The trail started off as an ATV track, which was interesting considering it was through a wilderness area. The trail is definitely well-used by ATVs, which is pretty illegal in wilderness areas. I started up a stream on the ATV track and into the wilderness. I was immediately surrounded by sandstone cliffs with lots of different colors: red, white, pink, and orange. There were different shapes and swirls in the formations, which was very scenic, and I stopped pretty often to take pictures. The area reminded me a lot of the Wave. I did have to do a bit more climbing on my alternate route, but it was only about a thousand feet up initially, so not a huge deal.

The trail was pretty sandy for the most part, so it took a little bit more energy, but there was flowing water until I climbed to the top of the plateau area. On top, I kept stopping for pictures as well because there were a lot of different formations, and it was incredibly scenic. I slowly picked my way across the mountain or plateau, once again following a 4×4 track. The sandstone hills and mountains were littered with sparse pine trees, which I think added a lot to the beauty of the area rather than just being bare.

Eventually, the ATV track petered down at the wilderness area boundary where the ATVs were just going around the fence to get on the trail, passing numerous “no motor vehicle” signs. From there, I was on an actual 4×4 track to get me back to the Hayduke. I was feeling a bit lower energy today, which is typical for me after a town stop. I can only attribute that to the massive amount of food I usually eat in town. However, I had a reasonable mileage today, so I wasn’t worried about making my goal at all. I knew that if I just kept moving forward, I would get to where I was headed.

The track continued to be very sandy all the way back to the Hayduke. However, the incredibly scenic hills continued all the way until I approached the Hayduke, where they disappeared. There was just a flat forest where the Hayduke was, which was not at all comparable. That really validated my choice to take the alternate route through the wilderness area.

I picked up mostly fresh food for this resupply. I did have a couple of snacks left over from my last stretch of trail which I had for lunch along with one of my hard-boiled eggs.

I joined back up with the Hayduke, and from there, it was, for the most part, less sandy and generally flat and downhill, so it was pretty easy. I did want to get to camp a little bit earlier today, so I made good time on the section of trail. When I got back to the Hayduke, I could see Zion in the distance—my destination! The cliffs of Zion that looked like a bunch of white mesas, were fantastic looking. They were sprinkled in with a little bit of red as well and had trees on top for green.

I made it to the end of the 4×4 track, where I had been planning to camp. However, it just didn’t look that great, and it didn’t look like there was much in the way of firewood in the area. I could see down to the Virgin River, which is where the trail went, and it looked like there were some flat spots immediately down there. I also had a waypoint for a good campsite down there. I decided to head down to the river to camp instead. It was a pretty short distance but a bit steep down to the river down a gully that the bighorn sheep obviously make a ton of use of. Not too hard, just had to watch my footing because it was a lot of loose sand and rocks mixed together. I got down to the river, and there was a flat spot right there.

I set up my tent and immediately started a fire in a fire ring that I built. I wanted to get some good coals going for my dinner. For dinner, I cut up some potatoes and roasted them in foil with oil, and I had a 1.7 lb. bone-in ribeye as well that I roasted on the fire. Both came out really good, perfectly done, and I had that in addition to some salad and a 24 oz. beer. Since this was my last night on the trail, I really wanted to go all out, and I knew I would have some time to do it with the fire. This is actually the first fire that I’ve made myself this entire trip. There was one with the rafters, but they made that.

I couldn’t quite finish the steak and potatoes, and I didn’t touch the brownie I had for dessert because I was too full. I don’t get to say that too often long-distance backpacking. I boxed up the steak and potatoes in my food container, and I figured I’d have that for breakfast tomorrow morning. It’s cool here, so I’m not too worried about refrigeration. Then I just had a campfire to sit by for the rest of the night, which was great entertainment and nice ambiance, minus some excitement when one of the river rocks in my fire ring exploded. A great last night on the trail!

It’s supposed to be a cooler night tonight, and I’m camped right next to this river. The first thing I’m going to have to do tomorrow morning is wade right through it, and I’m not really looking forward to that. However, I’m only eight miles from the end of the trail, so I’ll just power through it to claim victory!

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Hayduke Trail Day 52

Yeti — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 02:18:04 +0000

Start: Sandridge Wash

Finish: Colorado City, Zion’s Backyard B&B

Daily Mileage: 10.7

Trip Mileage: 923.7

Elevation gain/loss: 341/409ft

Definitely not my best night out here, and my worst campsite by far. I did hear some coyotes howling and yipping early in the night, but after that, it didn’t bother me. I also saw two big dogs or wolves pass by my camp in the night. I saw their footprints in the morning, and they were enormous. Not sure what they were; I just saw a glimpse of white.

The wind did calm down overnight, but it came up again in the morning when I was packing up. It was pretty cold in the morning, below freezing for sure. Since I was heading into town, I just put on all my insulation layers except my puffy and set off down the flat, straight road. I did find some broken glass under my tent when I packed it up in the morning. That’s pretty awesome. I didn’t see any obvious damage to the tent though.

Not much to say about the walking today. I went down the perfectly straight, flat road for several more miles until I hit the highway. Then I turned and walked down the perfectly flat and straight highway for six more miles to get to Colorado City. Both were as uneventful as you would expect. I didn’t try to catch a ride to Colorado City since I thought I might do an alternate and hike through Colorado City.

When I got to town, the first thing I came across was the grocery store, which had a fast-food restaurant inside it and Wi-Fi and pretty much any grocery you can want. I got a burger as soon as the fast-food place opened, along with fries and a drink, and then I set out to do my shopping. I didn’t really need much food since I’ve only got two days to finish the trail. However, because I only have two days, I decided to have as much fresh food as possible since the weight doesn’t matter as much. Also, for my last night, I wanted to do something special. At the meat counter, I asked if they had a frozen ribeye. They did, and they vacuum-packed it for me. I’ll keep that in the freezer overnight and let it thaw during the day when I’m hiking tomorrow, along with stuff to go with it and a couple of other luxury items.

I called the B&B where I was staying to check out a couple of things, and Kristi said that she was actually headed to the grocery store shortly and she could just pick me up and check me in early. Can’t really beat that. Shortly, I was at the B&B, which also had laundry for the first time in 15 days. However, the very first thing I did was take a shower. Fifteen days is too long for that. I got all cleaned up and settled and figured out the logistics for the rest of my trip.

When my laundry was done, I went to the town brewery/pizza place. It was halfway between lunch and dinner, but I definitely got the hiker hunger, so that didn’t stop me from having another meal for sure. I had a 12-inch pizza and some beer. Then I headed back to the B&B because they invited me to join them for dinner: trout and a baked potato and some lemon cake for dessert. I had four meals today, plus my snacks—the life of a thru-hiker in town. Highly recommend Zion’s Backyard B&B.

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Hayduke Trail Day 51

Yeti — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 02:18:04 +0000

Start: Robinson Wash

Finish: Sandridge Wash

Daily Mileage: 25.4

Trip Mileage: 913.0

Elevation gain/loss: 1849/1054ft

The wind calmed down overnight, although there was still a gust every now and then. I was on the road as soon as it was light enough to walk. I finished up Hatch Canyon, climbing out through the end of the canyon. The walls gradually got lower and lower as I approached the end of the drainage, and then they just disappeared. I touched the very end of the canyon wall since that’s my last trace of the Grand Canyon.

Then I was into the Arizona strip. The canyons and cliffs suddenly disappeared, and I was in low rolling hills, back in cow country. I was going to be on BLM roads for the rest of the day. I hit the roads and kept moving since it was cold and windy. I had to have my hard shell and gloves on.

A couple of miles in, I came across a hunter’s camp next to the road I was on. They asked me if I was all right, saying they didn’t expect to see anyone walking out here, and I explained what I was doing. They said they had just finished breakfast and put it away unfortunately but rooted through their stuff to see if there was any food to give me. I ended up with a tortilla with cheese and tomato and bananas and apples. It was about 9:00 a.m., and they even asked me if I wanted a beer. I said, “Why not?” and they gave me two Bud Lights. It’s pretty much water anyways. I hung out, we chatted, and they tore down their camp for about an hour before I headed on. Thanks to Landon and his crew!

Then it was more Arizona Strip. The strip is pretty much just a desolate area. It’s almost flat, and there are no trees or anything; it’s just perfectly flat desert. Not really exciting at all, especially since I’m just on roads through here. Some of the roads were perfectly straight, and I just had to follow them for miles. No traffic since they’re backcountry tracks, just cow traffic. I definitely had to put on an audiobook to keep me going today.

About halfway through the day, I passed Yellowstone Springs, which had good flowing water and ended my approximately 40-mile water carry. I ended up seeing water a number of places in between when I picked up water and now. Some flowing water yesterday which I mentioned, and several cow ponds today. The hunters also obviously offered me some water, but that’s not something I would have planned on.

There was some cool terrain around Yellowstone Springs with red and yellow layers of rock and then layered stone sand dune-type things. That was about the highlight of my day, which isn’t saying a whole lot. That area even had some junipers which got me excited for possible shelter at the end of the day, but the juniper quickly disappeared, and I was back to an even flatter, more barren, desert.

It was really just a grind, and I wanted to go as far as I could this afternoon to make tomorrow shorter into town. I ended up getting a little less than 5 miles from the road into town, which was what I aimed for. It was windy the entire day, and there was nothing for me to really shelter behind for camp. I set up on the downwind side of a sage bush, which is the best and saddest shelter I could find. There’s just nothing around here. It’s a horrible spot too, in the middle of a cow trail, lumpy, and there is a ton of tumbleweed and other pickers that I had to clear out to set up my tent. Hopefully, I got enough cleared that my tent and pad won’t be punctured overnight.

I hid in the lee of my tent, did my dinner and chores, and the wind died down a little bit as it got dark. I think it’s going to be a pretty cold night, and hopefully, the wind isn’t too bad. I watched the sunset, but it was under high-voltage power lines, so not the most scenic thing in the world. Not an exciting trail today, but it’s needed to connect up the areas.

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