Capitol Reef National Park Archives - Yeti Hikes

Hayduke Trail Day 18

Yeti — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 01:18:04 +0000

Start: Fountain Tanks

Finish: Top of the Waterpocket Fold at the head of Stevens Canyon

Daily Mileage: 20.1

Trip Mileage: 337.9

Elevation gain/loss: 3130/2017ft

It rained a bit last night, but not too much, and there was periodic very gusty wind. Even though my tent was screened in, I woke up to a layer of sand covering pretty much everything. It happens from time to time in the desert. I hit the trail and headed towards Halls Creek Narrows.

Easy treadway until the Narrows, where the walls of the canyon started closing in on the wash. Water also appeared in the wash and started flowing, but not too much. As the walls were closing in, I decided to pull a Michael Martin and just go straight into the water since I knew I would be getting my feet wet anyways. Just get it over with. Turned out to be a good call since my feet would stay wet for the duration of the Narrows.

Going through the Narrows, I took a ton of pictures and was constantly craning my neck upwards to take in the canyon walls. There was a lot of wading, but it wasn’t too deep, mainly ankle-depth for the most part. Early in the traverse, there was a footpath up to the saddle across a bend in the river. I went up there, and it was a great view, straddling two branches of the stream and a very tight bend, sort of like the loop. It didn’t look like there was a cleared way trail down, but it looked possible for me to head down the other side instead of following the stream around, so I decided to do that. It wasn’t hard to descend until the very bottom where it got extremely brushy, including poison ivy. Perhaps that was a bad idea. I pushed really hard to get through the brush, and it was tough. I also later noticed that my tripod was no longer in my pack after I finished the Narrows. I assume it fell out during this brushy section at some point, unfortunately.

I got back down to the stream and continued to follow it. There were occasional sections up to knee deep, but I never really found the quicksand that the ranger had mentioned. It was slippery, though, and I was doing my best not to dump myself and my pack contents into the stream. Like Muley Twist, there were great undercuts in this canyon where the stream could be completely flowing under a large overhang that it had cut. I love these alcoves, showing two forces of nature fighting against each other.

Towards the end of the Narrows, there was a spot where I couldn’t get up on the canyon walls and had to go straight through the stream for a section that looked deeper. I figured I might as well just try it and see how deep it got. It got deeper and deeper and was approaching waist level when I decided to take my pack off and carry it high to prevent it from getting submerged. The water never really got more than waist deep, so it didn’t turn out to be an issue. I finished the Narrows and took a break to recuperate and clean out my shoes and socks from all the sand and rocks that had accumulated in them during the traverse. I also washed my hands and my face, my only exposed skin, with soap to try to ward off any poison ivy. I used to get it on the East Coast a lot, and it’s not a huge deal but rather not have it than have it for sure.

South of the Narrows, I continued to follow Halls Creek towards where Lake Powell used to reach before the low water levels of recent years. Treadway appeared and disappeared, and half the time I was just making my way cross-country, going up and down minor bluffs to keep heading south. Sometimes it got really brushy, which was tough to push through and not the most fun thing in the world. It was also getting warmer again.

I filled up with water towards the end of my descent in Halls Creek since I would be climbing the Waterpocket Fold soon for the second time. As I was about to start my climb on the Baker Route straight up the Waterpocket Fold, I encountered a huge, seemingly endless sea of reeds. I tried to go through the reeds in a couple of places, but they stopped me; they were that thick. Also, there is a stream running below the reeds that was a few feet down with no way for me to cross while pushing through the reeds at the same time. I got frustrated trying a couple of places and ended up just crossing Halls Creek to the other side, traversing further down, crossing again, and then heading back to where I needed to be to start my ascent.

I started the climb using the GPS track that I had, basically just taking a compass bearing because the track was pretty crude. After I got through the sea of reeds and onto the climb, I took a break to reset and recenter myself.

The ascent of the Waterpocket Fold was a 1,800 ft. climb, and it was getting hot, so I resolved to just take the ascent slow and steady, knowing I would get to my goal at the top by the end of the day in plenty of time. Using my compass bearings, I made my way up the Baker route, and I stumbled upon a cairn after not too long. I knew the route was cairned, so I started following the cairns instead of my GPS track. Sometimes the cairns are few and far between, so I had to hunt for the next one, but the route was laid out very well, and most of the time I could just think where would the trail go from here and start in that direction, and I would see the next cairn. There is also a treadway in places too that helped.

I climbed higher and higher on the Waterpocket Fold, and my views expanded as I went up. I climbed higher than the opposite Canyon wall and still had a long way to go up. Eventually, I could see Lake Powell and more and more of the country as I went. There were lots of potholes on the way up with water, but I already had plenty of water since I filled up before the climb. Oh well, you never know where these are going to be. No harm in carrying 6 liters up 1,800 ft.

The Waterpocket Fold had many mounds of sandstone on it, and it was a slanted slab in general, but it just looked bumpy with the mound mountains. It was a cool look, all in white with some occasional red stripes. I got to the top of the Waterpocket Fold and had an awe-inspiring view in all directions, seeing the surrounding terrain and the lake. This is a moment that was really clicked for me, and I had a sense of euphoria on top. I took a break to take it all in.

Continuing on, I just wanted to get down a little bit and then find a reasonable camp spot. After I reached the summit, the cairns got harder to follow, and I eventually resorted to point and shoot with my compass again, sometimes coming across the trail. Not really a big deal, and I definitely didn’t follow the official route, but I stuck with the general route to get to where I needed to go. I got dumped out into a wash and shortly found a nice flat sandy spot where I set up camp among the big mounds of sandstone. A great spot for the night.

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Hayduke Trail Day 17

Yeti — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 01:18:04 +0000

Start: Swap Canyon outside Capitol Reef National Park

Finish: Fountain Tanks

Daily Mileage: 25.2

Trip Mileage: 317.8

Elevation gain/loss: 1651/2137ft

Hitting the trail this morning, I found I was very close to the fence that defined the national park boundary. I had definitely camped at the last place I could before hitting the boundary. The remainder of Swap Canyon was pretty easy, a smooth stroll down to Hall’s Creek and Bullfrog Road running up the rift valley of Capitol Reef. There are a couple of options here, and I chose to go up Burr Trail Road, which is the official Hayduke route. I’ve heard some complaints about going up the road versus taking a trail further down, but I decided that I wanted to hit all of Muley Twist Canyon that I could.

I started up Burr Trail Road, which is a switchback road going straight up the Waterpocket Fold, which is a 100-mile long folded rift in the earth which defines the national park. I actually rather enjoyed the road since it gave me progressive views across the valley and up the slanted rock forming the Waterpocket Fold that I was crossing through. It didn’t take too long to get up to the top, and I took a good break up at the top to enjoy the scenery.

I immediately entered Muley Twist Canyon. The canyon is apparently named Muley Twist because it has so many turns that it could twist up a mule passing through it. Or so the guidebook said. The canyon was fantastic for its entire length. The upper part of the canyon was a little bit wider, but the walls were sheer the entire time, almost, and the stone was mostly white sandstone. The canyon did twist around quite a bit, but I’ve definitely been in twistier canyons so far on this trip. The scenery was spectacular in the canyon, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As the wash went back and forth, it created some huge undercuts and caves in the canyon walls. Some of these undercuts were 100 feet tall and deep. It’s amazing that a stream that only flows periodically can have such a drastic effect on the landscape.

It was generally easy walking down the canyon and in the wash, and there were some footsteps since the canyon can be accessed directly from the road. I felt great going down the canyon; it was truly awe-inspiring and raised my spirits high. I did meet some backpackers in the canyon, and we talked about the trail. A ranger had warned them that Halls Creek Narrows, which I would be passing through tomorrow, involved swimming and a lot of quicksand. I had heard there was water but not more than that, so I’m not sure what to expect of the Narrows.

I saw 2 bighorn sheep in the canyon! A nice treat, they can be hard to spot.

The canyon continued on, with new surprises at every twist. Lower in the canyon, there were many huge alcoves, cut out of the stone with the periodic flow of the wash.

Muley Twist Canyon had been used back in the day to run cattle, and there were periodic signs of the former cowboy presence. One huge alcove had some cowboy graffiti from 100 years ago and some things they had left behind. I initially thought the graffiti was recent since some of the dates were -20 and -21, but I realized that those were actually from 100 years ago, not recently.

The canyon took a turn and passed through the Waterpocket Fold, joining Halls Creek and the valley which I had departed from earlier. From there, I was just following Halls Creek down for the rest of the day, hoping to get close to the Narrows.

I stopped by the Muley Tanks to get water. They’re huge natural stone basins in the Waterpocket Fold that hold rainwater whenever it comes, and they were definitely brimming when I passed them. A great water source. As I progressed down the canyon, some dark clouds started to roll in. A couple of times there were a few sprinkles, but nothing that really stuck.

I bumped into two more backpackers later in the day who had just gone through the Narrows, and they told me it was only up to their waist, and they didn’t have any problems with quicksand. That sounds more realistic, and I assume the ranger was just talking about possible worst-case conditions since they tend to do that to warn people away from the backcountry. I asked them about campsites ahead since they were few clear spots going down the creek. They told me about a couple of places.

I continued down. The dark clouds remained, and at one point, the sprinkles got a little bit harder. I decided to put on my rain gear since that usually wards off rain. I did all that and looked at my GPS and realized I was exactly at one of the campsites that the backpackers had mentioned, the campsite that I had decided I was targeting. It was just on the other side of the creek at some more tanks in the sandstone. Oh well, I guess putting on my rain gear was a fruitless exercise. I went over to the tanks and found a nice protected spot. There was a lot of gusty wind, so I also wanted a spot where my tent wouldn’t be fully exposed to the wind and keep me up with flapping all night. I set up my tent, and it started to sprinkle more, so I decided to just dive into the tent for the night.

The hike down Muley Twist was truly fantastic and awe inspiring today. It is probably my favorite part of the trip so far!

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