Injury Archives - Yeti Hikes

Hayduke Trail Day 38

Yeti — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 02:18:04 +0000

Start: Jacob Lake

Finish: Old Corral on Kaibab Plateau

Daily Mileage: 22.1

Trip Mileage: 682.0

Elevation gain/loss: 3136/2114ft

I didn’t sleep well last night, for the 3rd night in a row. I just go through phases like this sometimes. I probably only slept a couple of hours each of the last three nights. Not the best situation with all the physical exertion from hiking. I need to restore overnight to recharge my body and prepare for the abuse I’m about to put it through the next day.

I was mostly packed already, so I had my breakfast of four cookies from the Jacob Lake bakery and headed out. It was 2.2 miles to the trailhead, and I had waited until it was light out in hopes of getting a hitch. I ended up walking the whole way back to the trailhead with only about 10 vehicles passing. Oh well, not the end of the world. However, I was really struggling this morning. The lack of sleep had me start the day exhausted, one of my shoes had a pressure point, my right hand was still swollen and sore, and I was still pretty pissed off about my food being stolen and not having a good resupply for the next week. I was really down and on the verge of crying on the way to the trail. The immersion in the hike, with it being a long-distance and a lifestyle, not just a weekend trip, can make the hikes a lot more emotional.

Owl Attack the next day

I started down the trail after checking the bear box one last time to make sure I hadn’t missed any of my scraps that the scavengers had missed. The trail went through the woods most of the time on treadway but sometimes on old roads. There was nothing terribly scenic about it; it was the same sparse ponderosa forest as I was in yesterday. I had to take my first stop three miles in since my resupply was bulkier and heavier than usual.

I just kept pushing down the trail. Normally, I’d probably listen to an audiobook, but I wasn’t now since I was straight out of resupply and have a longer stretch of trail this time. Need to make sure my batteries last. I was just using one hiking pole and had the other one put up due to my swollen, sore hand. As I did more and more miles, my mood gradually improved but never got that great. It basically went from bad to less bad.

After hiking through the forest for a while, I entered a huge burn area where all the trees were gone for many miles. I was up on a plateau around 9,000 ft., and the wind was blowing pretty good. It was pretty exposed and not at all scenic walking through the dead forest, so the stretch of trail didn’t do anything to help improve my mood. The one minor perk to this area was in a couple of places I could see the Vermillion cliffs that I was walking on top of yesterday and Marble Canyon, which is immediately downstream of Glen Canyon Dam where Grand Canyon rafting starts. I remember how prominent the Vermilion cliffs were when I did the Grand Canyon 5 years ago, so it’s cool seeing them from a different angle.

I pretty much just charged through the burn area. I got water halfway through at a wildlife trough, and had to take a couple breaks due to my pack weight with the full resupply and water weight. Since I had 50/50 hot and cold dinners, I decided to make this a cold dinner night, which would let me carry less water for half a day. I guess that’s sort of a pro of going stoveless.

Towards the end of the day, I finally reached real live trees again, and what a relief to get back into the forest where the trees protected me from the wind and the sun. It was a cooler day with a high only in the 40s, but I’m almost out of sunblock and couldn’t get more at Jacob Lake, so I need to try to minimize my exposure to the sun.

I was getting pretty tired by the time I got to the forest, but my goal was 2 miles further because I wanted to roughly split up today and tomorrow to put me at the edge of the Grand Canyon tomorrow night. My permit starts the following day. I kept going and took a couple breaks. I reached the large meadow with a lake that I was targeting, but I wanted to go a bit further to get into some trees to protect me from the wind. Meadows also tend to be cold and damp overnight too. There was a little bit of snow in the sheltered areas of the meadow, which I was surprised to see still sticking around. Shortly after the meadow, I found an old corral or something with some fire rings and flat spots. I set up under some trees to shelter me from the wind.

I actually inventoried my food when I got to camp because it just seemed too heavy for eight days of food. However, when I put everything together, it turned out right, so I’ll just have to carry it and eat the heavy stuff first.

My right hand wasn’t as sore as this morning, but it seemed to swell up as the day progressed. I had it bandaged with Leukotape and gauze and applied Neosporin a couple times to try to ward off infection. I was also trying to not use the hand and rest it. Towards the end of the day, I noticed that it wasn’t really hurting anymore. I wonder if it was swelling up since I was just letting it hang there, not doing anything. I was using my other hand with my hiking pole. Tomorrow I might try using both hiking poles again and see how that goes.

Today was probably my worst day on the trail so far. It just wasn’t exciting, and I had the mental and physical challenges that I mentioned. It’s all part of the journey though; every day isn’t going to be the most scenic or greatest day. But it all averages out in the end.

The post Hayduke Trail Day 38 appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Hayduke Trail Day 37

Yeti — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 02:18:04 +0000

Start: Double Barrel Arch Trailhead

Finish: Jacob Lake

Daily Mileage: 17.7

Trip Mileage: 659.9

Elevation gain/loss: 2842/1182ft

So I’m reading my Kindle in my sleeping bag while cowboy camping this morning to kill a few minutes before the sun rose. I’ve got one hand holding my Kindle, and all the sudden, something latched on to it hard! It’s dark and I can’t see anything. I shake off whatever it is, and I see a large bird with a tan and black spotted chest flying away from me.

An owl or something had dove in and grabbed my hand with it’s talons for a midnight snack. It was dead silent flying and it was dark, so it must have been an owl.

I cleaned up with alcohol and Neosporin and bandaged it best I could on the trail. I didn’t use that hiking pole today, and my hand is sore. I hope it doesn’t get infected.

How bizarre… I’ve never heard of anything like that before.

After I finally got situated and packed up following my attack, I headed down an old road to Double Barrel Arch. I hadn’t planned to go this way, but looking at my maps and satellite views, it looked like I could cut a corner and see another arch rather than walking the main road. That definitely sounded like a winner to me. I headed down the old track and shortly reached the arch. It was a pretty interesting arch with one arch nested within another. Very unique.

From there, I basically followed the fence line, which had a game trail on it, which led me out to another 4×4 track. I turned onto that track and almost immediately encountered a sign for Pueblo ruins. I had no idea this was here, and I hadn’t seen anything from Pueblo Indians yet on this trip. There were signs with an explanation and some history, and I could see where the old dwellings were partially standing and a bunch of potsherds.

From there, I rejoined the main road that I was avoiding. Just a normal gravel road. I walked on it for a couple of miles to where it met the Navajo Trail trailhead. I needed to get on top of the Kaibab Plateau, and I had found this trail on my maps, which would take me to exactly where I needed to go. The trail was pretty faint but not too difficult to follow. I climbed up a thousand feet to the Plateau, but once on top, it got even fainter. I could see one set of footprints occasionally, and I had to rely on my GPS a bit to follow the trail. From that point, however, I was not on it for all that long.

In this area, the Hayduke Trail follows the Arizona Trail down to the Grand Canyon. However, there was a big forest fire last year, and this section of the Arizona Trail is still closed. The trail was rerouted on some forest service roads on the opposite side of the trail from where I was. There was no need for me to go all the way over there, so I took a forest service road on my side to the Arizona Trail to take me south and eventually intersect with the trail. It worked out perfectly because where my road connected was exactly where the end of the closure was.

I got on the Arizona Trail, and it was a pretty decent treadway, though not as big as some trails. There is nothing really too scenic in here. It was mostly just sparse ponderosa forest. It was pleasant enough but just nothing too jaw dropping. It was a pretty easy stroll to 89A, which is the road that would take me into Jacob Lake.

Before I got to Jacob Lake, I went to grab my cache at the bear box where I’d placed it six days ago. I opened the bear box, and 90% of my cache was gone. Even the garbage bag that I had put everything in and labeled with my name and date of arrival was gone. My stove fuel, all my homemade dehydrated dinners, almost all of my lunches, and all of my electrolytes were gone. In only 6 days, other hikers cleaned me out, even though I had a very clear statement that it was my food and I would be there today to pick it up, and that I need that food for the Grand Canyon. Some jerk was so self-centered that they didn’t care about that and stole all my food. I was obviously really upset. It took me time and money to put all this together and ship it from my home down to Kanab and then drive out here to place the cache. I did that because Jacob Lake doesn’t have a great supply, and will not hold packages even if you are staying there. It’s basically just a camp store with limited supplies and no stove fuel. This really pissed me off, and I was cursing on my way back to the road.

I got to the road, and thankfully the first car that passed me as soon as I got there pulled over and gave me a ride into Jacob Lake. I got there and started looking around the camp store to assess my options. I confirmed that they did not have any stove fuel, so I would definitely have to have some cold meals for this next stretch. As I was considering my options, I ran into another backpacker, The Jesus. He said that there was a big hiker box 25 miles down the road that was going to be pitched, but eventually, I just decided that I would resupply at Jacob Lake because I wanted to make use of my afternoon off since I’ll be hiking the next 15 days straight. That meant that I spent $166 to replace the food that the jerk stole from me. And a lot of it’s not ideal food too, a lot of sugary and highly processed stuff. I’ll do half of my dinners hot and half cold with some replacement bars. Oh joy.

I went to the restaurant to get lunch, and a hiker I ran into at the bear box had hardly touched his burger and offered the rest to me. That was a no-brainer for me, of course I took it, and I ate it. I got a pulled pork sandwich and ate about half of it when I noticed mold on the bun. This just isn’t my day. I complained, and they made me a new sandwich, so basically I had two full sandwiches for lunch. I guess that’s not too bad.

I had a hotel room with two queen beds since that’s all that was available at Jacob Lake. I offered the second bed to The Jesus since it seemed like a waste to just have me in the big room. He accepted and offered to buy me beers and dinner to make up for it. It was great to hang out with another hiker for the night. The Jesus is a double triple crowner. We drank beers, had dinner, watched some TV, and I finished up all my town chores minus laundry since there was no laundry facility here, unfortunately. This really was not my day between the owl attack, stolen food, and moldy sandwich, but at least it finished on a bit of an uptick talking to other hikers.

The post Hayduke Trail Day 37 appeared first on Yeti Hikes.

Hayduke Trail Day 16

Yeti — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 01:18:04 +0000

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 descent

From the bottom of Tarantula Mesa, the trail wound around quite a bit, basically cutting across the country around a slew of minor canyons. The Waterpocket Fold of Capitol Reef National Park progressively came into view as I continued down my route.

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.

The post Hayduke Trail Day 16 appeared first on Yeti Hikes.