Start: East side of Henry Mountains

Finish: Tarantula Mesa Road backcountry campsite

Daily Mileage: 19.5

Trip Mileage: 272.0

Elevation gain/loss: 4969/4655ft

It was a chilly night, but there is no frost on the tent, thanks to the juniper. Even though I wanted to get going to get over the Henry’s, it took me a few extra minutes to get out of my sleeping bag and get rolling.

I hit the trail and got to see the sunrise behind me as I started climbing. I was walking through a field of grass gone to seed, and the rising sun reflected off the seed pods, causing them to almost glow as the sun was rising.

I started gradually climbing a 4×4 track, and it didn’t take too long before I started seeing frost on the trail. I guess I camped at just the right time before it hit that freezing threshold. I also saw a bunch of Aspen, which were perfectly turned yellow in preparation for fall. Great colors to guide me upwards.

My track followed a stream for a bit but then turned off. I grabbed about a gallon of water before I left the stream since I wasn’t sure if I would see water before the other side of the Henry Range.

I continued down the 4×4 track and gradually wound my way up the mountains. I had 4,000 ft. to go today to get to the pass. On my way up, I saw a big herd of mule deer that seemed curious about me. I snapped some pics and continued on. Snow appeared on the track, but some vehicles had driven down the road since it had snowed, so I was luckily able to walk in their tire tracks and not get my feet wet. As I was getting towards the pass, I started to run out of energy. I’m not sure if that was due to the weight of 8 days of food plus the water I was carrying or the elevation since the pass was at 10,500 ft. A far cry from the elevation that I live at.

I slowly made my way up to the pass. Towards the end, I had to stop every couple of hundred yards or so to take a very brief break before continuing on. I finally made it to the pass at 10,500 ft. and took a good break, sitting down to view the terrain in the east where I came from and the west where I was going. It was interesting to see the terrain in the east was just like child’s toys now, but it definitely did not look that way when I was passing through it! To the west, I could see Capitol Reef National Park where I would be in a couple of days.

The official Hayduke Trail continues up to the southern Mount Ellen summit, but I decided not to go any higher since my energy level was waning and it was pushing through snow to go over the summit. There were obvious tracks from Sloppy Joe and another hiker leading up, but I just didn’t want to deal with going over the summit. So I decided to take an alternate by sticking on the 4×4 track for a bit further to go around the summit and later meet back up with the Hayduke Trail.

As I crossed over to the west side of the Henrys around noon, the snow got softer. Everything turned into a wet sloppy muddy mess. I immediately debated if I made the right decision to stick to the 4×4 track rather than going over the summit, but I made the decision that I did and I stuck to it, periodically ice-skating on the slushy mess. I made my way down a bit and crossed the side of the mountain. This area is famous for having one of 3 remaining natural bison herds in the US, and the only one outside of a national park, but I unfortunately didn’t see any.

I continued slipping and sliding down the track and had to cross over to another 4×4 track with some brief cross-country at Nasty Flats. That is the official name of the area. Fitting. I soon rejoined the Hayduke Trail and followed it out a ridge and down. It’s always comforting to see the footsteps of fellow Hayduke hikers ahead of me. They veered off and headed down to a wash, but I wanted to go a bit further on the ridge before I headed down since it was easy walking. I followed it for a bit longer and then headed down as it started to end. I decided to go straight down instead of cutting across and doing a more gradual downhill since the wash at the bottom was a potential water source but I didn’t know where the water was in the source and it may have just been up high due to snowmelt. I got to the wash and it was dry. I definitely did not have enough water for the night. I started down it and did come across some puddles where I was able to fill out my water for the next day or so.

The wash was Sweetwater Creek, and the upper part of it reminded me of an East Coast creek. I’m not sure what it was, but there is good vegetation and actual dirt and rock, and it just reminded me of another place. The upper part of the wash was pretty easy going and I cruised along it.

Then came the middle part of the wash. The vegetation picked up and it turned into a lot of pushing through bushes to try to make progress. There wasn’t much of an alternative since the sides of the wash were steep loose dirt which didn’t offer a good way to either bail out of the wash or just walk along its side. There were a few places where I had to get up out of the wash to avoid dense brush or a dry fall, and it got pretty sketchy trying to climb up on the loose dirt and then slide right back down. I made progress, but it was just not the most fun thing in the world.

The wash started to open up towards the end and got a bit easier to travel. There were a couple more dry falls that I had to negotiate before I parted ways to hit another 4×4 track.

I was getting pretty tired when I hit the track, but I still wanted to go a little bit further. I had lost most of the elevation I had gained over the past two days, and it was warmer lower down. I took a break to restore my energy and then started down on the track, which was easier going. The track turned and started heading up to Tarantula Mesa, and at this point, I was just looking for a spot where I can set up my tent. There wasn’t anything resembling a tent site, so I just had to keep moving till I saw something that I can make work. In these situations, there are often plenty of flat spots but they’re in washes or below the flood line of washes, and I don’t want to set up my tent where it could be flooded out even if it isn’t supposed to rain.

I eventually came to find a spot where there were actual campsites from 4×4 campers, so I picked the best-looking one and threw down my stuff. There was a fire pit, and I did briefly think about starting a fire, though I didn’t really have any fire starter, and it would have taken energy to start the fire and gather wood and all that stuff. So, I resigned myself to just cooking my dinner, relaxing in the carved camp chair, and doing my chores before I headed into my tent when it got chilly.

Snow Archives - Yeti Hikes

Hayduke Trail Day 15