Saturday, March 20
19 +3 bonus miles.
Glad we stayed near the rim of Dark Canyon last night, even despite the relentless wind that stirred up around midnight. Not that we had a choice trying to find a site in the dark. Morning sunset views were stunning. The sun lit up the canyon and it was startling seeing how deep it was and how high we had stumbled up last night.
I woke up way too early, woken up by the sad hissing and popping of my magic pillow. I might be able to fix it in town but for now it’s just an extra 2 oz of weight I have to carry.
I also wanted to hike fast in the morning and get to the Hite store as soon as possible. I got it in my head that I could make it before 1pm, charge up quickly, and head out. Of course, I had to wait for Jordan but he actually wasn’t too far behind me most of the day.
It was a quick jaunt through cairned use trail over some fun slick rock then onto the jeep road I followed for around 10 miles to the road to the marina. My hayduke hot take: the road sections have been some of the best sections of the route so far. I can definitely see how when it’s not overcast and a reasonable temperature it could be miserable, but in this time year it’s been perfect. For most of the road walk I got expansive views of the snow covered Henrys and the Red Benches and the dark redstone plataues and towers all around. I’ve really enjoyed being nestled in the canyons, scrambling up seemingly insurmountable scrambles, but I have definitely enjoyed the road sections the most. It makes it feel more like the open southwest that I have known about but never experienced.
We got to the Hite store after a goddamn long road walk where we got battered around by some strong winds. We snagged out resupply boxes, did our usual hiker barter (in which I relieved Jordan of all his extra food), plugged our batteries in, and cleaned our socks in the bathroom sink. Y’know, the usual hiker trash to-dos. The store manager was incredibly talkative but also very friendly. She kept asking us if we needed anything or if there was something else the store should have. It’s actually pretty well stocked for a tiny middle of nowhere Outpost. Even had frozen vegan breakfast burritos we helped ourselves too.
We had initially intended to spend more time there but the winds were out of control and there was no service or wifi so not much reason for us to loiter too long. At one point I almost lost my thinlight sleeping when a particularly malicious wind yeeted it into the fenced off area behind the store (I had to crawl through a whole in the chain link fence to get it back).
The next more or less drinkable water is in 25 miles so we had to carry out our full capacity of 6 liters each. I did not enjoy carrying that much water but thankfully only had two and half (ish) days of food to carry to Hanksville.
We debated hitching up the road past the Colorado River Bridge to where the route continued but when cars/trucks/vans zoomed by, we kept our thumbs holstered. I think, despite it all, we still actually wanted to hike this section.
We hiked most of the way across the bridge when I turned around and saw Jordan hopping into a van. The van pulled up next to me and offered me a ride as well. The driver, a van life hiker trash himself, was set to start the PCT in April. Jordan and I made a pact to not turn down any ride offered to us if it happens to be going the same way we’re hiking and even though we only got a ride less than half a mile, it felt good to cheat the route some more.
The route immediately punished us with a nice steady climb up to a dirt road. Normally the climb wouldn’t have been too bad but saddled down with the water, it was much harder. We did get onto the road though and followed that for a few miles. Again, more open sweeping views. This time of the Colorado River and the grand canyons that it forms as it travels down the plateau.
We passed a few weekend campers, couples with dogs in tents exactly like the one I have at home and a posee of beer drinking cowboy types around a fire. I was a little jealous of both groups especially since the wash we were in for the next few miles was cold and sandy. It got dark again, as it always seems get when we’re trying to find a place to set up camp, and we once again ambled in the dark until we found a spot that was not good enough but could be good enough after we kicked some of the cow shit away.
There’s a wind advisory warning until 9pm tonight which was 39 minutes ago and the wind is blowing sand all over everything including my eyes. Hopefully it actually dies down tonight and forever and we never have to struggle to find a decent a site again.
Plants Outside 