Tuesday, April 27
Yep, yesterday was the end of our Hayduke hike.
I managed to get us early shuttle bus tickets into Zion. The tickets are listed at 5pm for the next day and sell out almost immediately. Right around 5 I remembered to get them and I’m glad I did. I checked at 5:03pm and most of the tickets were already gone. I got 3 for 7am which meant a stupid early wake up call. There weren’t any for later in the day but that was fine since I wanted to get an early start in case we did want to do the extension.
We woke up around 6, packed up, checked out, and walked over to the coffee shop for more vegan breakfast burritos and coffee. From there we walked to the visitor’s center where we boarded the shuttle bus into the park.
I’ve never been to Zion before and it is awesome. Absolutely beautiful national park. The main area we were in, which I think is the main area of the park overall, is Zion Canyon, a massive V shaped canyon formed by the Virgin River with striking red walls, towers, and peaks all over.
We got off the bus at the last stop near the riverside wall and the trail to the Narrows. It was raining already and we took our time eating before we started walking again. By the time we finished our breakfast burritos I had pretty much decided I wasn’t up for the extension. The fatigue from the weeks of hiking coupled with the early wake up call and the rain did not inspire me to want to hike more. Jordan agreed so we decided to be basic day hikers instead. Great decision in hindsight.
We hiked on the riverside “trail” a two-wide paved path up the Virgin River taking in the sights. A few canyon waterfalls were flowing, pouring down from the hanging gardens above. We got to the end of the path and to the edge of the Virgin River. Most day hikers stop there since going further requires wading in the river itself but we decided that our feet were too dry to we jumped in. Bad decision in hindsight. The water was freezing. We had waded through the East Fork just yesterday and it wasn’t as cold as it was today.
There were a few guided groups going up the river too but they all had on dry suits and goretex boots and big hiking canes. Everyone kept staring at us in our backpacks and lack of dry suits. Jokes on them, we didn’t make it that far up. We saw a group ahead go waist deep at one point and we decided that was far enough for us. I know the Narrows are supposed to be really cool but we’ve already seen some and it was too cold and wet to keep going this time.
From there we took the shuttle back to the Grotto, the trailhead for Angel’s Landing and the West Rim Trail, the trail that is the Hayduke Zion extension. The hike up to the base of Angel’s Landing wasn’t too bad, lots of people but not as many as we saw on the way down. The three of us went into total toxic thru hiker mode and powered our way up the paved switchbacks, passing as many (other) day hikers as we could. I’m not in good a shape as I have been at the end of other thru hikes so I was definitely feeling the climbs but still had to flex on the day hikers.
On the way up we did get some preview views of the canyon. We made it to the base of the climb up Angel’s Landing and it was pretty crowded. Not as bad as I’ve seen in some pictures but enough to worry me a bit. Since 2003, 13 people have died on Angel’s Landing and I really didn’t want to be number 14. How stupid would it be to hike the Hayduke Trail and then die going up something that thousands of people do every year?
The way up to the peak of Angel’s Landing was sketchy as hell though. I contest that it was sketchier than anything we did on the Hayduke. Jordan and Jack disagreed but they couldn’t think of anything sketchier.
The path is mostly on steep, sometimes narrow, sometimes sandy slickrock. Most of the tricky steps are well worn down and there are chains you can grab on to keep yourself steady and moving forward. The actual path is sketchy but what really makes it worse is the people. There are a lot of day hikers who have probably not done anything as rigorous or exposed as Angel’s Landing. Bottlenecks form quickly and a slip from someone above you could be pretty bad. Since it’s sandstone, there’s also patches of sand (duh) that can also lead to a fall. Oh, and it started to rain halfway up. Yep.
Despite all the sketch, it was a really fun path up to the peak of Angel’s Landing. I did slip on some slickrock at one point and slowly planted on my ass scaring some other day hikers but I was gripping the chain and managed to get myself up quickly enough.
Jack was ahead and made it up before Jordan and I did. He was coming down when we summited but we bullied him into going back up and taking some pictures with us. The rain was clearing up by the time we made it up and we got to see Zion Canyon unfurled below us. Very crowded summit but we managed to get some good videos/pics which made it worth it.
Jack and Jordan wanted to get down fast so they went ahead of me. I lingered for a bit at the summit, taking it all in. It took so much to get here and even though it was a somewhat anticlimactic ending, I still wanted to enjoy Zion as much as possible. I’m definitely going to go back someday (maybe in the Fall actually) but I still wanted a few moments to take it all in.
The descent wasn’t as bad as the climb up, I thought. I was stuck behind a few people which was fine with me. Made me have to slow down and take my time making it easier. There were a few spots I was worried about heading up, steeper slickrock steps I thought would be harder than ended up being no problem. There was one guy behind me who kept getting too close and breathing exasperatedly but there wasn’t much I could do since there were a lot of people below me. Eventually the people pulled over and I was in front. I crushed the last few parts, dodging people going and doing some fancy footwork the last few hundred feet to get down. Felt good to open up a bit.
We had lunch near the weird conveyor belt composting toilets and people watched for a bit. After weeks of being mostly alone, the sheer number of people was a little overwhelming. Still glad to see so many people enjoying the outdoors but goddamn.
We (literally) ran down the switchbacks back to the canyon floor. On the way down, we saw the mother and daughter that gave us a ride to Springdale. Didn’t talk much to them but thanked them again.
At the bottom I convinced Jack and Jordan to hike to the Emerald Pools, a series of waterfall fed pools. Neither of them really wanted to go especially since it started pouring again but I finessed them into doing it (mostly by lying about how cool they were supposed to be and whining).
The hike was short and straightforward and made more fun by a light rain. The pools themselves were okay. I think maybe a little disappointing after weeks of sublime canyons and creeks. Maybe it was the crowds, maybe it was the not going to the pools directly but being above them near a small waterfall. They were nice and cool and that was it pretty much.
We descended down to the Kaibab Lodge bus stop, the end of our day hiking. Near the stop we found Rowan! We had gone a few more miles towards the highway yesterday and hitched into the park this morning. He was still planning on doing the Zion extension and was just eating ice cream when we found him. We talked to him for a bit but finally had to say goodbye for real this time. Jordan and I are now religious and believe Rowan was an angel sent to guide us in our time of need. Or maybe God himself manifested in a zen Big Sur Bighorn man.
We said our goodbyes again to Rowan and took the shuttle back out of the park, officially ending our time on the Hayduke Trail. A somewhat anticlimactic ending but after the past few days, it seemed fitting.
We spent a few hours in Springdale waiting for Jack’s millionaire friend to pick us up and give us a ride to St George. We were waiting at a little bar restaurant but the service was terrible so we decided to leave and head back to our favorite coffee shop. We got picked up there and drove to a random plot of land in the middle of nowhere where Jack was going to spend the night. Along the way I looked up some articles about our benevolent trail angel and found out he had just gotten out of prison after committing some serious financial crimes. Cool. We gave Jack a heads up to not sign anything he gave him and to be wary of any financial advice. We said goodbye to Jack too. He’s going to be heading to the CDT soon and Jordan might go either trail angel for him or hike with him for a bit. TBD. Gonna miss our adopted son but I’m sure I’ll hike with him again someday.
We made it to St George eventually where we got another hotel. This is the most amount of hotels I’ve ever gotten on a thru hike but I’m not complaining too much. The evening was hard, especially on Jordan since he’s got to figure out what he’s going to do when he gets home. We’ve decided to spend a few days in Moab before heading to ABQ. Originally I was going to fly out of SLC but decided to drive with him back so he doesn’t have to be alone.
That’s it for now, see ya later Hayduke.
“And the wind blows, the dust clouds darken the desert blue, pale sand and red dust drift across the asphalt trails and tumbleweeds fill the arroyos. Good-bye, come again.”
Plants Outside 