So we still hadn’t figured out how to get back to Moab. The best we could come up with was taking a Greyhound to Green River then hitching from there to Moab. Little did we know what an absolute pain in the ass this was going to be.
Woke up stupid early to catch the Greyhound. I had booked a hotel near where Google Maps said the station would be but for the fucking life of us, we couldn’t find it. We were up at 4am wandering around a sketchy strip mall trying to find the goddamn Greyhound station which didn’t seem to exist. We eventually found a number to call and they told us the station was actually one of the small shops inside the strip mall.
We boarded and set off to Green River. Tried to catch up on sleep but it didn’t work since we were crammed in our seats with all our gear and had to share space with strangers on the overcrowded bus. Like every Greyhound, it smelled awful and it was nauseating. It didn’t help that the bus kept breaking down, something with the lights. At one point, the driver pulled us over on the side of the highway and got out to check the bus. She turned it off, turning off the AC and warned us that if she couldn’t fix whatever the issue was, we’d have to wait for another bus which could be hours.
Thankfully she was able to fix it and we only had to ride for a few hours in the uncertainty that the bus was going to make it all the way.
We got off at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. We stood on the side of the road waiting 3 hours for a hitch.It was fucking awful. The day was pretty hot and we couldn’t get much shade. Most cars completely ignored us and a few even waved us off in disgust. I get not wanting to pick up hitchhikers but damn some people were real shitty. The worst city we’ve been in so far by far.
We kept walking up the hot road hoping to have better luck the closer we got to the main highway but nothing doing. We ended up near a gas station where we waited for another few hours.
I’m writing this a few months later so I don’t think Jordan will mind me sharing this anymore: Jordan’s personal stuff a few days before our hike was that his girlfriend broke up with him out of nowhere. Turns out she had been cheating on him most of the time we had been hiking. Obviously this was devastating to Jordan and really made the last few days of our hike difficult. Don’t worry, his story has a happy ending.
While we were waiting on the side of a gas station, we saw a cute girl in a big blue camper truck pull in. We were really hoping she’d give us a ride but alas she did not. At the same time though we got a ride from another lady in a really cool Japanese camper van. She couldn’t take us all the way to Moab but did drop us off at the junction towards there where we could hitch the rest of the way. We managed to pass the girl in the blue van and were trying to hitch at the junction when she caught up to us. I guess she must have realized we weren’t serial killers so she ended up picking us up. Great friend that I am, I let Jordan take the front seat so he could talk to her while I went in the back of the camper with some vanlife truck bunnies. Worked out well for both of us.
Ange, our driver, was a tattooed up vanlife vegan architect who was traveling the west with her two cute fluffy bunnies. Jordan and she hit it off and he invited her to join us to camp out in the BLM area outside Moab. She agreed and met up with us later that night. Jordan was pretty eager to hang out with her which was v cute. We hung out with her that night and she gave us night archery lessons and cooked us some delicious food. The trail provides.
The next day we went climbing (FINALLY) outside of Moab at Wall Street, an awesome sandstone crag with some really fun climbing. Ange ended up joining us for that as well which was a blast. We hung out again that night before Jordan and I started our way back to ABQ.
We spent another night outside of Canyonlands, this time in the Island in the Sky district, a part that we hadn’t gone through on the Hayduke. More beautiful canyon overlooks and dramatic arches.
Before we left, we knew we wanted to do something really cool. Since climbing a giant tower at Indian Creek was probably not going to happen, we opted to climb one of the natural sandstone arches and rappel down it. I gave Jordan a quick lesson on how to multipitch trad climb and rappel and we climbed the arch. The climbing itself was pretty shit, just a run out 5.4 with a boatload of rope drag, but the rappel down the arch was amazing. Just a long free hanging rappel down a massive arch. Sick.
Carrot Quinn was coincidentally in the area and we made plans to meet up that night. She and her gf were hanging out for a few days and it was great catching up with her. We talked a lot about the current covid situation, the vaccines, the future of humanity, and a lot about thru hiking. I read all of Carrot’s Hayduke journal while hiking the HDT and it was so immensely helpful through the entire hike. I even took a picture of her entry in the cabin and showed it to her.
The next day we took off back to ABQ. Jordan’s plan was to head home, pack up his stuff, and drive back to his family in Indiana and figure out what he was doing. He was definitely not staying with Naomi and wanted to leave as soon as possible.
It took us two days to drive all the way back, stopping along the way at a few crags to do some easy sport climbing. We were definitely not in climbing shape and got shut down by a lot of routes. Still it was fun to do something other than hiking for a bit.
But all good things must come to an end and we finally made it back to Albuquerque. I spent a day there helping Jordan out and making sure he was going to be okay. And here’s where the happy ending comes in: it was pretty tough for Jordan being there in the same home he had built up (literally) with his gf but he was able to get all his stuff and head out. He ended up buying a camper trailer he could tow with his truck and moved his a lot of his stuff to his family’s place in Indiana. He is getting paid out for his half of the house and has decided to become a full time dirtbag in his little egg trailer with his two dogs. He kept in touch with Ange and it turns out they have a lot in common. So much so that they decided to spend the summer dirtbagging together.
As for me, I made it home to the Bay Area and followed up on what I said I was going to make my life about that one rainy day in Capitol Reef. I got a summer job working as a camp instructor and spending as much time outdoors as possible. The goal now is to really dedicate myself to the outdoors, just like I told Jordan I would when he asked me what I wanted to do with my 33rd year of life. We’ll see how it goes.
Plants Outside 