Category : Hayduke

I hiked the Hayduke Trail solo eastbound in Spring 2016 and solo’ed it again westbound in Fall 2017. Then I designed a similar route and hiked that solo in 2019. I had fun. If I make it look easy, just keep in mind I’m tough as nails.

From the back cover of the book that started it all:

Traversing six national parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Zion), a national recreation area, a national monument, and various wilderness, primitive, and wilderness study areas, the Hayduke Trail is a challenging, 800-mile backcountry route on the Colorado Plateau. Whimsically named for a character in Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang, the trail begins in Arches National Park and ends in Zion National Park, stays entirely on public land, and traverses the complete variety of terrain available to hikers on the Plateau short of technical climbing.

Joe Mitchell and Mike Coronella pioneered Hayduke after concluding that a long trail—such as the Appalachian or Pacific Crest— was possible on the Plateau, thus introducing more people to these unique and threatened public lands. The Hayduke Trail includes detailed maps of the entire route, suggested cache points, and a wealth of description and tips for tackling this intense undertaking.

Photograph looking south along the clear Colorado River from the Beamer Trail canyon shelf in Grand Canyon.

North Kaibab, a Trail Closure

So much water! So much trail destruction everywhere! This morning I heard that the North Kaibab trail is 1000% closed for maintenance until June 2. In fact, the entire North Rim is closed until June 2 (at least to cars)! And starting tomorrow the Canyon below Glen dam is about to experience a rare Spring “High Flow Experiment.” Shit’s gotten real in the Grand Canyon area this winter! Wow! Usually it opens May 1. 2023 has thrown a monkey wrench in thru hiker’s plans, and many of them refuse to back down. I’m not hiking but I still got excitedly thinking about fun (but still pretty much impossible) detours, and reminiscing about my time on some of them. (I have ~2500 miles solo on foot in Utah/Arizona after crossing them a few times.) (Inadvisable before fall 2023) AZT Re-routes in continue reading…

Creek Fire smoke in central Nevada

Flu and The Trail, part 2

This post is an update to my March 16 post, Flu and the Trail. It turns out you can thru-hike during a pandemic, but if you’re not still asking yourself “should I?” and considering your impacts on other people, I hope you’ll keep reading and hear me out. After volunteering several months of my life over several years to help thru-hikers on the PCT, I left with a bad taste in my mouth. I met several burned out trail angels who felt similarly, and noticed quite a few hikers themselves abandoning the trail shaking their heads. Why? Because thru-hikers are generally privileged, and often self-involved and entitled. It’s not exactly “rewarding” work to help people who don’t really need help. Bear with me when I explain how I got here. It is based in experience with hikers, and I have continue reading…

colorful sunset

Flu and the Trail

We’re now at least a couple months into the surreal shitshow called “COVID-19” (a coronavirus). I’ve spent the past week and a half-sequestered very remotely, not just because of the misanthropy I’ve felt more and more while scanning the news and social media, but to enjoy the wild, help build an off-grid house, and perhaps survive (and help others survive) the pandemic I’ve been warning friends about since I was a nurse in Portland in the oughties. This type of thing was bound to happen, and it’s too bad more people aren’t more prepared. (That said, not many of us have the resources to be prepared.) While cutting wood, plastering, and painting over the past week, various unrelated COVID-19 impacts have come to mind. Having gotten more and more worried about hoarding, I came to town yesterday to stock up continue reading…

woman hiking in Utah

Where trails come from, where they go…

I subscribe to Wired Magazine in digital form, where I learn all sorts of neat things each day. This morning I spent over an hour watching a video produced by Wired, where an astrophysicist explains gravity to five people, ranging from beginner to expert. What a brilliant way of teaching/learning a topic, by helping someone realize how much they don’t know, and expanding on a concept bit-by-bit over an hour. (I was about at the grade-schooler’s level of understanding, haha. How far can you follow the concept? By expert level, my mind was blown.) This afternoon, an opinion piece popped into the Wired newsletter. It’s right up my alley. If you’ve been reading my blog lately, you probably know I’ve been subjecting readers to an achingly long rant about conservationism vs. the modern “opt outside” movement…. about Leave No Trace continue reading…

lake powell invasive mussel shells

New West vs. Old West

I’ve been struggling with thoughts about conservationism, conservationism against the prevailing tide, and my tiny place in the thick of things, as well as a sore knee, since I got back from walking Utah in early June. Some reading, and going through my photos, is helping me finally collect my thoughts. I can’t remember where I was when a friend forwarded me a link from the Canyon County Zephyr, but I was definitely in Utah. I was probably in the backcountry still somehow indulging in LTE “connectivity,” but unable to read much because I was busy walking. But with a few clicks and paragraph licks, I distinctly gleaned a sense of being the outsider where I was. I looked up from the phone and had lost my bearing, my confidence. I suddenly felt woefully ignorant of the vast soulful and continue reading…

Cabin 140 on the North Rim

Hello from cabin 140 on the North Rim! I’m sleeping on the floor next to a heater that came on sometime in the night when the generator was at last repaired, and have been sizzling all night. The six other people in the cabin are snoozing away; they were up late drinking and celebrating their Rim to Rim hike, which somehow ended just before the snow hit. They had foresight to send a stranger ahead with a credit card to reserve this cabin and good doing. It was chaos bordering on riot yesterday evening in the main Lodge, with folks having pushed in despite the weather only to find no respite from the cold: 29° outside and no electricity in the Park. I was not as lucky as these six; first of all, I had to travel 4 times further continue reading…

Frigga, Flemish, Floundering

(a cloudy story for you) The man who stalked me on the Hayduke is a meteorologist for the Belgian army. He asked how I understood what I understood about clouds and I told him I read the Cloudspotter’s Guide a couple times. I also look at clouds. I try to make sense of them. I also have a weird sense of barometry through pressure I feel in my ears, believe it or not. My ears ring and hurt me a lot, but the upshot is I’m very very good at predicting rain. This was the fateful day I decided to sorta hike with him for a couple miles and give him a chance. To be “friends.” Our last day, given the next we were going in different directions. It wasn’t a coincidence I was giving him a chance knowing we continue reading…

Hayduke Trail Maps & Resources

Maps First of all, the obvious, a disclaimer: PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANY INFORMATION YOU MAY FIND AT LITTLE-PACKAGE.COM MAY BE INACCURATE, MISLEADING OR DANGEROUS. 1) Caltopo map of all Hayduke sections, with notes, separable and exportable: These tracks were carefully retraced and will provide decent distance and elevation profiles, in case you need that data. The track stays in wash beds and on trail/road when available. Very few short sections are actual bushwhacks where you will need advanced route-finding skills. Very much of the trail can be short-cutted using well-established desire paths (game trails, use paths, etc), but the GPS tracks I’ve made stick to washes these shortcuts typically avoid. There are several reliable water sources not mentioned elsewhere, and other notes, and so it is worth scanning through. Export the parts of this map you wish to use, continue reading…

Colorado River: 1, Me: 0

It was funny that just as I got back to Flagstaff after a 20-day float of the Colorado River, and was scrambling to get home after having lost my iPhone and wallet in the River, that I discovered I was chosen to write for the Listserve. The Listserve is your chance to write an email to a million people. I’ve been a member of the Listserve for several years, and while frankly I don’t read all the emails, the ones I do read are charming and provide perspective for the day. I wondered when I would be chosen, but really I wondered if I’d already been chosen and missed my “You’ve won the Listserve!” email. I almost missed the “You’ve won the Listserve!” email. With 72 hours to respond, I had already missed 70. I had two hours to write continue reading…

Colorado River Trip Out

Sometimes when I tell people my stories I fear they think I’m lying. But I don’t need to lie, it’s just chronic bonkers over here. Feb 23 I got off the Colorado River after a 20-day float. It’s taken a couple days to get home and I still don’t have my feet under me BECAUSE (here’s where it gets good)… On the first night out (incidentally at Lower Jackass beach) I lost my tent, beloved handmade down sleeping bag, Thermarest Neoair, iPhone, wallet, all of my casual clothes, and about $500 more worth of gear to the River in a sudden wind storm. I was seconds late to my tent, only to find stakes still in the ground and the tent floating, pitched perfectly, down the middle of the river. It was dark, and the River very dangerous, so I continue reading…

GSENM

I knew the “president” would reverse the National Monuments so I’m not surprised. But I still feel like I’ve been punched. I’ve spent a little time walking in both the monuments he decimated, mostly GSENM (about 2-3 weeks total, living out of a backpack). I’ve grown to see why the lands were protected and why so many locals protest. 50-mile Mountain (second picture) sits atop one of the largest remaining coal deposits in the world. As you climb around it you will find gorgeous black coal just squeezing out of the ground. You also find many long roads not on the map – built illegally by prospectors. In 1994 before Clinton signed GSENM into federal protection, a Dutch coal mining company (Andalex) was trying to figure out how to build the infrastructure needed to get the coal out. After Clinton continue reading…

Rogers

This is why you should never, ever drink water unfiltered from Rogers Canyon in GSENM. This was filmed several miles upstream of where the Hayduke joins the canyon, and shows how cattle have TOTALLY DESTROYED the creek bed. The water can run clear, but don’t be fooled. You’re downstream of more cattle shit than you can possibly imagine.

How to Avoid the Crypto on the Arches Slickrock Route

Nic Barth has published some fairly loose GPS tracks for his “alternates” or shortcuts on the Hayduke. Some of them might be worth looking into. Myself having hiked the route back and forth more than twice, I frankly don’t think you’ll be missing out if you ignore Barth’s KMZ/GPS input entirely. If you want to miss out, his alts are in fact generous shortcuts. Barth’s “Arches Slickrock” route is popular. I see scenic advantages to both the Slickrock route and the official Hayduke route. Unfortunately publishing the “Slickrock” route opened the door for significant negative environmental impact. Some people have tried to tell me they have hiked it without killing cryptobiotic soil but they are 101% full of shit. There is no way to hike this route as it is designed without trampling living soil which is crucial to the continue reading…

Hayduke Trail Tips

(updated fall 2019, fall 2020, winter 20/21, spring 2022, spring 2023, summer 2024, winter 2025) These are organized section by section, east to west. I’ll probably add a few more things as they pop into my head, but these are the ones that stood out today. All things that weren’t obvious to me at first… Please do not cairn this route unless you are very lost and have no other way of back-tracking. Some folks seem to think they’re smarter than other hikers, sorta like they’re the only one who “gets it,” and the only one who has found the “correct way.” Great, fine, but do not leave permanent record of your supremacy (you may later cringe to discover you were wrong). Most hikers enjoy the challenge of finding their own way, and all hikers are annoyed when a cairn continue reading…

heart shaped sandstone tinaja

Heart-shaped

I found this heart-shaped “pothole” in Courthouse Wash in Arches NP yesterday morning just after I found out a ride home to the Eastern Sierra had been arranged for me (thanks to Donna Saufley and @kellybelly_jellybean). My heart almost exploded with gratitude. Especially now, a day later when my body has realized the hike is over and it can let go. My stomach is inside out again with the gastritis thing and the cracks in my feet started to freakin’ bleed. Walking is not on the table today, even tho it’s “national take a hike day.” Oh, the irony. Things held together long enough for me to complete my hiking goals. It’s uncanny. And I’m thankful! So thankful. I wrote up a list of thank yous and posted it on my website at www.l-p.cc/ty If you’re not on my list, continue reading…

Scarecrow

I was given a Haypuke trail name last month and it is “Scarecrow.” At first I had no idea why a stranger would greet me, “Good morning, Scarecrow!” I thought it was some sort of slang I’d never heard before, and thought of calling her a name. But really, looking at myself and my hiking getup, I now find it hilarious. Later on trail I found an antique Old Crow liquor bottle with its cap intact near what appeared to be an old boys’ shooting range. It had a crow cast in the glass. I carried it for about 40 miles until I met Gary and Jeanine from Teasdale who admitted they were in the process of getting rid of things but knew someone who would love it. They agreed it was special, and said they’d donate $100 to my continue reading…

red jasper arrowhead in person's hand

Jasper Arrowhead

Curtis, a sparkly blue-eyed babe I met in the middle of nowhere the other day, kindly taught me how to find arrowheads. Last night I thought I’d give it a try. Right away I found something that looked like it might be an arrowhead, maybe, but I really wanted to see a real one. So this morning I set my intentions high, making sure to be specific on what I was asking for. I stopped after walking an hour or so to take off my thermals (is this like a stupid cold, short ass day time of year to be thru hiking or what?) and filter some water. I looked around for an arrowhead. All done, no luck, I threw on my pack and took two stumbling steps forward. There it was at my feet, a jasper arrowhead. It seems continue reading…

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