Watch Figure it Out: on the Hayduke Trail

After a strange stay in Colorado City I set out to finish the last few days of the Hayduke. I assumed it would be easy, but I should have know better than to assume that on the Hayduke. The last day ends up being the most frustrating and potentially dangerous days of navigation on the whole hike.

The Hayduke takes us from the rim of the Grand Canyon, down to the Colorado River 5,000 feet below and back to the rim 3 times. This section begins with our second descent from the South Rim, then back up to the North Rim. After that it takes us to a much less traveled part of the canyon where the biggest challenges of the whole Hayduke Trail await. At least that's what we had been told.

The Hayduke is all about canyons so naturally it must go through the biggest canyon of them all, the Grand Canyon. I've gone through some impressive cracks in the ground before, but the Grand Canyon is on it's own level, nothing even compares to its sheer size. This is where I'll find the biggest challenges and the best scenery.

This is another short section. Just a few days of hiking but it is packed with scenery. Somehow #2 and I were lucky enough to get permits for "The Wave" in a lottery system and we had it all to ourselves for the afternoon. From there we met up with the Arizona Trail, where the tread is much more established and the hiking is easy all the way to the Grand Canyon.

After a long stay in the town of Tropic I gained some new perspective on the hike. I've been so buried in the minute details of finding water, and navigating that I hadn't taken a step back and appreciated the whole experience yet. I was half-way done already and what I realized was that I already missed the first half of the trail.

At 140 miles, this is the longest section on the whole Hayduke Trail. I left Escalante with a very full and heavy pack stuffed with 8 days of food. The section did not get off to a good start when I made a couple wrong turns but by the end I was in no rush to end it so that's a good sign. I finally have my trail legs and the hiking is becoming easier.

This is another 100 mile section to get to my next resupply point in the small town of Escalante. It starts with a climb up and over and isolated mountain range called the Henry's, then back down into the canyons. Then the water gets bad and my mood follows. It's hard to stay positive with so much suffering but the trail has a few surprises that help me out.

In an unexpected turn of events I'm on my own now. Fitty's fear of heights proved to be more of a problem than we guessed. Conditions on the Hayduke got real when we went the wrong way and nearly ran out of water. Section 3 looked like a lot more of what we just did but it was 100 long. Fitty decided that's not the kind of hike he's looking for. Figure

Now that our friends are gone, it's just Fitty and I. The hike has a much different feel as we road walk out of Moab, it's starting to feel more like a thru-hike. After a couple days on the road the true character of the Hayduke begins to reveal itself. The trail disappears, water gets scarce and we have some cliffs to contend with.

I start off my 800-mile trek across the Colorado Plateau in Arches National Park with a group of friends. Most of them are just there for the hike through Arches, but FItty Shrimp will continue on with me after that. We are unfamiliar with this desert terrain and right away we run into the problems.