OTHER Trip Report 02/12/2020

Peak(s):	Hayduke trail, Utah
Date Posted:	02/12/2020
Date Climbed:	12/06/2019
Author:	oldschool

Hayduke trail
It's winter time again which means I'm off work and heading out. I work seasonal as a Guide (rock climbing, hiking, mtn biking, Jeep/UTV, Indian rock art, geology) at Gateway Canyons Resort in Gateway, CO. I get winters off (Dec 1st - Feb 29th..an extra day this year with leap year!) As usual I starting making plans and hashing ideas in June to see what might stick and I feel upon the first 2 sections of the Hayduke trail in Utah. After doing 300 miles on the Arizona Trail 3 winters ago (Jan 2017) I decided to stay closer to Grand Junction in Dec where I live before heading to Phoenix, where I spend the majority of my winters. The Hayduke trail (it's really a route as many many miles are trail-less and cross country) is 800 miles long and travels from Arches NP to Zion is the most convoluted, crooked, beautiful, amazing path possible. It was created by Mike Coronella and Joe Mitchell, both of Utah, as the combination of several treks including a 94-day expedition in 1998 and a 101-day journey in 2000. For more info just Google Hayduke trail. Very cool experience. It follows existing roads and trails as well as lots of cross country travel. As I came to find out my hiking times were much slower due to the cross country travel. On the Arizona Trail (AZT) I was covering 16+ miles a day on average but the Hayduke came out to only 12 miles a day average. I got info, read some reports, made maps, and with my time frame and weather in Dec I choose just the first 2 sections. It came out to right about 78 miles. As the Hayduke goes, these were easy miles! It starts at the boundary of Arches NP off Salt Valley Rd. I knew I had an easy resupply point in only 2 days in Moab so the first 29 miles or so were light weight with not much food to carry. I have friends in Moab and dropped a food bucket at their house that I picked up as I rolled through town. I followed dirt tracks, cross country, and passed through Willow Springs were I found good water, was in Courthouse Wash for a very short stretch, got on trail at Park Avenue, then spit out cross country again to drop off the cliffs by the river in Moab. There are variations to the route and I took some of them. The "official/unofficial" route follows Courthouse wash all the way to the Colorado River but I opted to go a different way. It was one night/2 shorter days to get to Moab. I rung up my friends and walked to Gearheads in Moab and they met me there with my food bucket. As we chatted and I looked at weather and the fact that the Electric Light Parade (think that's what Moab calls it) was that night, Dec 7th, I decided to hang with them in front of The Copy Center on Main St to watch to parade and crashed at their place for the night. It was a fun night..thank you Steve and Susan! It rained that night and early in the morning Susan drove me back to where I had stopped walking (Gearheads) and off I went on the next section. Hiked out Kane Springs Rd and took another alternate route up and over Jackson's Hole...very cool down climb and area! That put me onto an old 2 track that led me right past Basecamp Adventures. I hiked in and talked with Tom Higginson for a bit and got water from him. Super nice guy. His turtle was in AZ for the winter so didn't get to see it. He gave me some sage advice as the weather was clouding up and winds picking up. He recommended I camp at the "Caves", a few more miles down the road. I took the advice and headed out. It's Jan 8th now. Found them and set up for the night. Never did rain but wind was up for sure. This part of Section 2 of the Hayduke is following Lockhart Basin Rd, which makes for easy travel. I had many miles to go to get to my take-out point of Needles District Visitor Center, where my son picked me up on Dec 13th. I arrived at the Visitor Center on Dec 12th about 3:00 pm and found a place to pitch my tent and my son picked me up the next day. The Hayduke is remote, fantastic, a challenge in many ways as the route and the way is not all spelled out for you. Map and compass, avoiding getting cliffed out and having to backtrack many miles....not your normal "follow the trail" stuff on 14er's. Loved it. I will go back to section off more of it as time allows. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Hayduke trail

It's winter time again which means I'm off work and heading out. I work seasonal as a Guide (rock climbing, hiking, mtn biking, Jeep/UTV, Indian rock art, geology) at Gateway Canyons Resort in Gateway, CO. I get winters off (Dec 1st - Feb 29th..an extra day this year with leap year!) As usual I starting making plans and hashing ideas in June to see what might stick and I feel upon the first 2 sections of the Hayduke trail in Utah. After doing 300 miles on the Arizona Trail 3 winters ago (Jan 2017) I decided to stay closer to Grand Junction in Dec where I live before heading to Phoenix, where I spend the majority of my winters.

The Hayduke trail (it's really a route as many many miles are trail-less and cross country) is 800 miles long and travels from Arches NP to Zion is the most convoluted, crooked, beautiful, amazing path possible. It was created by Mike Coronella and Joe Mitchell, both of Utah, as the combination of several treks including a 94-day expedition in 1998 and a 101-day journey in 2000. For more info just Google Hayduke trail. Very cool experience. It follows existing roads and trails as well as lots of cross country travel. As I came to find out my hiking times were much slower due to the cross country travel. On the Arizona Trail (AZT) I was covering 16+ miles a day on average but the Hayduke came out to only 12 miles a day average.

I got info, read some reports, made maps, and with my time frame and weather in Dec I choose just the first 2 sections. It came out to right about 78 miles. As the Hayduke goes, these were easy miles! It starts at the boundary of Arches NP off Salt Valley Rd. I knew I had an easy resupply point in only 2 days in Moab so the first 29 miles or so were light weight with not much food to carry. I have friends in Moab and dropped a food bucket at their house that I picked up as I rolled through town. I followed dirt tracks, cross country, and passed through Willow Springs were I found good water, was in Courthouse Wash for a very short stretch, got on trail at Park Avenue, then spit out cross country again to drop off the cliffs by the river in Moab. There are variations to the route and I took some of them. The "official/unofficial" route follows Courthouse wash all the way to the Colorado River but I opted to go a different way. It was one night/2 shorter days to get to Moab. I rung up my friends and walked to Gearheads in Moab and they met me there with my food bucket. As we chatted and I looked at weather and the fact that the Electric Light Parade (think that's what Moab calls it) was that night, Dec 7th, I decided to hang with them in front of The Copy Center on Main St to watch to parade and crashed at their place for the night. It was a fun night..thank you Steve and Susan! It rained that night and early in the morning Susan drove me back to where I had stopped walking (Gearheads) and off I went on the next section. Hiked out Kane Springs Rd and took another alternate route up and over Jackson's Hole...very cool down climb and area! That put me onto an old 2 track that led me right past Basecamp Adventures. I hiked in and talked with Tom Higginson for a bit and got water from him. Super nice guy. His turtle was in AZ for the winter so didn't get to see it. He gave me some sage advice as the weather was clouding up and winds picking up. He recommended I camp at the "Caves", a few more miles down the road. I took the advice and headed out. It's Jan 8th now. Found them and set up for the night. Never did rain but wind was up for sure. This part of Section 2 of the Hayduke is following Lockhart Basin Rd, which makes for easy travel. I had many miles to go to get to my take-out point of Needles District Visitor Center, where my son picked me up on Dec 13th. I arrived at the Visitor Center on Dec 12th about 3:00 pm and found a place to pitch my tent and my son picked me up the next day.

The Hayduke is remote, fantastic, a challenge in many ways as the route and the way is not all spelled out for you. Map and compass, avoiding getting cliffed out and having to backtrack many miles....not your normal "follow the trail" stuff on 14er's. Loved it. I will go back to section off more of it as time allows.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

FireOnTheMountain	Gnarly 2/12/2020 8:59am That dip down into AZ is big! Was the intent of the route just to hit all the awesome spots of UT in one go? This is super cool! Thanks for the write up and well done.
oldschool	Close to home.... 2/12/2020 9:06am The first 2 sections are close to home for me, they fit well into my winter plans, and it was relatively easy to set up food and water for these sections. I want to do the whole thing but that will be in a few years after I semi semi retie as these days I do feel as though I am semi retired! The sections after that are more committing and in the winter throw other technicalities into the mix so....I'll save those for later.
TomPierce	Yea! The desert! 2/12/2020 10:16am Hey Old School, Really enjoyed this report. Funny how the "career" of some climbers often tracks from alpine stuff (which is sorta easy...lots of water, usually trails or easy above treeline navigation) to more and more remote, off trail stuff, always hunting for water, etc. Maybe true for you? Anyway, a fun read and gorgeous pics. Q: What are those squarish formations in the dirt in that one photo? Just wierd geology or the foundations for a granary/dwelling? Oh, and for those who have Prime Video, there's a movie about the Hayduke, pretty well done. -Tom
greenonion	Magical 2/12/2020 10:31am Living in SLC we love our southern Utah landscapes. I can only imagine that this route is absolutely magical. Thanks for sharing, sir!
greenonion	Henry Mtns 2/12/2020 10:43am Looks like the trail goes right over the Henry mountains, probably near the Ellen/Pennell saddle. You'll love it up there when you get around to that section. Those are the last-discovered and named mountains in the lower 48. Powell found them on his floats down the Green and Colorado rivers. Great views of the the southern Utah red rock down below the Henrys!
oldschool	Tom... 2/12/2020 10:48am Yeah, just rock! Crazy huh. You're not far off on the transitions of me..from 23 years climbing Yosemite to the 14er's and alpine to desert hiking to long distance hiking to...we'll see what's next. Thx Tom for checking out the TR.
oldschool	Henry Mtn's 2/14/2020 7:42am Greenonion...the Henry's indeed are remote and awesome. Back in the early 1980's...1982 I believe....I was living in Moab working on oil rigs. We were drilling a well up in the Henry's and would see the buffalo herd every day. The buffalo in the Henry's is a cool story....a genetically pure herd that still exists and roams the Henry range.
blazintoes	Wondered 2/14/2020 12:00pm When someone would post about Hayduke. I've seen this movie twice https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Hayduke-Trail-Alex-Maier/dp/B07VLJNFYK And because you realize Alex climbed up and down technical spots a few times to get the footage. Super humble and super badass. I really liked the documentary. May watch is 3 times. I wondered if he actually did the entire 800 because there were sections (since he self supported) where he would get off trail, head to town and resupply but then miss segments on the return?? But maybe the missed segments were made up from the times he got lost and had to back track. I go to the desert often and visit because it's the yin to my mountain yang. Thanks for posting of your adventures; this AZT and KeyWest (that's where I learned to scuba dive also I drove there from Miami, a must drive!) Also I was in Big Bend last winter and IMO this is my favorite National Park because you really can feel isolation in this one NP perhaps because of it's remoteness.

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