Since Sunday morning, Gabriel and I have been driving, driving, driving from Salt Lake City. And before that from Seattle. Six days on the road. I wonder if the 40 hours of travel in one go from Musoma to Seattle has me conditioned for this phase of the Hayduke. Gabriel thinks not. I do know, after all this sitting, my feet and legs are eager for some walking. My mind is ready for my body to travel at a slower pace.

It doesn’t have to take 6 days to go from Seattle to Moab. But our route has been an indirect one, taking us along various points of the Hayduke to set up resupplies. Getting from one section end to the next town has had us weaving the highways and dirt roads that the Hayduke crosses.

We’ve even driven ON the Hayduke several times, giving us a sneak peak of what’s to come. It’s been the most gorgeous driving we’ve ever done! If this is what we’re seeing from a road, what does that mean for the walk?

We started our day close to Grosvenor Arch.

Mukmuk helped get our packages ready to ship over to Hanksville. We’ll be driving through the town in a few more hours, but we’ve got our stuff in these nice USPS priority mail boxes… so we best mail them.

View into the slickrock country of the Escalante River from Highway 12.

The Forester likes driving around The Gulch and Burr Trail (these days, it’s a paved road).

Views of the Henry Mountains from the Burr Trail.

A storm is a coming from the west, beyond the Henry Mountains. Phew, we just finished stashing the last of our caches! This storm system caused some delays for other hikers due to muddy roads and snow in places.

Gabriel and Mukmuk study the route, while I “explode my pack” to get my gear in order for the start.