A starry morning, awake before dawn, but lying in my bag. I watch an owl hop about in the cottonwood above us, then silently drop to the ground. Sorry little mouse or lizard - though you are a gift to the owl. Then our day began. And what a gorgeous day! Hard to believe we … Continue reading Over the Waterpocket Fold into Stevens Canyon

In the early morning we pack up and watch the walls of Hall Creek Mesa emerge from the dusk and change color. Black, to gray, to, dull brown, to a faded brown red. For much of the morning we walked the dry bed of Halls Creek. Big meanders. Often soft sand. Some cruiser gravels. The … Continue reading In awe of Halls Creek Narrows

A wonderful, beautiful, relaxing day. We got to our cache. Got food and water. Then hiked into Lower Muley Twist Canyon. Gabriel and I were delighted by the red rock, smooth slickrock, desert varnish and giant alcoves. Juniper growing out of small seams. Lush shady cottonwoods and box elder. Vibrant colored wildflowers!  This is a … Continue reading In love with Lower Muley Twist Canyon

My favorite song for the last few years is by Alberta singer-song writer Corb Lund.  Well everything is better with some cows around/ Livin in town sometimes brings me down/ Let me bestow this western blessing that I have found/ May you always have cows around. I found it fitting to sing this song while hiking the … Continue reading Everything is better with bison around

All night the wind howled in the tree tops. But it was calm (and dust free) on the forest floor. The last forecast we read noted winds 15 to 20 mph. Late afternoon gusts to 40 mph... hmmm. Get up and over was the plan.  Hiking over the Henry Mountains is a treat when conditions … Continue reading Blown over the Henry Mountains

After a restful, productive zero day, time to return to the Hayduke. We had estimated the time to take care of last errands and hitch would have us back on trail by 1 pm. Two clean hikers, shiny, kinda small white packs. How long could it take to get out of town? Turns out most cars … Continue reading Into the Henry’s… please

Days on trail: 13, total trail miles: 211.5 More to come on hiking in to the heart of Bears Ears National Monument, crossing the Colorado River for the second time, scrambling up the narrow chimney, and crossing the Dirty Devil River 10 times. It was fun! Things went smoothly and we were surprised at how … Continue reading Dark Canyon to the Dirty Devil River

A beautiful morning in Poison Spring Canyon. Delighted by pictographs and the contrast of green cottonwood trees with red Navajo sandstone. We amused ourselves walking up the canyon.  We also talked about our degriming game plan for ourselves and our gear. Ten days since our last laundry and a proper shower. The dust, sand, and … Continue reading Time to degrime

It was a windy night. I'd wake up every now and then to the tent flapping and feel a new layer of sand on my face and sleeping bag. In the morning we had sand in our teeth. Chilly and windy, we layered up and started winding our way around The Block to and through … Continue reading Sand, wind, and the Dirty Devil

Cache day. Kinda like a town day but without a shower, laundry, and the hope of fresh vegetables. Still, caching keeps our packs light and lets us create a water source in dry places. We have four caches along the route. Our one first hidden away in the rocks along Highway 95 in the vicinity of … Continue reading A cache and a chimney