Day 185 (Hayduke Trail 1)

Day 185 (Hayduke Trail 1): 16 miles

The day was going great until it wasn’t. We started the Hayduke Trail at the northern boundary of Arches National Park. From there it was a series of dirt roads and a little cross country to get to courthouse wash. With the heavy rains yesterday there was a lot of standing water puddles, although most of them were dark brown and didn’t look too appetizing for me or my water filter.

I got my first encounter with some real deal quicksand. There were a few steps where my ankle was immediately under the surface of wet porous sand. But the most alarming was when my trekking pole in front of me started to go down into one and I leaned forward cause of it and it sunk all the way up to my handle, about 4 feet high.

When we got to courthouse wash, it had a lot of water from the rain, it was brushy, and there seemed to be a lot of mud and quicksand. We opted to climb out of the wash and hike on the rim. It was a good lesson to learn on day one-FOLLOW THE ROUTE. We eventually got to a point where there was a large feeder canyon that was impossible to climb down to. It was a 200 foot drop and after looking for a way down for a while, we gave up and backtracked 2 miles to where we should have stayed in the wash.

Before we went down to the wash, I checked the weather because I didn’t like the way the sky was looking. It was about to start storming any minute. We darted for some dirt off in the distance since the walls of courthouse wash were all solid rock.

After several spots where a stake wouldn’t go into the ground at all, we both set up our tents just in time for the rain. We sat in our tents for maybe a minute before an insane wind started blowing. The first few gusts were alarming. I was starting to think “wow this is kind of intense. It’s gonna be tough to sleep or relax.” Then the gusts only got crazier. One was so strong, I actually felt like my tent might go airborne with me inside it. After that gust, I didn’t hear fancy feast for a few seconds and seriously thought she might’ve blown away since she’s lighter than me. She got out for her tent and ran to the base of a hill nearby to see if it blocked the wind. While she was gone, I was getting out of my tent when all of a sudden it collapsed. I had to stand there for 30 seconds just holding it so it would go flying away. I really thought her tent was a goner but somehow some of the stakes held it.

I saw a cluster of rocks off in the distance and started to run to them with my tent with all of my stuff inside. I knew it was a bad idea, but it was so crazy I didn’t think I could stop and pull out all the stuff without my tent flying away. I ripped 3 holes in the bottom of it in the run over to the rocks and when I got there I realized one of the tent poles snapped in the wind.

Thankfully in the cluster of rocks the wind was much weaker. I ran back to get the rest of my gear and tell fancy feast we have a shelter.

That 15-20 minute time span felt like war. I spent the rest of the day in shell shock, reassuring myself that thru hiking is a recreational activity and this is fun. But more so, I was just pissed off I completely ruined an expensive tent that I’ve hardly used. I’ll probably try to get through the rest of this trail with it but idk.

We looked around the area for some place with an overhang for protection from the wind and rain. There was one good location with enough room for both of us, but it was littered with animal poop. We spent a while using our trowels to clean out the area. In the early pages of the guidebook it warned of something called Hentavirus from mice poop in the desert of Utah for which there is no cure and can kill in 24 hours. With that lovely thought, we decided we better clean it out. Fancy feast went to town on this digging and made the place fairly hospitable.