Day 193 (HDT 9)

Day 193 (HDT 9): 24 miles

We woke up a little earlier than usual. I packed up as fast as possible and left before Fancy Feast. She had enough water to feel secure, but I was desperate to get to water as soon as possible. It was 11 miles away at Hite Marina. This place has been a stop for Hayduke hikers for years, but just this year it closed the outpost where hikers could send boxes or buy food, making this stretch of trail a little harder. But fortunately they did advertise that the water was still on and bathrooms were open.

I powered through the miles as fast as I could in the morning. And when the sun came out I realized I left my sun hat at the campsite. That was my piece of gear that has traveled the most miles with me, but I guess everything must come to an end cause I was too far away and too dehydrated to turn around and get it. On the bright side I’m carrying a cool bandana and now I’m ready to go America all over everyone’s ass.

A few miles before Hite Marina, the was a car on the side of the dirt road. I just shamelessly went up and asked if he had any extra water I could have. He was super nice and happy to help. He had done Dark Canyon a few times himself and mentioned the poison oak down there which made more sense now why I was itching my legs all morning.

When i got to the Hite marina outpost I was happy I had a water bag. The drinking fountain was off, and the only water was a short sink in the bathroom. With water bottles, that would’ve sucked, but it wasn’t too bad with a water bag. Fancy Feast arrived shortly after and we hung out there for a few hours, loading up on food and water…cause it was going to be another 30 miles to water that isn’t the Dirty Devil river which is allegedly loaded with metals, arsenic, and other fun stuff.

When we left the outpost it was hot and exposed. Within 5 minutes of walking on the road, my water bag fell out of the back of my pack and got a hole in it. I might be over these things if they keep getting pinholes so easily.

After we got off the highway and on our side dirt road we soon met a couple road tripping from Alaska. We also saw a sign warning to not hike this area in the heat of the day. Haha. It did make sense. It was hot and there was no reprieve.

I did lose my hat this morning but thankfully I had my umbrella to help out a little bit, along with my bandana. Finally in the evening we entered a side canyon that was shaded with the setting sun. We hiked in the wash there for a bit before climbing up and out of the canyon with the final ascent being a “chimney climb” that was kinda fun. It was allegedly class 4 but it was pretty short and not bad. It was too skinny to climb with a pack on but luckily I could hand them up to Fancy Feast after she climbed up and we didn’t have to use a rope to haul them.

We then spent the next 90 minutes going cross country over The Red Benches trying to follow Skurka’s route instead of the official route to save some repetitive climbing over hills. This really felt like I was back on the ODT.

Song of the day: Maria Elena-jimmy Dorsey