Arches National Park, October 28th
Eventually I made my way out of Moab, but not before stopping at the Thrift Store for some new clothes for the bus ride home as well as a brief stop at Mike Coronella's place. He is one of the co-founders of the Hayduke Trail and someone I was excited to meet in person. We talked for a bit about the Hayduke and the Colorado Plateau. It is always great to talk and listen to someone who is enthusiastic about what they do or where they have been, and Mike was alit regaling tales of his hiking and listening to some of my memories from the route. Despite likely being able to gab for hours, I filled up with water and continued on with my day of hiking.
I was headed to Courthouse Wash via a road walk along the Highway and a scary walk across the bridge (no shoulder, no sidewalk!) that spans the Colorado River on the north end of town. Managing to get across without incident, I arrived at the mouth of Courthouse Wash and headed upcanyon entering Arches National Park...the 6th and final NP along the Hayduke.
The wash is quite nice...towering walls, changing leaves on the Cottonwood, and deep pools of water. Although tempted for a final swim, the skies have opened up and put a damper on the afternoon --- cool temps, and a steady solemn drizzle.
I continued upcanyon in the rain, criss-crossing the wash a few times and continually tripping myself up on the piles of cut tamarisk. Late afternoon I arrived beneath the bridge which spans Courthouse Wash and provides vehicular access to the Park. Legally, this is the furthest into the park you can camp without a permit. More importantly, it is dry.
It is quite humorous that my final night along the Hayduke Trail is likely going to be spent beneath a bridge, listening to the THUMP, THUMP of traffic, but I'll take being dry over aesthetics any day!Having hiked ~8 miles from Moab, that leaves me with ~17 for tomorrow. I hope the skies clear come morning as it would be wonderful to end on a note similar to the previous 59 days of the hiking...sunny, cobalt skies, surrounded by warm stone.
~16 miles
Brian
And so it ends..., October 29th
Well, today I finished the Hayduke Trail. ~932 miles in 60 days of hiking, and became the first fellow to successfully complete the route end to end in a continuous effort. Typical of the terrain the route follows, I had to work for every mile to the finish...
After a decent nights rest beneath the Courthouse Wash bridge, I awoke early and got moving at first light. The vegetation was damp, but the wetness seemed to amplify the rich colors that surrounded me -- the cottonwood appeared a sharper yellow, the cliffs a deeper red, and the sage a crisp, subdued green. The skies were overcast, so the soft morning light stuck around into early afternoon. A stunning morning.
Working up the meanders of Courthouse was classic Hayduke...thrashing through thickets of willow, tamarisk, and cattail, criss-crossing the flowing wash, and finding isolated pockets of quicksand. No matter how much I wanted to be able to allow my mind to drift along the waves of `trip nostalgia' it was necessary to be paying attention to the route and my footing.
I eventually made my way to the head of Courthouse, passed by the flowing Willow Spring, and climbed along benches of slickrock to come to the Willow Springs road -- the original dirt road entry into Arches National Park.
Taking a short break, I soaked in the views...the La Sals, Herdina Park, Balanced Rock, and a number of buttes and towers scattered across the landscape.
I did not have a real plan to get to the end of the route, rather wanting to wait to see what my mood was and create a route on the spot. As such, I checked out the maps to see what my options were.
Thankfully I had an old (1959) 15 minute series map of the area which included the entire original entry dirt road route. The new road merely a proposed purple dashed line. The newer 1996, 7.5 minutes series map does not have this old route. Feeling nostalgic, I thought a walk along the old entry road would be the best way to get down from the benchland into Salt Wash and on towards Delicate Arch which I had designated as the end of my Hayduke hike. What better way to experience the entry into Arches than the original, unpaved, get-here-if-you-can, Abbey-endorsed road? Hopefully I'd be able to find the old route.
Continuing for a few miles down Willow Springs road, I came to a rise just before reaching the Balanced Rock Picnic Area. The current outhouse position supposedly marks the spot where former ranger Ed Abbey had his trailer and began to formulate some of his thinking about the landscape --- chronicled in Desert Solitaire. Not Mecca for myself, but interesting nonetheless.
From my vantage I could discern a vague car-width swath in the distance. Despite the efforts of the NPS to re vegetate the old dirt road, the scar still exists, although now only frequented by the tracks of animals, and not the wheels of vehicles.
Working my way along the old road, zig-zagging between sage and thistle, I took my last lunch beneath a shady juniper. The Fiery Furnace and the colorful expanse of Salt Valley were my viewshed for the last celebratory spoonfuls of lentils and potatoes.
Pushing on, I dropped down to Salt Wash and passed beneath the new road, an easy curving paved affair with a steady flow of weekend traffic.
The floor of Salt Wash was muddy...the glop building on the bottoms of my shoes with each step, but the going was straightforward and presented no navigational challenges.
Shortly I met the road which led to the Delicate Arch TH --- the parking lot of which was full and over-flowing with vehicles. Ugh. I was not expecting the TH to be empty, but it looked like I'd have plenty of company for the ~1.5 mile hike to the Arch.
Setting off, I had a steady but unhurried pace up the gravel and slickrock trail, passing by the remnants of the Wolfe Ranch. The views back into Salt Wash were nice, the tamarisk plumes golden in the afternoon sun, while the La Sal Mountains on the opposite horizon were topped with a light snow.
The trail to Delicate Arch is a nice piece of work as the arch itself is hidden from view until the last possible moment. As you round a corner on trail cut from a steep sandstone wall, the arch suddenly appears...its opening framing the distant horizon to the snow-capped La Sals. Suddenly my hike was finished.
It is always odd to have an arbitrary point as a trail terminus. Suddenly the trip just ends due to your arrival at Point B from Point A. One of these times I am going to plan an open ended hike and finish when I feel like it...maybe that will feel less forced and more natural.
Despite having been exposed to images of Delicate Arch so many times from postcards, pictures, and billboards, to the Utah State license plate, I was surprised to find that it appeared completely breath-taking. Truly a spectacular setting and scene and one that I would have liked to sit around and enjoy for an hour with less company about.
I took a few celebratory pictures, observed a moment of silence for the upcoming retirement of my much beloved hiking shirt, and then departed back down to the trailhead; recognizing that the hike had drawn to a close, but making an effort to ignore the fact that it was.
Lived it. Loved it. Time it leave it.
Thanks for reading. I've also posted some concluding thoughts in the next report.
Brian
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