On The Trail Again - Bryce Canyon

-

 The time has finally come! I haven’t written much about my preparations as they were pretty similar to what I did for the Pacific Crest Trail. There were just a few changes. First, I did not cook and dehydrate my own food. This was mainly a timing issue as I was very busy in the months leading up to this hike. Also, my planned route is about 900 miles and thus significantly shorter than the PCT.

I did pack and ship more supply boxes though, as my experience with the small general stores in trail towns was pretty mixed. Some didn’t have many choices of camping food, and when a large number of hikers had come through, they were sold out quickly.


Love My Local Post Office


My gear is pretty much the same too. Of course I have new clothes and shoes, but I kept my tent, sleeping bag, mat, stove, pot and cup. I also kept my solar panel. It’s a bit scratched up and looks like it’s been to outer space and back, but it still works.


Protective Wrap Courtesy Of Alaska Airlines


But now for the fun part. I started the trip in Las Vegas, as there are daily tours to Bryce Canyon that I could use for transportation to my starting point. And of course to have some fun!


Carb Loading With My Favorite Person


On September 8 I roused myself from sleep at 4:30am, said goodbye to River and took the bus to Bryce Canyon. I had only slept a few hours, but was still excited for the hike to start. At Bryce, I checked into my campgsite, picked up my backcountry permit and went on a sunset hike around the Fairyland Loop.


Fairyland Point 


I woke just before sunrise and, since Sunrise Point was very close to the campground, went over there for a glorious sunrise.


Sunrise Point

Then it was time to eat, pack and get going. I hiked all morning through the beautiful Hoodoo landscapes of the National Park.


Still Very Well Nourished…


As I was wandering through the park, I wondered if this place had ever been used for fertility rites…


…


After reaching Bryce Point and the backcountry area, there were no more people. In fact, after leaving the main area of the park I didn’t see anyone until I reached my campsite that night.


Under The Rim Trail


The trail got quite rough and was often completely washed out. I needed my GPS more than I thought I would and the day was a lot tougher than I had anticipated. I was very happy when I finally reached camp, way after dark.


Didn’t Take Long To Meet My First Rattler


The next morning brought clouds and later a rainstorm that I had not expected. I hiked mainly through pine forests with the occasional glimpse of the characteristic Hoodoo features of the park.


After a long and exhausting climb I reached Rainbow Point, the highest point of this section of my hike. The wind was blowing strongly, the rain coming in horizontally. 


Rainbow Reaching Rainbow Point


I contemplated camping under the shelter of the lookout, but it was too exposed, so I went on to Riggs Springs where I set up camp in the rain and went to sleep early. Another beautiful but exhausting day. The next morning I would be leaving Bryce National Park and hike into Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.


Good Bye Bryce Canyon


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Finally Made A Bucket List

-
Image
 It actually turned out to be exactly five buckets, 20 gallon each. I hope I'm doing this right... Planning the types and quantity of food was relatively easy as I could draw from my experiences preparing for and completing the Pacific Crest Trail and the Arizona Trail. I estimate the Hayduke to take about two months. Unlike for the much longer PCT, I decided not to do any cooking and dehydrating and will rely on commercially available foods only. The Buckets And The Stuff That Goes Into Them My breakfasts will be based on overnight oats, just like during my previous thru-hikes. I add chia seeds, different kinds of nuts as well as dried cranberries or raisins to create variety. The mix goes into individual ziplock bags that I will also use for overnight soaking. The moistened mix is a favorite for rodents, so the bag goes into my cooking pot during the night and will be firmly secured with a metal lid. I eat directly out of the ziplock bag, eliminating the need for cleaning any dis...
Read more

Hello, Hayduke!

-
Image
 Today I received a long awaited email from a backcountry ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. "Hello Michael, I drew up a permit for you...". That was the moment my next thru-hiking adventure started to feel real. It's been two and a half years since my last long hike, the Arizona Trail. Back then, I had added roughly 100 miles through southern Utah, more out of convenience than anything else. By starting my hike in Bryce Canyon instead of the Arizona border I could just take a bus from Las Vegas instead of scrambling to find transportation to the official terminus. I ended up liking this part of the hike more than most sections of the official trail and started looking into hiking the complete route. Overlooking Grand Gulch in Capitol Reef National Park At first, it sounded too daunting. The Hayduke is an 800–850-mile, mostly off-trail route linking Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks across the Colorado Plateau. All my...
Read more

The Route

-
Image
One of the skills I had to improve on while preparing for the Hayduke was making routes on maps. While the route exists on CalTopo and AllTrails, updates and alternates are missing. Many underlying maps are pretty old and do not reflect developments in recent years or even decades. I found, for example, that a rockslide closed part of the Zion route and I had to look into detour options. I’m sure I will discover more changes as I continue my preparations and also along the hike.  I started looking into my preferred route last year already, but worked out most details in the last few weeks. While the process of working on those maps can be pretty tedious, I enjoy imagining hiking the routes I created. Current State Of My Route With Some Alternates I learned the hard way during the hike in 2023 that marked water sources like springs can be really unreliable. Luckily I found a spreadsheet online that showed known water sources along the route, but the last updates were from 2022. I su...
Read more