Moab to Needles
Including my Arches loop, I just concluded my first week on the Hayduke! Leaving Moab began with a somewhat boring road walk out of town. It was the week of the annual Jeep Safari and, unfortunately, the road I walked on provides access to many of the jeep trails. I had already planned to use an alternate that started five miles out of town with the Thompson Trail, a steep hiking and mountain bike trail following the Colorado River. The Mighty Colorado It brought me close to the amazing Moonlight Spire. Next I hiked down and partially around the spire. Still very close to Moab, it already felt pretty remote as I didn’t see anyone on the trail. It was a windy day and I thought about cowboy camping until I saw dark clouds forming on the horizon. I had planned to practice pitching my new tent in good conditions, but hadn’t used it at all in Arches. So now I started fumbling around as I didn’t remember the steps of the setup at all. All this in high winds with rain clouds...