Hite to Poison Spring Canyon - The End of the Honeymoon

Two hours after I had closed my eyes I was awakened by rain falling on my face. The stars were gone and the sky ominously black. I quickly got up and grabbed my tent. I had to look for a bigger flat spot nearby and started pitching. All of a sudden a strong gust of wind hit me and almost sent the tent flying. I secured it as good as I could with stakes and returned to my camp. Although I had secured it with rocks and water bottles, it was completely turned over. No time to check the details. I just placed the heavy supply bucket (it included over 5 liters of water) over the mess and went back to the tent. Since the wind was so strong I just wanted to pitch the corners and use it as a tarp against the rain. Once finished, I dragged the remains of my camp under it. Then I finally noticed that my sleeping mat was gone. Other thru-hikers often ridiculed me for having an inflatable mat instead of just a foam pad, but I really like the extra comfort and never had serious issues, including on the very thorny Arizona Trail. The rain subsided and the wind let up, so I started searching, walking over the slick rock in the direction the wind was blowing. I went as far as the road, but didn’t find anything, so I returned after an hour or so to get some shut eye. 

In the morning I saw the camp of my fellow three Haydukers nearby and walked over. They had their tents set up before the storm, so they had fared better, just needed to reinforce the stakes with rocks. They were heading to Hanksville for a town day and soon packed up. 

Hayduke Lives!

I went to have breakfast before searching for my pad again, but soon after Idaho appeared with a smiling face and my pad under his arm. Awesome. It’s bright yellow and was easy to spot in daylight. I had found everything else and packed up to start my hike up spectacular Rock Canyon. 

Rock Canyon

At some point I had to climb out of the canyon and onto the Red Benches, also called Orange Cliffs, above. This was labeled as a somewhat technical chimney climb where I had to take my pack off and haul it up with a rope afterwards. The chimney was significantly higher than I had thought. I had 50’ of rope to haul my stuff, but had read that 10’ would be sufficient. Not at all. I separated my full food bag and additional water jug from the pack and attached both to the opposing ends of the rope, assuming that 25’ would be more than enough. Then I attached the rope to my shirt and started climbing the chimney. Somewhere in the middle of it I got stuck for a while until I figured out that I had to wedge out, turn 180 degrees and wedge back in. When I reached a small ledge, I started running out of rope, so I had to haul my things up there before continuing. There was a gusty wind and I was worried about losing my balance if I went out on the ledge, so I had to haul from behind and almost got my pack stuck in the chimney. I got it lose again and eventually up, adding a few more scratches to its surface. Now the food bag and water jug. They also got stuck and I worried that my food bag would burst like a giant piñata, but it held up, even though it had a few large holes when I had it up. The gallon jug didn’t fare as well and water came out sprinkling from a hole. I patched it up with duct tape. 

Second Leg Of The Climb

The last part wasn’t as bad and soon I was on the rim. For a seasoned rock climber this would probably be easy, but I felt like Alex Honnold after he free climbed El Capitan! The amazing views almost made me forget my struggles. Almost. 

Rock Canyon

The next challenge was to navigate across the Red Benches to Fiddlers Cove. There are no trails, a maze of washes and canyons and no people. There is no right or wrong way, just different routes weaving in and out of canyons in the general direction of the cove. The Hayduke book says that one needs excellent route finding and navigation skills. My route finding skills are not excellent, they are not even great. They are okay, which means that I can usually figure out a route, even though it may be more circuitous than necessary and involve some trial and error. 

I loved that day, the desolate area and even my slow progress. Along the way I found many remnants of old cowboy camps, big rusted tin cans from an era when they were still made of thick metal, broken glass bottles that looked unlike any you find today, with intriguing inscriptions and made from thick glass. 

Trash Or Artefact?

An oval metal flask, rusted through. Remnants of a time before plastics were widely used for packaging. The highlight was a stove made from a still drum. They definitely felt like artifacts rather than trash. I was glad I brought the extra water, so I could camp up there for the night. 

Red Benches

In other news, my sleeping pad leaked. Apparently it had visited a cactus during its romp the previous night. Fiddlers Cove Canyon may well be the most stunning I’ve seen so far. I reached its rim around noon the following day.

Fiddler’s Cove

Apparently there is only one route into it and I was thankful that it was marked by a few cairns. I had expected something as dreadful as the chimney, but it was just a very steep descent down a rock slide and some slick rock. 

I hiked roughly two miles to its end at the Dirty Devil River. The Hayduke is genius in the way it offers a new challenge in every section. Now up: quicksand! Due to the topography of the river bed I had to cross it at least 10 times (I lost count at some point) over the next five or so miles. This all but ensures that I would encounter quicksand at some point, no matter how careful I was. 

The Dirty Devil was the other reason I had brought extra water. I read that it was highly contaminated and was fed by a few poisonous springs, that included selenium and uranium. 

Me!

But first I looked for a rocky part of the riverbed to submerge my sleeping pad to find the leak. It was gusty again and the wind tried to rip the inflated pad out of my hands, but I managed to submerge it and quickly found not one, but two leaks. Having overachieved my goal, I stopped there. Also, I only had two patches. 

When I finally hit some quicksand during one of my last crossings, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I had drilled the instructions into my head. Keep moving forward deliberately, avoid quick and panicky moves. It was just ankle deep and I easily pulled out. I camped about a mile from the mouth of Poison Spring Canyon. 

Dirty Devil Riverbed

The wind was strong and I fortified my tent stakes with big rocks. There was a small rock cave just big enough for my stove and I cooked my dinner in there. The pad still leaked, although much slower now, so I got to fall asleep before hitting the bare rock. The next morning I awoke next to a little sand dune in my tent as the strong wind had continued during the night. I had been exhausted enough to sleep through this as well as the leaking pad. 

After breakfast I headed back to the river, found the additional leak and patched it with duct tape, although I didn’t have too much faith in that fix. I merely kept trying because I was soon heading into the Henry Mountains and I would need the added insulation from the inflated pad to keep me warm. 

When I reached Poison Spring Canyon I turned around one more time. My dance with the Dirty Devil was over. 

Goodbye, Dirty Devil!

At first, the canyon didn’t seem very special to me. There is a dirt road going along its bottom and the rock formations looked much like what I had seen in the riverbed I just left. But as the day went on the walls changed into giant red rock monoliths, like the ones in the Red Center of Australia. Maybe not quite as big as Uluru, but one after another. Spectacular, especially in the late afternoon sun. 

Poison Spring Canyon

I had stashed a water jug and can of Chili where the canyon meets the lonely Highway 89 and I had dinner right there. Another amazing section down. I hiked a little further along a rough dirt road to the Poison Spring Benches and made a very sturdy camp as it looked dark and stormy again. I had a great view of the Henry Mountains, my next destination.

Henry Mountains Ahead!