Hayduke Trail – Day 7
March 20, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 19 / 105.8
This morning wasn’t quite as cold, but the wind was really blowing making the wind chill seem colder than the previous days. We started of with a short road walk to Big Springs. This was our water source for the next 25 miles. What the notes didn’t tell us was that there was a 30’ down climb to the water. Fortunately Ken volunteered to climb down and we used a rope to get our water up.
From there the trail lead across Canyonlands on the confluence trail. After several up and down climbs we reached a 4WD road and started our walk toward Devil’s Kitchen.
We ate lunch there and started on the trail toward the Needles and Chester Park. I thought the Needles were more impressive at a distance as we climbed up and over a pass near one.
After passing the Needles we were back on a 4WD road to the southern boundary of the Park. The road was pretty rough in places and we only saw one jeep on the whole trail. About 3 miles from the boundary a cold rain blew in into our faces for a couple of miles. We reached to gate dry and ready to push forward.
Once out of Canyonlands the 4WD road continued through a wide sandy bottom of a canyon before turning sharply and heading up and over the canyon wall at Bobby ‘s Hole Dugout. Out of breath we rested shortly at the top and noticed some dark rain clouds heading our way. We rushed down the hill looking for a campsite out of the wind. We found a spot and set up our tents hurriedly and jump inside just as it started raining.
We ate dinner in our tents and turned in as the rain would come and go throughout the night.
