An 800 Mile Hike from Nevada to Colorado

From late April to early June this 12 months, Kate “Swept Away” Pickett and I accomplished an roughly 800 mile (1,287 km) hike throughout southern Utah.

We started our journey on the Nevada border WSW of Enterprise and completed seven weeks later at Hovenweep Nationwide Monument on the border with Colorado. Alongside the way in which we traversed canyons, plateaus, badlands, and mesas, being wowed each day by the limitless array of pink rock wonders and archeological gems.

Start line on the Nevada border.

The ending level at Holly Tower in Hovenweep Nationwide Monument, a 5 minute stroll east of the UT/CO border.

Each Kate and I had beforehand spent giant chunks of time exploring Utah on foot, each on the Hayduke Path, together with a bunch of different shorter excursions. That being the case, a giant consider placing this journey collectively, was the chance to expertise elements of the state that neither considered one of us had beforehand visited. Certainly one of these locations was the unbelievable Canaan Mountain Wilderness, situated between Hurricane and Kanab.

Canaan Mountain Highpoint

The White Domes of Caanan Mountain Wilderness.

A windblown Eye of Heaven (Water Canyon Arch) within the Canaan Mountain Wilderness (photograph by Kate Pickett)

One other place that was excessive on our ambulatory agenda was Bears Ears Nationwide Monument. Each of us had hiked via the northern sections of this protected space, however this was our first time visiting a few of the archeologically wealthy southern sections corresponding to Cedar Mesa’s Collins Canyon, Grand Gulch, and Bullet Canyon, together with the incomparable Comb Ridge.

Contained in the “Good Kiva”, Bullet Canyon.

Procession Panel, Comb Ridge.

Monarch Cave Ruins, Comb Ridge.

Highlights

Choosing a handful of highlights from a protracted hike throughout Utah is like attempting to select the most effective pub in Eire – a nigh on unimaginable activity that’s nonetheless enjoyable to analysis. Listed below are some locations that instantly come to thoughts (from west to east):

• Snow Canyon
• Crimson Mountain Wilderness
• Gooseberry Mesa
• Canaan Mountain Wilderness
• The Barracks
• Nice Chamber

The Nice Chamber (Picture by Kate Pickett)

• Bryce Canyon NP – Beneath the Rim Path, Peekaboo Loop, and Fairyland Loop.
• Powell Level
• Demise Hole
• Egg Canyon
• Higher and Decrease Muley Twist Canyons

Certainly one of a number of unbelievable alcoves in Capitol Reef’s Decrease Muley Twist canyon.

• Cliff Level on the Waterpocket Fold
• Stevens Canyon
• Fold Canyon
• Coyote Gulch

A fantastical grotto in Stevens Canyon (photograph by Kate Pickett)

• The Lizard Route out of Halls Creek
• Grand Gulch and Bullet Canyon
• Comb Ridge
• Hovenweep Nationwide Monument

Jacob Hamblin Arch, Coyote Gulch.

Route Notes

Our route was a mix of cross nation journey, 4WD tracks, rock scrambles, river wading, dust roads, established trails, and a minimal quantity on pavement. Most of the time, directional decisions have been dictated out of geological and historic curiosity, reasonably than expediency.

We break up the hike into eight levels, which usually coincided with our resupply factors (see beneath). Within the coming weeks I’ll do a stand-alone put up for every stage (or two), which is able to embrace maps, pictures, fundamental route descriptions, and random musings. The stage breakdown (with approximate distances) was as follows:

• Stage 1 – Utah/Nevada Border to Ivins/St George / 60 mi / 3 days / By way of Dixie Nationwide Forest and the Crimson Mountain Wilderness.

• Stage 2 – Ivins/St. George to Mount Carmel Junction / 135 mi / 7 days / By way of Snow Canyon State Park, Crimson Cliffs Conservation Space, La Verkin, Gooseberry Mesa, Canaan Mountain Wilderness, and the Barracks.

Splashing via the Barracks (photograph by Kate Pickett)

• Stage 3 – Mount Carmel Junction to Bryce Canyon Village / 83 mile / 4.5 days / By way of Diana’s Throne, Crimson and Peekaboo Canyons, Nice Chamber, Skutumpah Canyon, Grand View Path, Beneath the Rim Path, and the Peekaboo Loop.

Peekaboo Loop, Bryce Canyon Nationwide Park.

• Stage 4 – Bryce Village to Escalante / 80 mi / 3 days / By way of Fairyland Loop, Pine Lake, Powell Level, Water Canyon Path, and Canaan Peak.

• Stage 5 – Escalante to Burr Path Highway, Capitol Reef NP / 70 mi / 4.5 days / By way of the Boulder Mail Path, Demise Hole, Boulder Creek, Lengthy Canyon, Egg Canyon, Lampstand, and Higher Muley Twist Canyon.

Sandy bench campsite in Demise Hole.

• Stage 6 – Burr Path Highway to Bullfrog Marina / 140 mi / 9 days / By way of Decrease Muley Twist Canyon, Crimson Slide, Waterpocket Fold, Stevens Canyon, Fold Canyon, Escalante River, Bobway Canyon, King Mesa, Coyote Gulch, Stevens Canyon, Baker Route, Halls Creek, Lizard Route, and the dry as a bone northern reaches of Lake Powell.

Strolling on the Wingate above Fold Canyon.

• Stage 7 – Bullfrog Marina/Halls Crossing Marina to HWY 163 (close to Bluff) / 140 mi / 7.5 days / By way of Moqui Canyon, Collins Canyon, Bullet Canyon, Grand Gulch, Kane Gulch Ranger Station, Fish Canyon, Owl Canyon, and Comb Ridge Rd.

• Stage 8  – HWY 163 to Hovenweep Nationwide Monument / 95 mi / 3.5 days / By way of Comb Ridge (Websites included Wolfman Panel, Double Stack Ruins, Procession Panel, Cathedral Ruins, Monarch Cave, Chilly Spring Cave, and a few secret squirrel panels), Tank Mesa, Dry/Scorching/Crappy highway stroll on HWYs’ 191 & 262 (or marginally higher adjoining dust roads), and Black Steer Canyon.

Late afternoon view from the highest of Comb Ridge.

Maps & Sources

• The first on-line useful resource for the route was a hiker by the identify of Jamal Inexperienced. For the previous twenty years, Jamal has been placing collectively lengthy distance mountain climbing routes all through Utah, and his web site and YouTube channel, are a treasure trove of logistical and cartographical info. Within the phrases of my previous buddy, Paul “Mags” Magnanti (who did his personal cross-Utah route in 2017), “it’s onerous to think about anybody has hiked extra extensively round Utah than Jamal.”

• Two different helpful web sites for folk fascinated about planning a cross-Utah ramble are the aforementioned Pmags.com, and Doingmiles.com. The latter comprises a great deal of info on a bunch of various hikes, not solely within the States, however different locations world wide as properly.

Ascending from Grand Gulch/Halls Creek by way of the “Lizard Route.”

• Throughout the starting stage, I pieced the route collectively on the Gaia GPS web site, utilizing a mix of the USGS, Nat Geo, Gaia Topo, Public Land (US), and Satellite tv for pc map layers.

• On the navigation entrance, we used a mix of the Gaia app on our iPhones (downloaded layers have been USGS, Nat Geo, and Gaia Topo), overview paper maps, and my trusty previous Suunto M3.

Wanting west in direction of Stevens Canyon from the Waterpocket Fold.

Water

As with every lengthy hike in Utah and the 4 Corners area, water was one of many major concerns when planning the journey. Of the assorted map layers, USGS proved most helpful in figuring out potential sources (e.g., tanks, springs, windmills). Jamal Inexperienced’s web site was additionally useful on this regard.

As a result of there have been varied sections of the route the place we couldn’t discover any pre-trip beta, we erred on the facet of warning every time unsure. We each had a most capability of 9-10 liters, which we employed on just a few completely different events. That stated, general, the H2O state of affairs was pretty much as good as we may have hoped for in the course of the journey. On that notice, we have been assisted by a few well timed storms, which allowed us to acquire adequate water from potholes and streams that will have in any other case been hit and miss.

A really welcome water supply on an in any other case dry stretch alongside the Waterpocket Fold (37.56471, -110.92024).

Resupply

A mix of mail drops and shopping for as we went. We additionally left a cache at Burr Path Rd, to separate up the lengthy stretch between Escalante and Bullfrog Marina.

• St George – Field
• La Verkin – Purchase (Davis Meals & Drug Grocery store)
• Kanab (Hitched in from Mount Carmel Junction) – Field
• Bryce Metropolis Put up Workplace – Field
• Escalante Put up Workplace – Field
• Burr Path Highway – Cache
• Bullfrog Marina – Field
• Blanding Put up Workplace (hitched in from Kane Gulch Ranger Station) – Field
• Bluff Put up Workplace (quick hitch in from Jct. Comb Wash Rd/HWY 163) – Field

Within the case of St George, Kanab, and Escalante, we had pals/household who have been variety sufficient to obtain and maintain containers for us.

Having fun with the views over St George from Crimson Mountains, earlier than descending to our first city cease (photograph by Kate Pickett).

Favorite Meals Stops

• La Verkin – River Rock Roasting Firm (Glorious baked items, espresso, and pizza).
• Kanab – Heaps Motsa Pizza (AYCE pizza and salad for $6.99), Massive Al’s Shakes, Brown Field Cafe (late night time ice cream), and Wild Thyme Cafe.
• Escalante – Escalante Outfitters (Implausible pizza, sandwiches, and desserts)
• HWY 12 (between Escalante & Boulder) – Kiva Koffeehouse – Filling and attractive breakfasts.
• Blanding – Vacation spot Awake (Nice espresso, fruit smoothies, baked items, breakfast burritos, and welcoming vibe).

The meal that by no means was………..hoping towards hope that Veyo Pies (Washington County) would open 1.5 hours sooner than scheduled (photograph by Kate Pickett).

Permits

Together with the America the Lovely Entrance Cross, in a single day tenting permits have been required for Bryce Canyon Nationwide Park, Grand Staircase/Escalante Nationwide Monument, Capitol Reef Nationwide Park, and Bears Ears Nationwide Monument.

Within the case of Bryce, it was attainable for us to camp simply exterior the nationwide park boundaries for 2 nights. We additionally stayed one other night time in Bryce Metropolis. For Grand Staircase/Escalante and Capitol Reef we obtained permits on the Interagency Workplace in Escalante. We organised our permits for Bears Ears on-line by way of the Recreation.gov web site.

Leaving Bears Ears Nationwide Monument by way of Tank Mesa.

Gear Selections

I’ll do a whole gear checklist within the coming weeks, however for now, listed below are just a few of my favorite gadgets from the journey (together with some new ones):

• (New) ULA Extremely X Nexus Backpack – A great stability of weight, construct high quality, sturdiness, and performance. I’m a giant fan of the exterior pocket system, and the padded hip belt was helpful on a visit like this, the place largish water and meals carries have been widespread. The pack fitted me properly from the leap, and I personally discovered its consolation score of 20-25 lb (9.1-11.3 kg) to be conservative (although this can differ from hiker to hiker). Tipping the scales at 19 oz (0.54 kg), it isn’t the lightest frameless backpack I’ve used, however after 800 Miles (1,287 km), it’s positively essentially the most snug beneath the pressure of heavyish hundreds (Notice: In anticipation of the massive carries, I nearly went with my Hyperlite Southwest 2400 (which has an inner body). In the end I made a decision on the Nexus, after taking it on a number of lengthy day hikes laden with 25 lb/11.3 kg plus).

• La Sportiva Extremely Raptor 2 – One pair of sneakers for the whole 800 miles (1,287 km). I’ve been utilizing the Raptors frequently for the previous 5 or 6 years. Fingers down, my all-time favorite path operating shoe for rugged environments.

• (New) MacPac Nitro Alpha Direct Fleece – I’ve had the Nitro for simply over a 12 months, however this was the primary lengthy hike I’ve taken it on. Double thumbs up. When mixed with the Houdini windshirt, I used to be nice right down to round freezing.

• Sony a6400 Digital camera – I’ve nonetheless acquired rather a lot to find out about optimising the 6400 for various circumstances, however on a journey like this in such a singular place as Utah, the load penalty was properly value it.

The most effective campsites of the journey within the Canaan Mountain Wilderness (Shelter – Tarptent Stratospire 2, Quilt – Katabatic Alsek 22).

Dropping into Coyote Gulch from King Mesa (Backpack – ULA Extremely X Nexus, Path Operating Footwear – La Sportiva Extremely Raptor 2).

Acknowledgements

As is all the time the case with this type of lengthy hike, there are a bunch of oldsters who helped to make it attainable:

• At the start, Kate, whose deep affinity for the Utah wilderness is matched solely by her uninhibited sense of surprise and curiosity.

• Kelli, Thomas, Wendy and Kent – Thanks for the superb hospitality pre and put up hike. An additional shout out to Wendy for driving us out to our start line west of Enterprise.

• Thanks to our pals Lynn and Fran in Kanab and Escalante for his or her kindness and hospitality.

• We solely needed to stick our thumbs out a handful of instances in the course of the journey, however once you’re mountain climbing via areas by which hitching isn’t precisely the norm, you may’t assist however really feel further appreciative. On that notice, a particular due to Chuck, Gary and Tabitha, Morgan, Chad, and the “daughter of Utah.”

• Joel, Sean, and Rachel – the crack archeological restoration staff at Hovenweep Nationwide Monument.

• And, final however not least, Paul and Joan. Not solely did Mags drive 2.5 hours to select us up from Hovenweep (bearing a cooler filled with contemporary fruit, drinks, and yoghurt!), however he and Joan have been additionally variety sufficient to host us in Moab for the subsequent few days. We couldn’t have requested for a greater finish to the journey!

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