Friday Feb, 14
I was
up before the sun and walked over to the arch. Turns out it was a cloudy
morning so really nothing happened. It was interesting to see other people
there who were all excited about it. From here I shot back to Moab and grabbed
a breakfast. Then it was off to the maze, which is 130 mile drive. The closest
town to the Maze is over 80 miles away, and 44 miles of that being a dirt road.
When I got to the ranger station they were surprised to see me. I’m the second
backpacker they have had all winter. They made it very clear that if I get into
trouble down there that no one is going to find me. I will be the only person
hiking in over 5,000 acres. I talked with them for awhile and he said it might
be a good idea to get a few miles in today. My plan was to leave in the morning
but there wasn’t a reason not to leave tonight. So I went to the car and
grabbed my pack. I went through everything again and got my food in order. This
consisted of 8 and a half pounds of tuna, 2 pounds of quinoa and a pound of
couscous. Then I started the hike. There was a camp site 2.5 miles up the
trail. The rangers convinced me it was 4 miles up the trail. So I walked right
past it, and kept on walking. I was excited to be starting this amazing trip
and wasn’t really paying attention. So what should have been a 2.5 mile hike
turned into 9.5 miles. There was a beautiful sun set, but I didn’t have too
much time to enjoy it. I was hiking until after dark. When I made it to the
camp there were 2 other people there from Wisconsin. They were driving the off
road trails and doing day hikes from there. I talked to them for a little bit
but I was pretty beat so I set up camp and made some food calling it a night.
Saturday Feb, 15
I woke
up later than I expected, to the sound of the other 2 guys from Wisconsin
leaving. I made some food and packed up camp. Next it was a 1 mile hike to the
North Trail Canyon trailhead. The first part of this 7 mile trail is incredible
intense! Straight down about 1200 feet into the canyon. The view reminded me a
lot of the Grand Canyon. Mostly red and grey stone with large wide open
canyons. Once you hit the bottom it’s a long slow walk down the river bed. The
only water out here is whatever you can find. There was a small spring running
so I filled everything I could and kept on marching. Once you leave this canyon
you come onto a 4X4 road, which you follow all the way to the Maze Overlook. It
takes you around the rim of a few canyons, but so far it really wasn’t what I
was expecting to see. The maze Overlook changed all that. After the 7 mile
trail you hike another 5.6 on the road. I made it to the overlook about an hour
before dark. This was an incredible sight, which few people get to see. The
first thing you notice is the huge formations called the Chocolate Drops,
massive walls of stone on top of the Maze canyons. The canyons themselves are
this winding tangle of rounded white and red stone that weave out all around
you. You get caught up just by starring out at them, and knowing that’s your
trail for the next day. When the sun starts to go down the air cools off
quickly and you can feel the pressure change. The cold air starts to rush into
the canyons. I set up camp and made dinner. I had time to walk around and find
the trailhead that will lead down into the canyon. By then it was pretty much
dark and there’s not much to do but bundle up and get some sleep. During the
night it became too windy and my tent was at risk of collapsing, which happened
in the Grand Canyon and broke my poles. So I took it down and laid my ground
pad and sleeping bag between a rock and bush to get out of the wind. This
actually worked great!
Sunday Feb, 16
I
repacked everything and changed clothes for the hike. At night I would be
wearing about 6 layers of cloths, including a thick wool sweater and my
snowboard jacket. During the day, a sleeveless under armour. The first part of
this hike is straight down into the Maze. Including about 4 spots where you
have to rope off you backpack and lower it down. I wanted to get to the first
spring before making food, just to be sure to always have enough water. After
that you follow a river bed up through the canyons. This gets to be tricky and
I ended up walking a mile up the wrong way before turning around. Once I found
the right one it’s about a 6 mile hike through the Maze. There is a famous
Indian painting along the way and I took some time to find it. It’s called the
Harvest Scene with a hand full of human like painting. Then more snaking my way
through and up the canyon. I ended up taking another accidental detour up a
canyon that lead to nowhere. There really isn’t a trail at all so I didn’t
realize it until the canyon dead ended. Turn around, walk back, and try the
next canyon. Once I figured it out it was time to start the hike up. This is
brutal with a 70+ pound pack on your back. There are lots of small ledges you
walk around and steep gravel slopes to climb up. Not to mention I’ve already
had a full day of hiking. Toward the top I found a small pool of water, 2 feet
long 10 inches wide and 10 inches deep. Looks like I found my water for the
next few days! I filled up and was out of the canyon shortly after. This brings
you up onto a ridge line between 2 rock formation, Lizard Rock and The Plug. I
could already feel the wind picking up so I knew I wasn’t going to bother with
a tent. I hiked over the ridge and down the back side a bit into another river
bed. I found a bush that looked pretty solid and could block the wind. I
brought a hatchet with me and used it to dig out a flat area for my ground pad.
During this I found a scorpion, one of the small, milky white, poisonous ones.
This made me slight nervous that I was going to be sleeping on a scorpion pit.
I moved him way away from my camp and used the footprint for my tent to line
the ground under my pad. Once that was done I used some of the large, thin,
flat stones to build up some walls. Surprisingly along the ridge line I could
get cell phone reception. Not enough to make calls here but I could send and
receive texts. I sent some out to mom and dad and called it night. Not a lot to
do after dark, I would make some food and plan things out for the next day’s
hike. I would never get a full night of sleep straight through, but this wasn’t
really a bad thing. I would wake up in the middle of the night; it would be
dead calm with the most beautiful sky full of stars I’ve ever seen. I would
often get up and just stand there starring up loving the moment.
Monday Feb, 17
I’ve
should have learned my now that when hiking in the dessert it will always be
windy at some point. This means you get sand everywhere, including pockets.
This is where I keep my camera at all times, sand and cameras don’t mix. So it
was acting up really bad. Not wanting to open all the way or zoom in and out. There’s
not really a lot I can do to fix it but beat the crap out of it and hope for
the best. I lucked out this time and it worked. From then on I kept it in a zip
lock bag. Today was my first day hike! This meant no tearing down camp, and
most importantly, no pack. So I loaded up my small day pack and headed out. I
went along the ridge line to a spot called The Wall, huge long skinny red rock
formation. Then you hike on top of the canyon all the way out to the Chocolate
Drops. This was really a great hike, no hiking down into the canyon, and did I
mention no pack! You get the beautiful view of overlooking the maze and you
wind around and out to the drops. Once you get close its incredible to see
these things. 100 feet tall and maybe 25 feet think. It feels like they could
blow over at any minute. It’s also funny to realize you’re only about a mile
away from the Maze Overlook. On the hike back I took my time and explored a
bit, you’re always looking for another spot with water. I knew about my small
pool but that could dry up and I would be out of luck. I didn’t find any but
it’s just a fun area to climb around and see what you can get into. I went back
to my small pool of water and filled up. I had time before dark and decided to
move camp. I got everything together and moved 1.6 miles up the ridge line.
This takes you past Standing rock all the way to the base of Chimney Rock. Again
I knew the wind was coming so I found a bush, dug it out, rocked it up. I made
some dinner and looked over the map. Seeing how things were laid out I decided
to change my plan and spend 2 nights at this spot instead of doing two day hikes
from the Maze Overlook. I was able to get good cell phone service and called
mom. She was happy to hear from me and I told about things so far and the
change to my plan.
Tuesday Feb, 18
Today I
had another day hike planned. I followed a 4X4 road down to an area called The
Doll House. I don’t know how I managed this one but I hiked off the road,
missed the sign, hiked back on the road but didn’t know it. I found an unmarked
trail head and figured I must be in the right spot. I was very wrong. The trail
isn’t even on the map and leads way the hell out into a crazy spot. I didn’t
follow it the whole way but I run into it on a different hike. So I hiked on
the trail for awhile, several miles. Then I pretty much just give up. I knew
where I wanted to go and it was a spot along the Colorado River. So I went east
until I hit the river and followed it north. Turns out I went way to far south
and now had a huge canyon in my way. All I could do was hike around the whole
thing. I finally ran into one of the trails for The Doll House. Really cool
spot, tons of rock to climb over with big crevasses between. The stone here was
all white red orange with some swirled together. I went through here and found
the sign I was looking for, The Spanish Bottom. This is a spot where you can
hike down to the river. I was in desperate need to get clean. The way down was
a tough one, but you get a beautiful view of the Spanish Bottom area. It looks
like it used to be a lake that dried up and is now connected to the river.
About a dozen acres of flat grass land sitting 15 above the waterline of the
river. I made it down, got naked, and hopped
in the river. Too bad the river was less than 40 degrees. I was freezing and it
pretty much shocked my body. The whole shore line was slippery wet clay and
steep. So I couldn’t even get out quickly. So I scrubbed what I could, but what
took a lot of time was filling my water. When I got out the sun was blocked by
part of the canyon, so I walked out to where it was still shining. After drying
off the best I could I made the trip back up and out. There was one more
feature out this way I wanted to see, it was a little out of the way but I was
still up for it. It’s called Beehive Arch, I didn’t know what to expect with
this one. Really it looked like an old whicker bee hive with a hole at the
bottom. Then it was back to the 4X4 road that lead up to Chimney Rock. This
time I got the chance to see where I went the wrong way. It will always make me
feel stupid to stand there on the trail and watch my own footprints walk off
into nowhere. This was a long day and I was getting back as the sun was
setting. So food and bed.
Wednesday Feb, 19
The day
Mother Nature bitch slapped me. I planned on doing some back country hiking
today. So there’s no trail at all, I just pick a spot on the map and head out. There’s
a tall point south of Standing Rock, I call it Top of the Mark. So I hiked the
4X4 road along the ridge to where I thought I should turn it. Then south from
there, a lot of weaving around and jumping over things. At one point I had to
climb a rock, jump on to and climb up a tree, then swing the tree until I could
get off the other side. As I got higher up the view was getting better and
better. On one side I was overlooking where I was hiking the day before, The
Doll House. The other side is a section called The Fins. This looks like about
a 100 skinny slot canyons that are all scrunched next to each other. Very very
cool. When I made it up to the top I took a lot of pictures. From here I had two
options, hike back the way came, or pick a canyon and find my way down. I hiked
a ways and basically ini-mini-miny-moed it. At first it was pretty much what I
expected. A lot of looking around to find the best route, some rock climbing,
and just making sure nothing breaks that your standing on. Then I made a stupid
decision. I came up to a half bowl that was about 10 feet deep. Then it was a
drop off of about 12 feet or so after that. So I knew, OK if I drop into this
bowl there is no going out the way I came from. I turned back for a second, and
then accepted the challenge. I slid down the bowl! I stopped for a minute to
see what my best option would be. There was water at the bottom of the drop and
a slanted ledge about 2 feet above that. I figured I would drop in, hit the
ledge and land in the water. Things went exactly as I planned. I landed and got
soaked but I made it just fine. I was pretty happy and excited I made it. From
here the canyon was gravel that curved around a corner. I took some pictures
and filled my water. Still excited my expectation was to walk around the corner
and right down to the bottom of the canyon. This was 100% wrong! Around the
corner was another half bowl about 3 feet tall with over a 20 foot drop. This
was when I got pretty scared. I knew I couldn’t go back up and there was no
room to work with and find another way down. Talk about getting your heart
racing. I noticed that once I get down this drop it was more wide open and I
would have options to work with. I brought out my trusty hatchet and chipped in
some hand holds in the edge of the bowl. If I was able to hang from the edge
the drop would be more like 15 feet. I took my time with this; I figure at this
point I had all the time in the world to get it right. And only one chance to
get it wrong. Once I thought it was good enough I went for it. When I swung off
the ledge I saw another ledge about 3 feet up from the bottom that I could
swing to. I hit the ground was very thankful for my military half calf boots. I
think that’s what saved me from cracking an ankle. From here I walked around a
corner and climbed up a bit, until I got it through my head that there is no
way up from here. I had to make it to the bottom and walk out. I went back to
the canyon I have been going down and saw a spot I could climb down then walk
down a sloped rock and slid down a steep part to get down another level. Now I
only had one section to get to the bottom. This had a wicked drop off with
nothing but fallen rocks to land on. I noticed a spot where I could slide down
and grab on to a ledge. Then drop 12 feet to a sandy bottom. But things just weren’t
lining up for me and I would have missed the ledge and slid straight off the
drop off. I tried for awhile to cut in hand holds but I couldn’t get close to
the ledge. I looked around some more and found a spot where I could climb up,
over, and into a crevasse. From there I shimmied down to the bottom. I was so
happy to be out of that situation. Things could have gone way worse. I cut up
both the palms of hands pretty bad and my arms, but nothing was too damaged. Now
that I was down I had a decision the make, hike up the canyon towards standing
rock, or hike down and around the whole thing to get back to the doll house. I wasn’t
about to try my luck again so I chose the long way around. This was a beautiful
hike through a spot called Ernie’s country. There is a huge flat bottom valley
that cuts through and continues south. The whole day was very windy and now
that I was out in the open I could see all the storm clouds. There were pockets
of rain all over the place. It looked like most of it was south of me, so I was
grateful for that. But low and behold even all the way out here I found
footprints. Not just any footprints, the same ones that lead me off in the
wrong direction down that unmarked trail the day before. I didn’t bother trying
to follow them, I knew where they went and I just used my map to hike around
the canyon and get back to The Doll House. The sky really made for a cool back
drop to the scenery. All dark clouds with streaks of rain come down. But as I
got closer to Chimney Rock I started getting blasted. The wind was so strong it
would stop me in my tracks and you would get hit with a wave of windblown rain
and sand. All I can do is power through it, and hope my camp held up through
all this. Then a crazy thing happened. When I made it up to Chimney Rock I
could clearly see the storm stayed south of the ridge line. To the extent that
the sun was shining over the Maze section. Really impressive to see and made
for some unique pictures. My camp was fine; I put just about everything inside
and on top of my sleeping bag. But I was exhausted; I curled up in that thing
as soon as I could. I got a short nap in but I still had things to do. First of
all I wanted to build up the stones around my sleeping spot. With how the wind
was acting I wanted all the shelter I could get. Then I had to find a spot to
make dinner. With the wind I knew it would take forever in the open and I would
get sand everywhere. After that the sun was just about gone and I bundled up
for the cold night ahead.
Thursday Feb, 20
I was
up early and didn’t really get much sleep, too cold and windy. I packed
everything up and tore down my shelter. I threw the rocks back and put the
mulch back under the tree. Then I was off. From here I hiked north of chimney
rock, on top of the Maze canyons. Similar to the Chocolate Drop hike. Nice easy
going with the views looking down into each off shoot of the Maze. You finally
start making the decent on the north end of the canyon. It was rough going down
but I also knew there was water down there, and I was just about out. I hiked a
ways further until I ran into my own track coming from the Maze Overlook. I
stopped and refilled water making some food too. My plan was to camp in the
canyon and do another day hike from down here. But I made really good time so
decided to hike the pack up to the top today still. Again I would have to tie and
rope up the pack. During this whole hike I was really hoping\dreaming that when
I got to the top there would be a friendly jeep driver waiting at the top ready
to drive me back to the car. Sure enough, no such luck. It was a little windy
but I risked it and set up the tent. I used a lot of rocks to try to weigh down
the bottom and stabilize the poles. But as the night came on the wind died down
for once. Even with getting no sleep the night before I was still going good.
Your sleep gets really messed up out here. It gets dark around 7pm so you’re
trying to sleep by about 8pm. But the sun comes up at about 7am, so you’re
trying to force yourself to sleep 11 hours a night. I was up for a long time
after dark and very glad for it. There’s like a 2 hour window where it’s
totally dark but the moon isn’t out yet. This makes the stars simply glow!
Friday Feb, 21
This
morning I was up before the sun came up. I was starting to see the first glow
and decided to just get up. I tore down the tent and packed everything up; I
didn’t want to risk it while I was hiking. Then grabbed my day pack and went
back into the canyon. Much nicer getting down this time. I planned this day for
doing a short day hike down the south fork of Horse Canyon, then hike out and
get a few miles into the final hike out. This was another hike weaving and
winding through The Maze. There was a surprising amount of water in this
section, almost swamp land in a few spots. But I could tell my mind was
wondering and I was already starting to think about other things, mainly making
it to friend’s house in AZ sitting pool side drinking a beer and grilling up
some steaks. And that’s a pretty hard thought to shake. I made the decision to
cut the day hike a few miles sort and try to hike all the way out today. So I
turned around and made the hike back up to the overlook. I made some food and
grabbed everything. I left the Maze Overlook at about 11am. Knowing I already
hiked 5.5 miles, down then back up 800 feet, and now I have 16 miles to go, all
of it up hill with a 1200 foot climb towards the end. O well… I really powered
through most of it. I took a break when I hit the base of the North Trail Canyon,
then again after the big climb. I was running on fumes for the last few miles,
my feet were killing me with cuts and blisters. But I made it, and way before
dark. Sitting down in the car was one of the most relaxing sits I’ve ever felt.
I told the ranger I would check with them before I left, but when I went to
find them there was a different guy who couldn’t really care less. I asked
about the road condition and it was all good. I wanted to get as many miles
down the dirt road as I could before dark. I think I made it more than half
way. But it was even better then when I came in so I was fine with driving. It
was 21 miles of hiking 44 miles of dirt road then 38 miles to the I70 and
another 13 miles to get to the closest town. I stopped at the first place I
saw, which was a subway\gas station. I walked in still looking as haggard as I
ever have and ordered a foot long. At this point I haven’t showered or shaved
sense leaving Dave’s house 10 days ago. I hiked Negro Bills, 2 days in the
Needles District, and 8 days 108 miles in the Maze. Also my hands were cut up
so I had them wrapped in tape. The lady just looks at me and asked “what
happened to your hands.” I shook my head, laughed, and said “I cut them
hiking.” Her answer was just “be careful out there.” I sat down and ate that
sandwich in about 6 minutes. Surprisingly enough as I was eating my friend from
AZ called to see when I was going to be down there. We had a few good laughs.
Then I was off to try to find a hot and do some serious soaking. I went to 2
places with no luck and then saw the sign for motel 6, $33.33. I think I’ll
take it. This is actually the first time I have ever bought a hotel for myself
on any of my trips. And I’m pretty sure I got every dollar of that $33.33. After
the 3 S’s that bathroom was pretty well destroyed. But I felt great! I was able
to charge up my phone and camera. Then I went through and got all my dirty
cloths together (which was all of them). My dad is working 2nd shift
so he called me up at 10:30 my time. I was able to talk to him for awhile and
he is really excited to see the pictures when I get home.
Cool looking sediment
Harvest Scene, Indian painting
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