Capitol Reef Natioal Park, Goblin Valley, Wild Little Horse Canyon, Natural Bridges National Monument, Mikes House Tempe AZ

Saturday Feb, 22

                In the morning I cleaned out the car and got everything back in order. Next I showered again and filled up all my water. My hotel was pretty crappy so there was no breakfast option. I solved that by driving next door to another hotel, and destroyed some food. I ate so much the guy next to me actually asked me about it.  It was pretty much the usual food, but they also had strawberry waffle batter. I even made a few to go. Now it was time to do the pile of laundry. I also wanted to find some new pants; the pair I brought in the Maze were stained and tore up. I only brought 2 pairs on the whole trip and number 2 were starting to fall apart a well. Too bad this town is too small for a clothing store. Now I wanted to type a few things up and enjoy a nice cold beer. So I went to a restaurant, sat down and ordered one. Utah has some strange laws about drinking and I ran into one again. If you order a beer you have to order something from the menu. I asked if ice cream counted. She said yes. So ice cream and beer it is. After awhile I headed out and drove back to basically where the maze is. I stopped and grabbed some info about Goblin Canyon. Then continued driving south to Capitol Reef National Park. Along the way there was a burger shack. I was craving some greasy food so stopped in. When I got the Capital Reef it was well passed dark. So I found a spot and watched some movies before bed.

Sunday Feb, 23

                I went into the visitor center and talked to them for awhile. They told me about the best hike in the park. The woman working really knew her shit about the park! I’ll do my best to explain. Along time ago all the water on the continent drained into the Gulf of Mexico. Then the Colorado plateau shifted up, creating the Rocky Mountains. Now the water to the west of the Rockies didn’t have anywhere to go. So it all pooled up, the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City is still left over from this. Then the Earth shook again and the Baja Peninsula broke away from Mexico. Now all the pooled up water had a place to go. It all rushed out in a relatively short time. This is believed to be why the Grand Canyon has that double drop to it. Big flood cleared a wide canyon then the river that followed carved down a skinnier path.  One of side effects of the Colorado plateau lifting was Capitol Reef, a monocline. Which, to my understanding, means a wrinkle in the earth’s crust. The west side of the park shifted up wards 2 miles, creating a slide basically. Slowly the edge of the slide was worn down to expose different rock beneath. Knowing all this made the hike really cool. I hiked the 8 miles up to the top of the overlook where you could really see everything she was talking about. After the hike back to the car I made the drive to Goblin Valley. This park is set up a little differently. It’s a large valley that you just wonder around in. no trails or anything. It’s a hard place to explain, huge rocks on top of sandy rock pillars. Part of Star Wars was filmed here. I was glad I had the chance to hike around here for a while. Right outside Goblin Valley is a place called Wild Little Horse Canyon. It has some of the best slot canyons in the world. The movie 127 hours was filmed here. I had a bit of time before dark so I hiked through some of them. I didn’t have to the time to finish the loop but still had fun weaving around and through the skinny crevasse. Along the hike there was a family with a few kids. On the hike back I wasn’t really sure if they were going to make it out before dark. When I made it to the car I cooked up some food and filled my pack with some warm cloths and flash lights. When It was dark I just started the hike to find them, but heard them coming out. We talked for a minute then I drove down to the little town with the burger shack. I was able to get cell reception here and talked with my brother Elliot for awhile. I told him all about the trip to the Maze. From there I drove over the Natural Bridges National Monument. 

Monday Feb, 24

                Talked to the visitor center again and asked what’s the difference between a bridge and an arch? They explained it to me that an arch it formed from wind and rain erosion, a bridge is formed from a winding river that finally cuts through a wall. This was also the first park that asked me to pay? So I bought a season pass to all the National Parks. There were 4 main bridges in the park, all of which could be seen from the road. But I figured I would just hike the 8 mile loop that took you right to them. So I drove around the park and stopped to look at each bridge. I got 2.5 miles into the hike and realized this is stupid; I’m hiking to the same bridges I just saw from the road. I turned around and realized I’m hiked out for awhile. I just looked back at it, in the last 33 days; I spent 7 not hiking or snowboarding. I grabbed some food at the nearest town. Then made the long drive down to Flagstaff, AZ.

Tuesday Feb, 25

                A nice Best Western provided my breakfast this morning. This one was pretty fancy too, they were just letting you take all the tea and oatmeal packets you want… I did a little shopping for the morning; I still really need new cloths. After that it was the drive down to Tempe AZ. I was going to be there before my friend Mike was off work. So I stopped at the store for the essentials, Corona and limes. I cleaned out the car and grabbed a few things I needed. Mike still wasn’t home and his house has an alarm system so I couldn’t go in. I sat next to the pool in his back yard sipping away. When he arrived he made several very hurtful dirty hippy jokes. He should have seen me a few days ago. We caught up for a while and some other friends were planning on coming over. So I took a shower before they got there. It was Ian and Kyle. Ian is from my home town and I knew him a little bit in high school. Kyle is a friend of theirs that I’ve meet a few times before. We all went out to a Mexican place and had several more beers and tacos. It was great to see everyone and just bull shit for a night. 

Wednesday Feb, 26

                I took care of the laundry right away and ran to the store. I bought some oil for Mike’s chain saw and went to the grocery store. I’ve been thinking about a big meal for awhile and was glad to be able to cook some good. So I picked up everything and went back to the house. There is a huge mesquite tree in Mike’s front yard. He talked about trimming it up the night before and I said I would take care of it. So I cut down the branches he talked about, and then cut them down to about 10 inches long. It works out well because we use the wood for the smoker. When that was cleaned up I started up the smoker and trimmed up chicken thighs. My idea for the big meal was this, smoke chicken thighs for several hours. Take them off and wrap them in thick cut bacon, smoke that for awhile longer. When that’s done, carve out some whole peppers and put the meat inside. Then I put different sauces in the peppers, spicy, bbq, and asian. Put some aluminum foil on the top and back on the smoker. All this took a shocking amount of time. So it wasn’t done until about 8:30. Mike was home and his girlfriend, Nicole came over. Mike started up a fire in the fire pit and we all sat around talking, with several cold beverages. After dinner mikes roommate came home too. His name is Jim, he about 50 and works with mike. He’s a really cool guy with a lot of stories.

Thursday Feb, 27

                In the morning I had a few things to take care of. I cleared everything out of the back of my car. Then bought some planters and grabbed mikes shovel. My car is already at 10,000 miles so I took it in to the deal for the check up. This took more time than I thought but at least it doesn’t cost anything. They did an oil change and rotated the tires. Then I drove about 30 miles off into to dessert. My plan here is to dig up several cacti and bring them back to Milwaukee to put in my house. Not sure which side of the legal tight rope I was walking on but it all worked out. I dug up 6 in total, a few of each kind I could find. Then I drove back to mikes. Now I had to get them to fit in my small car until I make it home. I took out 3 to plant around mikes house. Then rearranged everything in my car to get things to fit. Mike came home shortly after and we headed to his favorite bar, Monkey Pants. We had a few drinks and he introduced me to a few people around the bar. It was comedy night and one of the cooks was going to try it for the first time. So we stayed to watch and grabbed their special for the night; bacon wrapped, deep fried, hot dog with chili and nacho cheese on top. The perfect meal before bed.

Friday Feb, 28

                I planted the cacti around mikes house and moved another plant we was talking about. Then did some laundry. Other then that I really didn’t do too much. After work Mike and I picked up some pizzas and had a few drinks. Mike is pretty much famous for saying he’s going to go out, then falling asleep…. like a little bitch. So he was asleep on the couch at about 10 pm. My friend Leah lives near mike and she stopped by on her way home. We both made fun of him for a little while, but it was pretty clear we weren’t going out tonight. Mike will justify this action by then saying, I figured if you really wanted to go out you would wake me up. Doesn’t that sound like a fun time?

Saturday March, 1

                We have started a tradition that at mikes house we should always spend one weekend day smoking a slab a meat and drinking beer. So right after waking up we fired up the grill and ran to the store and the butcher shop. When we got back, Mike seasoned the 6 lb brisket while I mixed up some bloody marys. We put the meat on and sat back. Ian said he had a ride but now he needed us to pick him up. Mike also wanted to stop at the hard ware store, so we went there first. As we were leaving the store it started to rain. We rushed home and got the grill under the overhang with less than a minute to spare. We picked up Ian and some more beer before getting back to the house. Another friend I haven’t seen in a long time pulled in just as we were, Logan. I meet him once when he lived down here but he has moved away. He was in town for a wedding and had a few hours to kill beforehand. The rain was really on and off all day but it would be sunny between. We had a few beers and played some ping pong. Logan left for the wedding and Jim showed up. He was at a NASCAR race, but it was rained out. With the meat we also cook up some potatoes, carrots, peppers and onions. So I cut everything up and put them in aluminum foil packets. Kyle also came by with, of course, more beer. The meat wasn’t done until just after 8. Right when we pulled it off the smoker I went to take a shower, trying to get some of the smoke smell off me. We all ate and Kyle drove to a bar in Scottsdale, where we were meeting up with Ian’s fiancé and her friends. When we got to the bar the first thing the bar tender said was “did you guys come from a BBQ place?” when everyone was there we had a drink and left for the next bar. Several more drinks here lead to mike calling me homeless Joe in front of any girl I tried to talk to. A few more and the night gets a little fuzzy. Kyle didn’t really drink but he left at some point so mike and I grabbed a cab back.

Sunday March, 2

                I woke up feeling like crap, that was at 11:30. I went back to bed and woke up at 4pm. I actually felt pretty good after that. I ate a bunch of food and decided to hold down the couch for most the evening. We were going to order some pizza, but I just ran to the store and grabbed a few. That’s it for that day.

Monday March, 3

                I talked with the boss back home about a time line for coming back to work. With how cold it’s been back home he couldn’t really predict anything. Then I spend the entire day typing, I was seriously behind and needed to catch up. I was over a month behind and pretty much stopped typing just when my trip was getting exciting. So I was glad to get some days on paper. I also took the brisket and slow cooked it in some au jus sauce. The meat got a little dried out on the smoker, but this worked great. Nichol came over and we all watched TV. Mike made Lava Cake but it just became a cup cake.

Tuesday March, 4

                The internet wasn’t working on my computer so I plugged in into the router. This seemed to work so I posted a blog and, sadly, spent the whole day typing again. For excitement I got a call from an insurance guy. Tuesday night is wing night at Monkey Pants so we did that for dinner, and hung out at the bar for awhile.

 Natural Bridge at Capitol Reef

 This is where the land shifted and is now worn down to jagged peaks

Goblin Valley 

 Some crazy rocks in this whole area

The sand is more like a fine powder

 Wild Little Horse Canyon

 Natural Bridge Natural Monument

 This bridge is the oldest and thinnest, only 9 feet thick

8 day backpacking trip to The Maze in Canyonlands

Here is a link for the Maps of Canyonlands, I tend to reference it a lot: http://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/maps.htm 

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 2^nd 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.

Pack right before leaving, 8.5 pounds of tuna, 2 pounds Quinoa, 1 pound couscous

Sun set first night

First look into North Trail Canyon

 Bear tracks

 Hiking down 1200 feet

 My camp for the night is behind that rock formation in the middle

Cool looking sediment

That rock formation in the back is the same one i mentioned before

Over looking a canyon

 

 First look into the Maze canyons

Amazing to see

 This is the night i had to take my tent down and sleep between a rock and a bush

 Hiking trail down into the canyon

 Looking up at the Chocolate Drops

This is the water you use for a week

 Harvest Scene, Indian painting

 lots of honey combing

Sleeping the second night

 Hiking out to the Chocolate Drops, overlooking the different canyons of the Maze

 Camping the second night was just to the left of the large flat top rock, called Lizard Rock

 Chocolate Drops

 Wired things

 Hiking out to The Doll House

 A canyon i got stuck on the wrong side of and had to hike around

 The Spanish Bottom

 Colorado River

 More in The Doll House

 Beehive Arch

 Hiking up to Top of the Mark

 Looking at The Fins

 Theres so much more to see out there

 After first slide and fall down canyon

 25 foot drop

 Climb and slid down that

 Made it to the bottom through that

 Storms a comin'

 Flat open area between The Doll House and Ernies Country

 The storm stayed south the ridge line

 Looking back to the south

 Suns out over the Maze

 Back up to the Maze Overlook

 Top the 1200 foot climb, im Exhausted 18 miles already that day with 3 more to go

They got pretty beat up

Yes they used to be white