HAYDUKE Trail Journal -- Day 4: 10/2/09

Sharon, I-pod, and Lindy showed up at around 11:00 last night. Just about the time I was ready to crash. We all decided to share a motel room. Then we spent 20 minutes of arguing over who was going to get the bed. “You take the bed.” “No you take the bed.” “No seriously I’m fine with the floor.” “I-POD should have the bed because he drove and doesn’t have camping gear.” Finally after the four of us had finished being agonizingly differential, it was decided that I-POD and Sharon would share the bed. I took the floor and Lindy decided to sleep in the car for privacy. After a while I-POD started snoring and I wished I had followed Lindy’s lead.

We got up this morning at 7:00. Had a quick breakfast after packing and went to the Post Office so Sharon and Lindy could mail their boxes to the North Rim. Then I-Pod drove us into the park. He had to go that way to get home anyway. We hopped onto the shuttle to the Weeping Wall. On the ride we fell into a conversation with a girl heading out for a series of day hikes. She said her friend back home had hiked the entire JMT, AT, and the long trail. She added, “He’s one of those crazy long-distance hikers.” The four of us bit our tongues. Between us we had hiked the Triple Crown six times over and then some.

We waited knowing that the question would eventually come.

“Have you ever hiked the AT?”

“Yup.”

“Have you ever thought about doing the PCT?”

“Yeah we hiked it 6 years ago.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh, the four of us have hiked the AT, PCT, and CDT. I-Pod has hiked the PCT three times, and the other two twice.” I-Pod is a rotund, bald man who looks nothing like the stereotypical thru-hiker. However, this is not that unusual thru-hikers are a more diverse bunch than many people imagine.

“Wow.”

It’s no big deal really. Anyone one can do it with a little bit of gumption and perseverance.”

We got off the bus and took the obligatory pre-trip photos at the trailhead, complete with a ranger giving a presentation in the background. I-Pod walked with us for a while but turned around after less than a mile. We were on our way!

Soon we were off the paved path, away from the crowds, and in a spectacular

section of narrows canyons and slickrock benches. Eventually we began to drop down to the East Entrance of the park through some smaller canyons that reminded me of Wildcat canyon, complete with aspens and maples showing of their fall regalia.

It’s always amazing to me how comfortable thru-hikers naturally are with each other. Conversation was easy whether about hiking, flatus, The Princess Bride or anything thing else that happened to wander through our minds.

We walked down the highway to Checkboard Mesa, climbing up a sandy gash down the middle of it to a pass just below the table and at the top. Any doubts I had about Lindy being able to keep up were assuaged, as he climbed up and down the short cliffs and dry-falls nearly as nimbly as I did.

We strolled across the sandstone benches on the other side of Check board Mesa, the setting sun cast a rich light over the entire scene, saturating the reds of the rock and the greens of the junipers. Lindy and I both agreed that this was our favorite time of the day to hike.

Eventually, the faint and occasional criss-crossing route(s) we were following (a number of paths consistently wound around each other, and the footprint we saw indicated that more than a few people before us had gotten lost) came to a small saddle with a huge fire pit. Use-paths dropped down to the East Fork Virgin River on both sides of the saddle. The Fatman’s Misery/Powell’s Plague route dropped down to the left. We went down to have a look but it wasn’t appealing, so we went back up to check out the other side. It seemed ok, but it was getting dark, so we decided not to try to drop down through the set of small loose cliffs in the waning light, while we are tired. We’re spending the night on the saddle. Sharon’s being harassed by a local rodent. The others have left me alone so far. I guess I’m not as enticing.