Bursting Through Desert Spring
Editor's Note: This latest dispatch is Mike's fifth letter sent from the trail, but it only just arrived (the previous post is Mike's sixth letter).
Hey Mountainzoners!
It's now the 20th day of my travels on the Hayduke Trail. I'm camped in Capital Reef National Park, 12 miles into section six, having traveled the length of the lower Muley Twist today. The day started with rain, but an early morning rainbow brought hope. Indeed, I only dealt with a brief shower after that.
Today's cool sights were the walls of lower Muley Twist canyon and flowers. This spring the desert is just exploding with color: pink and white primrose, orange globe-mallow, red penstemon, red and purple paintbrush, purple and red cactus, white and black Spanish bayonet, and various others that I haven’t yet learned to identify. I was also able to enjoy listening to hummingbirds buzzing around and the beautiful descending scales of the canyon wren; it other words, it was a good day!
Day 21
It’s raining. I had an easy hike today, following game trails and an old wagon road down Hall’s Creek. There sure has been plenty of water so far on this desert trek. I’ve found surface water in virtually every drainage I’ve been in. Definitely not the norm out here, but certainly a good thing, as most springs and aquifers have been depleted by what many call the worst drought in 1,000 years. It almost makes me wish I was on the river, running Cataract Canyon or Desolation or Westwater.
I’ll get a bit of a river fix in a few days: my cache in Middle Moody Canyon contains a few unconventional items, like a Sevylor Trail boat and an old lifejacket for the Escalante River. Rumor has it that I might pick up a partner for the trail at the cache as well.
I ran into a friend, Turnin’ Pete, when I was back in Moab. He was in town for a post-ski season mountain bike trip. One of his buddies just found out that his Denali expedition was cancelled and was looking for an adventure. I set him up with what supplies I could – leftover gear from sponsors meant for Mitch. That gave him ten days to get his food together, place caches at a couple of locations and get added on to my permits. I got word yesterday that he plans to still meet me…
Looking out from the Burr Trail over the Waterpocket Fold,
Capital Reef National Park
Day 23
I’ve arrived at my cache in Middle Moody Canyon – all is intact. I actually got here a day early, having come up the Red Slide, a huge, ancient mud slide that came out of the Circle Cliffs into the Lower Waterpocket Fold in Capital Reef. Hitting the pass after a 2,220 ft climb brought me into wind and rain showers – no place to camp, so I trudged on. Too bad too – the view from the pass is as good as it gets, with the snow-capped peaks of three mountain ranges visible to the east (Henrys, La Sals, Abajos), poking over countless ridges and plateaus of every imaginable color – the red and white sandstones, the grays, yellows, purples and browns of the clay layers, and green – the desert is alive and growing this year!
All topped by the blue sky and white clouds. And then there’s the view to the west – the Kaiparowits Plateau (with snow) looming over the Red Rock Canyons of the Escalante River system, backed by the still snow-covered Table Cliff Plateau.
I’m sending this post with the fellows who dropped off a partner. More on that later!
Keep it wild!
Mike Coronella
Hey Mountainzoners!
It's now the 20th day of my travels on the Hayduke Trail. I'm camped in Capital Reef National Park, 12 miles into section six, having traveled the length of the lower Muley Twist today. The day started with rain, but an early morning rainbow brought hope. Indeed, I only dealt with a brief shower after that.
Today's cool sights were the walls of lower Muley Twist canyon and flowers. This spring the desert is just exploding with color: pink and white primrose, orange globe-mallow, red penstemon, red and purple paintbrush, purple and red cactus, white and black Spanish bayonet, and various others that I haven’t yet learned to identify. I was also able to enjoy listening to hummingbirds buzzing around and the beautiful descending scales of the canyon wren; it other words, it was a good day!
Day 21
It’s raining. I had an easy hike today, following game trails and an old wagon road down Hall’s Creek. There sure has been plenty of water so far on this desert trek. I’ve found surface water in virtually every drainage I’ve been in. Definitely not the norm out here, but certainly a good thing, as most springs and aquifers have been depleted by what many call the worst drought in 1,000 years. It almost makes me wish I was on the river, running Cataract Canyon or Desolation or Westwater.
I’ll get a bit of a river fix in a few days: my cache in Middle Moody Canyon contains a few unconventional items, like a Sevylor Trail boat and an old lifejacket for the Escalante River. Rumor has it that I might pick up a partner for the trail at the cache as well.
I ran into a friend, Turnin’ Pete, when I was back in Moab. He was in town for a post-ski season mountain bike trip. One of his buddies just found out that his Denali expedition was cancelled and was looking for an adventure. I set him up with what supplies I could – leftover gear from sponsors meant for Mitch. That gave him ten days to get his food together, place caches at a couple of locations and get added on to my permits. I got word yesterday that he plans to still meet me…
Looking out from the Burr Trail over the Waterpocket Fold,
Capital Reef National Park
Day 23
I’ve arrived at my cache in Middle Moody Canyon – all is intact. I actually got here a day early, having come up the Red Slide, a huge, ancient mud slide that came out of the Circle Cliffs into the Lower Waterpocket Fold in Capital Reef. Hitting the pass after a 2,220 ft climb brought me into wind and rain showers – no place to camp, so I trudged on. Too bad too – the view from the pass is as good as it gets, with the snow-capped peaks of three mountain ranges visible to the east (Henrys, La Sals, Abajos), poking over countless ridges and plateaus of every imaginable color – the red and white sandstones, the grays, yellows, purples and browns of the clay layers, and green – the desert is alive and growing this year!
All topped by the blue sky and white clouds. And then there’s the view to the west – the Kaiparowits Plateau (with snow) looming over the Red Rock Canyons of the Escalante River system, backed by the still snow-covered Table Cliff Plateau.
I’m sending this post with the fellows who dropped off a partner. More on that later!
Keep it wild!
Mike Coronella
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