Day 59 – 5/11/16
30.7 map / 30.8 GPS miles
873.1 / 946 miles total
Wonders never cease: we did a 30 on the Hayduke. But if there was ever a day to do it, this was it. All dirt road walk out of Hack Canyon and then across the Arizona Strip, an almost perfectly flat expanse of sagebrush, barbed wire and cow pies.
We had a few moments of fun sprinkled in throughout the day. First was our cache bucket at the end of Hack canyon, where we swapped trash for food and more importantly, filled up on water.
Later we stopped for a group photo at a cattle guard.
In the afternoon we reached Yellowstone Spring, which was very nicely piped into a lined holding pond surrounded by an unusually secure fence. We were really tempted to go swimming but reminded ourselves we are ambassadors for the long distance hiking community and probably should not go swimming in a drinking water pond, even if it’s only for cows. Also, we were worried we wouldn’t be able to get out of the slippery slopey walled pool.
Then the really exciting part – I got my best cell service since Kanab. I even got a blog post up during afternoon sit break. I’m woefully behind on posting due to lack of cell service and wifi at our last “town” stop at the Grand Canyon. (Note: apologies on some of the reduced photo quality. I’ll try to correct the bad ones when I have time)
In the last hour of the day we turned off the official Hayduke route to take a slight alternate to pass through Colorado City to resupply. We thought the alternate was going to take us on dirt roads, but it turned out to be more like following the tracks of one pickup truck that someone drove across the brush one time five years ago. Not really how we wanted to end the day, but totally worth it to hit that 30 mile mark! Woohoo!
Loved that facial expression when you thought you did not pack your raspberry candy! Nice snake picture too.
Great job of getting all your posts in such a short time frame. It’s nice to know you are all alive and well!
That is one long snake!
One verrry long snake, and looking right at you!
Oops, how many “really long snakes” are in your “share the road” photo? =(
Ha! I’m so glad someone finally noticed. There are 2 snakes in the photo!
GoWest, how observant.. that may well be one long snake following another, with the first snake looking right at the camera.
That DID seem like a very long, rather slender (and thus hungry) snake.
Omg, are there 2-3 snakes crossing? Looks like a migration.
I think it’s a gopher snake, common in Northern AZ up to 9,000′. It can be 92″ long and although described on some websites as docile (and non-poisonous), it is a powerful constrictor capable of eating rabbits!
I just pulled up the picture on my tablet so I could zoom in and seems to be one long snake and not that skinny, though it hadn’t eaten recently.
A n d I do love the Sunset Fun Time shot. Good to see a sense of humor and fun..
One long snake in the front but also another snake in the back (half off camera to the right)
The Arizona Strip Snake blog reported “a swarm of 3 warm-blooded bipeds was noted, but they moved on and seemed to be well-fed and they usually keep moving if you don’t confront them”.
????
?
Wow how did I miss the half snake??
I’ve driven over cattle guards, but today I learned a) what they are called and b) what they are for. Nice.
(After reading Carrot’s HT blog forward, I’m reading yours backward. This is how I’ll get back to Moab, where I’ve stashed several memories, in storage.)