The Hayduke Trail is a 812mile / 1307km route across the Colorado Plateau in Utah and Arizona. The route is entirely on public land, and most of it is off-trail. It starts at the northern border of Arches National Park, and continues south thru 5 more national parks – Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Zion – as well as Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument.
The main challenge of the route will be navigating technical terrain; the weather should be quite pleasant in April and May, and there isn’t much elevation gain/loss. The highest point is Mt Ellen (11,419ft/3481m), though much of the trail stays low, generally around 4500ft / 1370m The router’s creators, Joe Mitchell and Mike Coronella, have a page with all the info. They named the route for George Washington Hayduke, a character in Edward Abbey’s fictional novel “The Monkey Wrench Gang.” (a great book!). The trail doesn’t take the most efficient route thru the desert, but rather meanders around to absorb the most scenery. This high-level map is illustrative:
The hike should take me between 50 and 60 days, as I plan to average 16 miles per day. This hike has been a long time coming! (It was originally planned for spring 2020).
Daily Blog Posts:
Day 1: Starting with Surprises
Day 4: Roadwalking and Talking
Day 5: Meandering thru Canyon Terrain
Day 6: Complex Terrain, Mud, Blood
Day 8: Butler Wash to Beef Basin
Day 9: Fable Valley Trail to Dark Canyon
Day 10: Finding Religion in Dark Canyon
Day 11: Refilling at Hite, Crossing the Red Benches
Day 12: Dancing with the Dirty Devil
Day 15: Pennellen Pass down to Tarantula Mesa
Day 16: Swap Canyon and Muley Twist Canyon
Day 19: Chasing Waterfalls in Coyote Gulch
Day 20: Hard Hitch out of Escalante
Day 26: Willis Narrows to Tropic town
Day 28: Bryce National Park Day 1
Day 29: Bryce National Park Day 2
Day 31: Buckskin Gulch fun, Arizona Trail sun
Day 32: Arizona Trail to Jacob’s Lake
Day 34: Back on the Kaibab Plateau
Day 35: Staying High on the Arizona Trail
Day 36: Soggy Trails and Sunny Skies
Day 37: Downhill to the Colorado River
Day 38: Grand Canyon – River Cruise and Beamer Views
Day 39: Grand Canyon – Scrambling the Escalante Trail
Day 40: Grand Canyon – Tonto Trail
Day 41: Grand Canyon – Up the South Kaibab Trail
Day 42: Grand Canyon – Back Below the Rim
Day 43: Grand Canyon – Slow Miles to the North Rim
Day 44: Grand Canyon – North Rim Marathon
Day 45: Grand Canyon – Down to Thunder River and Deer Creek
Day 46: Grand Canyon – Colorado River Talus Whacking
Day 47: Grand Canyon exit up Kanab Canyon
Day 48: Roadwalking the Arizona Strip