HDT 2022 Day 0, March 31, Thursday
Start Albuquerque
End Salt Valley Road, 4.4 miles from the start of HDT
Miles walked:4
My new long hike is the Hayduke Trail, which winds through most of the National Parks in Utah, drops down to Arizona to cross the Grand Canyon 3 times, then returns back to Utah to finish at Zion.
Unlike my hike of the Grand Enchantment Trail, this trip does not connect many existing trails into a longer trail, but more often defines a route on a map, crossing a canyon here, following a canyon there. The route is mostly rather far away from trail towns, so many hikers elect to cache food. Here is the route I drove last week.
That was an adventure in itself, with a bent rim, and a collision with a deer (RIP) that wiped out a headlight, that I literally duck-taped back together in order to get home.
From Albuquerque near Old Town, Google Maps said a bus to the airport would take 1.5 hours, and walking would take 2.0 hours. Bus fare is free in the city this year, but I ended up hiking.
Arriving at Canyonlands Airport north of Moab around 5PM, I tried to use a ride-share app to go north along Hwy 191 for 8 miles, to the turnoff to dirt roads leading to the start of my trail. No driver accepted my mission, so I started walking, and Charles, a rancher, picked me up after I had only hiked a mile.
From Valley City Road I get to Salt Valley Road, and do a late night hike in the dark for a few miles, past several RVs and truck campers scattered along the road camping, and finally I camp without pitching a tent around 9PM.