HDT 2022 Day 8, April 8, Friday
Start S3 mile 49.2 along Dark Canyon
End S4 mile 0.6 along Flint Trail dirt road
Miles walked: 20.5 (including Sundance reroute)
After a little more time in Dark Canyon, where I started to see a few campers, it was time to hike out. The route is Sundance Canyon Trail.
The “trail” here up the very steep slope covered in boulders is marked by small cairns and footprints. Actually, the trail here is more like a “user trail”, that is, a trail defined by the footprints of hikers, and not actually built by a public lands agency. I counted at least three alternate routes up, each defined by their own cairns, sometimes merging or separating. What an intense aerobic bouldering workout, for an hour or two.
Here is the view from the top.
Up on the rim, the trail goes on for a little while, marked by cairns on slickrock. The trail has been rerouted to join a jeep trail along the rim of the canyon to a trailhead, and the cairns of the old route were removed.
The rest of the day was a pleasant-but-hot roadwalk on dirt road to Hite Crossing and a bridge across the Colorado River. I would have need to detour to Hite Marina, now closed, to get more water, but a couple of cars came by and offered me some extra.
The bridge is in an impressive setting.
After starting the Flint Trail roadwalk, I had to stop the day early. The previous day of wet feet, combined with this day’s roadwalk, made my feet uncommonly sore, and I could proceed no further.
