May 14 Mileage: 25 791 miles hiked I dream that my house is in the upper freight container on a doublestack intermodal freight train that is hurtling down the track. I share this “house” with a bunch of people, all artists. We wear colorful clothing and live mostly off of butter cookies. We have bunkbeds … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 58: the Arizona strip

May 13 Mileage: 25 766 miles hiked I wake just before it’s light on the bench of dry grass above the bouldery wash to a great buzzing; someone is pollinating the flowering mesquite branches that hang over us. Suddenly, bats are everywhere- swooping! Swooping! Someone needs to be pollinated and someone else is pollinating and … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 57: hot miles to our cache

May 13 Mileage: 14 741 miles hiked It’s so hot at night on our little stretch of sand a few feet from the Colorado, with the bats circling overhead and the river’s mysterious nighttime splashing noises. (Wave-breakers?) I sleep with my bag flung off, sweating on my neo-air. I dream that the splashing noises are … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 56: Kanab Creek/house-sized boulders in an enchanted tropical waterpark

May 11 Mileage: 12 727 miles hiked It’s so warm in our tent on the grassy bench next to the creek that I sleep completely without a sleeping bag- our warmest night on the trail yet. While we were downclimbing pouroffs and traversing insanely steep scree slopes in Saddle Canyon yesterday we also somehow descended … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 55: slow and beautiful wins the race

May 9 Mileage: 11 708 miles hiked It rains all night and when I wake I’m bleeding all over myself. Hey, at least I’ve got pads this time! We pack up, pack away our sleeping bags damp from condensation and the wet tent, set out on the good forest service road through the ponderosa forest. … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 53: Teddy’s cabin chill time

May 8 Mileage: 22 697 miles hiked I sleep so hard through the dark frosty night, cozy and warm in my sleeping bag with just my nose poking out, in our protective triangle of cuben fiber. By and by I lift my hat from my eyes, where I’ve pulled it down for warmth, and am … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 52: gentle miles in the cold peaceful forest

May 7 Mileage: 24 675 miles hiked The temperature drops and a storm breaks open in the night and we wake to snow, dusting the campground and our tent. How to get up in this? We stay in our sleeping bags, warm and dry, until 8, and by the time we step off the shuttle … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 51: rim 2 rim

May 6 Mileage: zero I have one goal for my zero at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, besides eat a lot of food and do all the internet things I need to do: take a nap. I accomplish this goal in the afternoon, laying in our tent at the forested campsite that another … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 50: zero at the south rim

May 5 Mileage: 9 650 miles hiked It’s amazing what a body can do when one simply keeps taking steps, even very slowly. Even when you feel like you’re getting nowhere at all. We’re at the top of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, looking down. We just climbed up all of that. From … Continue reading Hayduke trail day 49: up to the South Rim