Figure it Out: on the Hayduke Trail

Money Shot starts off his 800-mile trek across the Colorado Plateau in Arches National Park with a group of friends. They are unfamiliar with this desert terrain and right away they run into problems.

Now that their friends are gone, it's just Money Shot and Fitty Shrimp. The hike has a much different feel as they road walk out of Moab. After a couple of days on the road the true character of the Hayduke begins to reveal itself. The trail disappears, water gets scarce and they have some cliffs to contend with.

In an unexpected turn of events, Money Shot is on his own now. Fitty Shrimp said he would hike as long as he was having fun. It stopped being fun when they got lost and climbed cliffs. Now Money Shot must hike the next 100-mile section alone.

Another 100-mile section, starting with a climb up and over an isolated mountain range, then back down into the canyons. Then the water gets bad and Money Shot's mood follows. It's hard to stay positive with so much suffering but the trail has a few surprises that help him out.

At 140 miles, this is the longest section on the whole Hayduke Trail. Money Shot leaves Escalante with a heavy pack stuffed with 8 days of food. The section gets off to a bad start, but by the end, he's in no rush to finish it.

After a long stay in town, Money Shot gains a new perspective on the hike. He's been so buried in the details of finding water and navigating that he hasn't appreciated the hike very much yet. Now that he is halfway done, he will try to appreciate the beauty the rest of the way.

A short section packed with scenery. Somehow #2 and Money Shot are lucky enough to get permits for "The Wave". From there they meet up with the Arizona Trail, where the tread is much more established and the hiking is easy to the Grand Canyon.

The Hayduke is all about canyons so naturally it must go through the biggest one of them all, the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is on its own level. This is where he'll find the biggest challenges and the best scenery.

The Hayduke goes from the rim of the Grand Canyon to the Colorado River, and back to the rim 3 times. The last descent takes them to a much less traveled part of the canyon where the biggest challenges of the whole Hayduke Trail await. At least that's what they had been told.

After a strange stay in Colorado City Money Shot set out to finish the last few days of the Hayduke. He assumed it would be easy, but he should have known better than to assume that anything would be easy on the Hayduke.