Hayduke
Footpath

Hayduke

bear locker box
again just empty bottles, but you never know!

Dog Lake
good water in a little lake, may 2021 and 2024

Jenga Cairn

pipe Creek beach
Colorado river access a pit toilet and the last of pipe creek

North Rim Lodge

cell reception here

Bill Hall Alt
This is the alternate you would take if you know or suspect that the Tapeats Creek is too high to cross at the end of Saddle Canyon. People have died in the Tapeats, and most notably the founder of Merrell shoes died there. As far as the Hayduke goes you have to cross it many times through a very narrow canyon with absolutely no way around or out unless you backtrack all the way through saddle canyon again. So doing the slowest section of the entire hayduke twice, not an ideal prospect.
Saddle canyon is cool, and it certainly is about as iconic of a section as the Hayduke will ever get. It's not particularly difficult, and in many ways overhyped a bit in difficulty. I would do it if you can, and know that Tapeats is crossable. Otherwise this alternate exists so that you can bypass the whole section, while still getting to see the amazing Deer Creek Canyon section just after, and Kanab Canyon on the way out of the Grand.

cairned route to left
this avoids a 25ft dryfall. it goes up to the left, up the steep side slope, traversing the loose rock towards down canyon. After 0.2 or so you'll be on flat land, on a ridge. There are many Cairns along this route which makes it somewhat easy to follow, but easy to initially miss.

Showerbath Spring
like something out of a studio Ghibli movie, hard to collect water from though. would be a great spot to hangout if it's hot
About one or two miles past this point kanab creek disappears, but then reappears 9 miles later, a bit past Chamberlain canyon

Kanab Creek
The water in here gave myself, my partner, and our two friends some weird stomach aches and bad poops for about 24 hours after. You could avoid it by drinking only from side canyons maybe? Just after Kanab Canyon there is a big dry stretch, so maybe best to just drink it and deal with it.

Colorado City, AZ / Hildale, UT
the grocery store is at the very southern top of the town, and unfortunately any hotels are about 3 miles at the north end of town. restaurants are also to the north. nothing really here for the hiker unfortunately except for grocery. I would get in and out if you can.
This town was built by, seriously, a cult. Led by one very nasty leader. While here you will see many who are still followers of him, even though he is now in jail for life for some very bad crimes. It's wild and all around bad, sad, everything.

Checkerboard Mesa
With the current terminus of the Hayduke at the Weeping Wall being closed due to rock slides many Haydukers have chosen to finish their route with Checkerboard Mesa being the terminus, then hitching out at the next road. I think however you should continue further at least up to Cable Mountain as it offers a very cool view looking down into Zion, overlooking Angels Landing and the Weeping Wall

Exit Canyon
You could go up either side of this spire to exit the canyon, we found that the western side looked way more chill. Follow the river a bit further through a really cool section of the river, and then around the corner head up the north side of the canyon wall which is mostly fairly low angle scambling and should be obvious with herd trails

Camping outside Park Boundary

Cable Mountain End
Congrats

Angels Landing
We found permits weren't too difficult to get for Angels Landing and it was a really cool thing to do just after finishing the Hayduke.

Hitch to Kanab
Many people will hitch to Kanab from here, as there is a full grocery store, gear store, restaurants, post office, and anything else you could ever need. It's a great town that offers a lot more than Jacob Lake does. About an hour drive from here to there. Could be mildly tricky hitching back, but if the north rim is open (after may 15 or so) then there will be a ton of traffic going back and fourth

Kanab
Really Great town, beautiful place with tons of amenities and very walkable. Nice Gear store in town with a coffee shop inside, big grocery store, tons of hotels. You could get to here from a couple different points, either on hwy 89 or from Jacob Lake. I know some people who came into Kanab from both points, Since Jacob Lake doesn't really like accepting packages Kanab could be the best option. Or if you need a break, this is definitely the place.

pit toilet & campsite
extremely popular area so I probably would avoid the camp

BAD Bushwhacking but avoidable

Fat Mans Misery Slot Canyon Detour
Head up this side canyon for a really cool slot canyon, would be a 1 hour detour at most

Paradise Canyon
Paradise canyon - feels like it's connected to last chance, as there's not really much of a space inbetween the two. Water flowing up until the point you turn off into a different canyon, and even then there was still a bit more. Tastes good, maybe the slightest bit alkaline from wherever I got it. 5/5

Yellow Rock
An impressively large and impressively.... yellow rock

Stevens Canyon Spring
Middle Stevens spring - on the baker Stevens canyon alt, while descending into Stevens canyon you should see water flowing in the canyon below you. Once in the canyon this spring is flowing for about half a mile further, though I did see many large potholes a bit further than that as well. Great water, the best spot to get it is some very large potholes it's flowing into about 0.2m past where you entered the canyon 4/30

Granite Creek

Little Scramble, stay left in crack

GC permit #3 - hance / red canyon

GC permit #4 - Lonetree

Basecamp Adventure Lodge
Tom is awesome! Play the disc golf. Tom also will likely know what the water is like from here until needles. For us it's a 35mi carry, though I'm sure that is not an every year thing. Please be nice, and please do not take advantage. He could very easily not let hikers get water here, and all it takes is one asshole 4/14

potential camp spots
just past a big boulder jam in the middle of the canyon, some nice camping on the left. wouldn't be great if potential floods are expected or storms are in the forecast, but not the worst.
there's another good camp 0.2m past this waypoint, again in the left.

possible cell reception
if you really needed it I think you could get it near here

GC permit #2 - lava / chular

cowboy camps

thunder river
little side trails to thunder river

potential camp spots
on the ridge and dryfall bypass route there are quite a few areas where camping would be great. high above the canyon so no flashflood worries. beware that it took us 2.5 hours to get here from the cabin, it would be extremely not fun to be doing this in the dark, or pushing for it late in the day

stick to the south side of wash (left, webo)

Cache here
Burr trailhead cache - we left a cache here. It's not the most busy of roads but if you're in need there are people that drive this frequently as it's very scenic. While hiking up the burr switchbacks we were past by about 15 cars on a Saturday 4/27

indian gardens spigot
a spigot and a water fountain nearby, potable water so no need to filter. earlier in the season these are turned off

Yavimpa Pass
Some really great clear water flowing down this canyon for a very brief time. Unfortunately disappeared completely by the bottom

canyon gets more exposed
the walls of the canyon aren't as high, and now that the water is gone this section becomes a bit harder.

get last water until cache

potential water
could see flowing water about 50ft down a side trail, I didn't go down to look closer at it

Water fountain & Toilet
on bike path just as you cross Colorado river bidge is a pit toilet and water fountain

Section 2

many large potholes
they look a bit gross but hey if you need it or don't want to carry water this is a possible option. I don't know if they're reliable. there's about six potholes in a row that had some water

Airplane Spring Trough

more cars than expected
much more traffic on this 4wd dirt road than expected, all the way to swamp point. most will go to point sublime, and again many turn off on a different road instead of going to swamp point but overall there was a significant amount of traffic. maybe in total 30 cars passed us in the 30 miles

Hayduke Trail GPX Notes
Hello, just a quick note about these gpx waypoints and tracks.
As I hiked this trail in 2024 I recorded my track on my gps watch as I went, this is a 'trace' of that route which I took. It is not my exact route down to the meter, because my watch is not that accurate in tight canyons while on battery saver mode. So this is me tracing over my route, excluding places I got lost, and trying to correct places my GPS clearly wandered beyond what I was actually doing.
I did not follow the 'official Hayduke' as per the guidebook in every place, and instead chose to take some alternate routes here and there. So the main track reflects what I did, and not always what was historically done by the creators 20 years ago. I did try to include the official Hayduke as well (as separate lines,) and I also tried to include a couple alternate routes which I did not take myself. I tried to include some safety routes as well, alternates which may skip an area that is dangerous in bad weather or if water levels are high. Any of these routes which I did not walk I cannot speak for the difficulty, water availability, or accuracy.
There are many alternate routes that exist far beyond what I have included here, which I cannot speak for, nor have I done any of them, and thus did not feel right including them.
Frankly I don't think you should trust anything, even any of this; the tracks, my waypoints, or anyone else's tracks or waypoints. Same goes for the water report and water availability. Just use this all as a tool in conjunction with every other resource you have found about this route. No resource out there is a one and done, some are worse than others and some are better. You should have many different sources of information to aid you, and never just one for any given stretch. Above all else you should be using your eyes and brain to determine the best path for you based on what you see in front of you, what you've read, and what you've heard.
Keep in mind that there is no Hayduke Trail, it doesn't exist. It is just an idea. There is no trail. Many people find themselves getting in trouble out here expecting to just follow a GPS blindly, don't do that. You are responsible for yourself, and your own safety.
Never on this trail should you need to do anything that would require a climbing rope(unless you want to! Some alternates exist where this is required, beyond my tracks here.) Some basic climbing skills help along this route and I sure hope you are comfortable with that, but remember that when faced with any obstacle that seems beyond dangerous or impossible, you likely have missed a much simpler and easier way around it somewhere else.
Anyway, this was recorded in April and May of 2024 on my eastbound hike from Arches to Zion. I started on April 12th and Finished on June 2nd. From everything I heard this was an average water year, things likely will be different for you in many ways so again. Trust nothing and be safe.
If I can add one last thing, it is to challenge yourself along this route. The best parts often aren't easy, while the easiest routes often aren't good. If you wanted to walk a direct and easy line from Arches to Zion... that exists! and overall would be half the distance of the Hayduke, but did you then... hike the Hayduke?
Thank you,
Jupiter
www.jupiterhikes.com

AZT camp (cottonwood)
the ranger told us we couldn't stay here because we are Hayduke and not AZT, I think any other ranger ever besides her would be more cool about it

Escalante River
Escalante river - (back on the main Hayduke) didn't try drinking the escalante but looked silty, though certainly many magnitudes better than the dirty devil was. I think I'd avoid if you can. Crossing the river or just straight walking in it was fine for us, knee deep in one place but mostly just a foot deep. I hear it can flood and be bad though 4/30

Boulder
I did not go to this town on the Hayduke, but have been here a couple times in a car. Depending on if you take certain alts you may wind up here. There is a coffee shop, restaurant or two, maybe a motel, post office, and a couple tiny convenience stores

Hurricane Wash
Hurricane wash - after leaving coyote gulch and entering hurricane there's clear flowing water for the first mile up this wash. 4/30

grapevine spring
potential water here, flowing very lightly and for the most part just looks like some potholes 5/20/2024

Moab
Town of Moab, tons of restaurants and whatever you could ever need. This is the biggest town along the entire Hayduke, and the last real town you will be in until Hanksville

Climb Out of Fable
Climb out of fable - many very large pools maybe a mile past the last stream. These were while climbing out of fable valley, but for the most part, just at the beginning of that climb and then no more. 4/19

Cottonwood Creek
Cottonwood Creek - on the other side of horseshoe Mesa, good water flowing seems mostly reliable though possibly dry late in the season 5/20

Riggs Spring
Riggs spring - fenced off spring, but mostly a small mud pit with very very light flow. Was able to make a little spigot from a leaf to fill some bottles. If you take the yavimpa pass alt there was really great water up there just before dropping off the rim. Gushing, clear, perfect. Where did that water go now down that same canyon? Who knows, disappears. 5/11

Kwagunt Creek
possible water but seasonal I think, was dry aside from a few very small puddles 5/18/24

possible cell reception

Capitol Reef Park Boundary

Devils Garden Hayduke Start
We got a ride to Devils Garden to start the Hayduke from here as an alternate to the other common terminus. Harder logistically to get to or hitch to, but much more scenic of a beginning. Getting to see a lot of iconic locations within Arches that other routes miss. Does add a couple miles to the overall route

Large Pothole
Heart tank - (37.36215, -111.25757) about 5 miles past mudhole spring there's a large pothole that is known to hold water. It's shaped a bit like a heart hence the name. Theres plenty of water here but it looks pretty bad and green in color. I'm topping off my supply with it. If you see any other small potholes before this one that are clear, maybe that's a better option. I don't think I would rely on this being here, but good to grab some extra 5/3

Colorado river
for the next seven miles you are along the Colorado river, it is extremely similar in pace to what you were able to do over by nankoweep. slow. the first three miles to fishtail there is actually a somewhat nice trail! made by rafters I assume. at times there are three trails all parallel to one another, all with plentiful Cairns. after the three mile mark it is just a boulder hop the rest of the way, and I never saw signs of another trail. sometimes Cairns would pop up but they seemed meaningless. stay higher for the rock hop or go to the beach for a bushwhack. the beaches never lasted long and always felt like I should have just kept hopping.
this would be a great section to try and time well as the sun is directly on you all day. a late evening 6pm - 9pm and then an early morning would be ideal.
the most ideal of all situations is to catch a rafter group at deer creek falls just after lunch and see if they'll give you a hitch all the way to kanab to avoid the tedious travel. that's likely dreaming, but has happened before for other haydukers. the rapids in this section are all class 4 (out of 10) so it's nothing too crazy.

Lower Stevens Canyon
Lower Stevens canyon - on the baker Stevens canyon alt, water flowing down in the canyon once you've dropped off the wingate and keyenta ledges. This water flows all the way to the escalante so you should have consistent water for a while. 4/30

Large Pool
Large pool - about 9 miles down muley twist canyon are some very large pools a hundred feet to the east. Could miss them if not looking. Great water 4/28

Escalante
Escalante - the escalante outfitter has amazing food, and some very basic gear. Right across the street is a better gear store if you actually need anything, Utah canyon outdoors. Prospector inn is right next to the outfitter and is mildly cheaper than the other hotel in town. Great town. Took us 30min (at 1pm) to get a ride 5mi back to hole in the rock road, and then 5 more minutes to get a second hitch all the way back down to trail 5/2

squirrel creek
good flowing water, looks a lot better than short creek did. This is likely your last water source for the next 17~ miles

Coyote Gulch
Coyote gulch - for the 8 or so miles of coyote gulch I was walking along clear perfect flowing water. Waterfalls and some swimming holes. Very popular canyon with locals and tourists and certainly saw a lot of them 4/30

Monday Canyon
~~ Beware of (and avoid) some sources in-between here and Last Chance as they are reported to have magnesium sulfate in them, causing big stomach issues. Also a quick note on this section, Monday canyon is very tedious and slow and not the best. Boulders to navigate around and bushwhacking. From there it gets better, more beautiful, and easier with each new canyon you enter. It's just Monday canyon that I think gives this entire section a bad name.

nice (small) tree for shade
would maybe be a good area to cache water as you could then hangout under this tree and sort through your cache

pipe Creek - for many miles
you are following a creek through most of this section, crossing it multiple timrs

Lockhart Cliffs alternate
fun little alternate but can be tricky getting down the cliffs. Cuts off a couple miles, but likely takes much longer than if you had just walked the road

Section 9

Willis Creek Slot Canyon
Willis springs - water was still silty and dirty in the narrows up to the trailhead. Can't speak for after that to the west of parking lot as we took the Bryce extension alt through tropic and up to the rim of the canyon. 5/8

little climbing bit
very easy little thing, more like steep stairs rather than climbing. some hands required. I heard to not go too far right, just go straight up. looked pretty clear from the bottom, like little ledges you just step up like a ladder
shortly after and further up is a small chimney climb, again very easy and just like walking up stairs, inside a little crack. there are multiple chimneys here so if it seems too hard you likely chose the wrong one. we went up past one, did the second one, and then saw two more that would have been more difficult.
the descent down the other side of all of this to hance canyon is a bit more interesting. a somewhat short but rather steep scramble down a rockfall/loose scree field leads to the Colorado river again.

phantom ranch
water spigot here, and they sell like lemonade (7$ or so) ice tea, and some food.

kanab creek returns
about a mile past Chamberlain canyon flowing water returns again. this section of kanab canyon is not nearly as nice as the lower section. much more open, sunny, hot. nice to see more water though

flowing water
dunno where it's coming from but good flow starts here going right down the middle of the canyon

good cell service here

Narrowest point of the Colorado River
this is roughly the most narrow point in the Colorado River, from what we heard it's about 76ft across. you get a good view of it coming down from deer creek

hack reservoir
others have reported water here in the past but that it could be undrinkable levels of muddy nasty. we have a cache here, the road in is not so bad. 22 miles of bumpy road, but nothing crazy,

swamp lake

water spigot
potable water and a toilet

water fountain & restrooms
Top of S Kaibab trail - once you reach the south rim there are more pit toilets and now some water spigots inside a metal fenced area right next to the toilets.

cool canpsite
right on the saddle on the way out of the barracks

wildlife tank, rain catcher
large rain catcher and wildlife trough behind it, 50ft off trail. not the best water in appearance but tastes great

Peakaboo Connector Alt
Peekaboo trail connector alt - through needles, this is not the official Hayduke but I highly recommend it. The first 4 miles suck, but after that it's really a world class day. Just 4.5m past needles outpost I am walking along some flowing water near horse canyon, along salt Creek Rd. Did not try it. 4/18

Section 5

Mudhole Spring
Mudhole spring - a lot of water in a cow trough, and 10ft away is a spigot which works as well. There is a game camera here, so be mindful that your picture has probably been taken. The next *reliable* water is ~32mi from here as recorded by me. There are some other sources in the next 8 miles but I don't know how reliable they can be. 5/2

Scramble off Tarantula Mesa
Difficult to find the right spot, and difficult once you do!

Swap Spring
Swap spring - the best spots to get water were at the beginning of this spring. Very lightly flowing down the canyon for about half of a mile. Water tastes weird, dunno if it's alkaline, but it's definitely weird 4/27

National Park Border

Cowboy Shack & Tank
Cowboy shack and tank - black tire trough overflowing with clear water about 50ft away from the old shack. About a mile before this was another tire trough full of water as well. About 6 miles prior in bullrush hollow there was briefly (0.2m) a flowing stream. I don't know if these other sources can be reliable, but at least you know there are options on the way to the cowboy shack tank. 5/12

Possible camping in this area
outside the park boundary, and from here onwards there is not much camping nor would I want to be pushing down the nankoweep any further in the dark.

Hance Creek
Hance Creek - just before horseshoe meadow and about 6 miles after leaving the Colorado river is hance Creek. There's some nice little camp spots here. The creek itself wasn't initially super obvious but walking down the canyon about 100ft and it was flowing great. Seems like a very reliable source looking at past reports 5/20

Bright Angel Creek
for 9 or so miles in the bright angel canyon you are walking along this creek. great water but many people swim in it, as you likely should too given the heat

Rim to Rim
Rim to rim - there are potable water spigots like every 5ish miles of the n Kaibab. It's maybe not that frequent but it's pretty wild. Beware that earlier in the season many of these could be turned off still. You're also following the bright angel creek for all of the canyon N of the Colorado river so filtering is an easy option as well. Don't forget to do the ribbon falls side trail, I really think it's an absolute must! 5/24

Tanks
Tanks - (37.33600, -111.28187) three very large potholes full of water above a dryfall. These looked better than heart tank, much more clear. This is about 8 miles from mudhole spring. Water tastes good and is indeed clear. I know of two other years these held water, so maybe it's pretty reliable but I dunno if trusting here is good 5/3

GC permit #1
it would be very ideal to go further than this, to make it to the hitch across the river point before 10am. we were not able to go any faster than 2mph from here to there and often only 1mph. only a handful of rafters will pass per day and it is likely you will miss them if you get there late

bear box
i got water from here in 2021 on the AZT as an angel had cached it, this year of 2024 and there's just a bunch of empty bottles. worth looking though as you never know

Fountain Tanks
Fountain tanks - on the baker Stevens canyon alt, this is just like muley tanks, but slightly not as good. Large pools of water and it looks like often there is a trickling waterfall down the rock wall. The pools for me however even after a couple days of rain, were stagnant. Still good water 4/28

Page
Not many Hayduke hikers come to Page I don't think but it is a big town with multiple grocery stores. There is an airport here, so for anyone trying to the Hayduke in two big section hikes, this would be the closest biggest town to halfway where you could make that happen flying in and out of, or hitching south to flagstaff or busing to Phoenix.
Page is definitely a good option in many ways, but due to its size walking around or hitching could be difficult. It is also a fairly long drive to here from the trail. Though given this is where 90% of AZT hikers end of after finishing, or before starting sobo there is some precedence for trail angeling here.

Solar Well
Solar powered well - both tanks empty, even though it's been raining all day. Didn't expect this to have water and don't think it has since 2016. Funny the solar panel is still up though. 4/26

Weeping Rock End
Currently closed due to rockslides, 2024

trailish thru brush

Possible Cache
Many people will cache food and water here, a possibly even better spot is further up the road where the trail leaves the road to enter a wash. We wound up caching here at this location, but I think in hindsight I would have preferred further up.

Mile 200

Mile 600

Mile 400

Last Chance Creek
Last chance creek - pretty much immediately after entering last chance canyon there's pools of water, and about half a mile further up canyon this turns into a lightly flowing creek. I did not try the initial pools as they looked like they might be alkaline, but the creek is flowing pretty good about 3 miles up and water tastes great there when I did get it. This creek is off and on, sometimes flowing, sometimes pools, sometimes disappears into the ground. But for basically the next 20 miles you are walking along lightly flowing water with a break in-between last chance and paradise canyons starting at (37.34676, -111.52638). Some areas have much better looking spots to collect than others. Some report alkaline, but the two times I got it it's tasted fine. 5/4

Springdale
Plentiful restaurants and a free bus system around the park. Small grocery store, and a fairly easy hitch to one of the nearby towns to the west.

Cache here
Grosvenor arch - we left a cache here, it's a pretty easy road that isn't too far from the hwy. If you're in need of help you may find traffic here. Just 10 miles up the road is a popular state park and the road becomes paved. We saw 10 or so cars pass between Grosvenor and round valley draw turnoff at 9am on a Monday, three more cars at the round valley trailhead 5/6

Canyonlands Visitor Center
Canyon lands visitor center - yes water fountain outside near bathrooms. Very popular park hard to get walk up permits, but possible. Could camp at the outpost much easier, then just hike through park in a day 22ish miles. This national park in particular is not very Hayduke hiker friendly. You could ask the rangers here for a potential water report on any of the trails or alts through the park, but I'm not sure that's very necessary. Wifi here. 4/17

tapeats narrows
looking down canyon you'll see there is no way but to walk in the river, as the canyon walls close in to form a narrow section. if water levels permit, walking through the creek here is very cool.
Unfortunately In the past year or two a large boulder has wedged itself mostly between the mouth of the narrows, which makes things much more tricky and hikers should be extra careful. The boulder funnels water off it's left side creating a big pocket of white water and a large pool on the other side of it. you will be required to climb over it on the right side into what will likely be at least a hip deep pool. again, be careful. waterproof your things and consider the possibility of having to swim. consider also turning around and going back to swamp point if things seem too dangerous.
There is no way around this. For me the worst part was simply crossing the river initially to get to the boulder. The river is more narrow here than actually in the "narrows". The boulder downclimb was very easy and the pool to the right side of it was quite shallow at first. I didn't even need to remove my pack to do this. Once in the pool and progressing forward water briefly got to hip deep, and very quickly shallow again. The rest of the narrows was pretty straightforward. Staying on one river bank until I was forced to cross. Looking for the ideal places to cross it was funny enough never as bad as that initial crossing again.
Thunder river and tapeats confluence; thunder river rages as a waterfall coming down a side slope. I don't have much advice to offer here as fortunately for us there was a tree that had fallen over tapeats right at the crossing point making things exceedingly easy. I have heard from rangers that crossing further down the river just under the campsite with pit toilet can be a good spot. They also said half a mile past the camp down canyon is another good spot. I think most haydukers don't go nearly as far down as either of those spots, but that is surely depending on water levels.
The thunder river crossing is supposed to be the hardest of all the crossings, so again be careful.

camping
some nice camping in this area if you're just trying to get out of town. water and some sheltered spots. you might run into day hikers or locals though, as the trails around here seem somewhat popular. could just hide a bit better though and there's certainly space to do so

emergency water
dunno if it's reliable but two black tanks with a spigot. Tonto/kaibab intersection - pit toilets and two black large jugs of 'non potable' water. One was empty and don't know how much was in the other, I'm not sure I'd rely on this but it's likely got water.

Zion east entrance gates

Hanksville
Hanksville - 17mi north on the hwy is the very small town of hanksville. It was a 20 min wait for a hitch, from a former AT hiker no less. I'd recommend staying at the whispering sands hotel as it is nice, and then just resupplying at the gas station and restaurant next door. The gas station honestly had a much better selection than the market further into town, but maybe that is just my opinion and not reality. Also get a milk shake at the burger shack. Dukes slickrock Grill was good just down the road

Bryce Canyon Extension Alt
Bryce extension alt - if you haven't ever been to Bryce before this is pretty cool. Tons of options for trails to see some iconic sights. If you have been already, maybe it's not worthwhile. This alt adds on at least 13 miles over taking the normal route. Water everywhere for me, along the rim there's fountains, little creeks at all the campsites. No worries there. Bryce does require a bear can and permits if camping, and from tropic it's about a 16+ mile day to get out of the park into NF land. I wouldn't do it again, but was cool to see more of the park as it's my first time 5/10

saddle canyon
this is the last spot you will find good camping for a little while, between the hut or the couple spots on the mauv saddle it's a worthy place. I did see a couple potential camp spots within the next 2.5m but it is slow travel, and unadvised if you are pushing for then before dark.
the first 1.3m of saddle is a bushwhack, just follow the wash. after that it's still pretty brushy but not nearly as bad. You'll start coming to dryfalls which are mostly easy to bypass. after 2m however is a very involved bypass around a very large dryfall. requiring a hike up a steep side slope to a ridge, and then going down the other side into a different canyon. All of which is quite brushy and slow. immediately after thus, close to 3m in the first plunge pools begin
in general I would not expect to go faster than 1mph for the next 5 miles, plan accordingly, and I highly recommend camping here to then do the canyon the next day. it would be quite bad to be stuck down there looking for camping but never finding it.
Saddle canyon as a whole is only 5 or so miles in length and I think that distance took us close to 7 hours. Crazy jug canyon immediately after is quite a bit faster, but very rock hoppy/ boulder fest.
The tapeats river is the biggest kicker here as early in the season the water levels are often too high, making it impossible.

giant rain catcher
large rain catcher. there are two metal pipes sticking straight up out of the ground right next to each other, one of them is unbolted and you can remove the lid to get clean water from it may/2024

popular rafter campsites
all around this area

Cremation Creek
dry dry dry year round I hear

three tiered plunge pool
some great plunge pools to more or less finish saddle canyon. This is almost immediately followed by a bypass around a 60ft dryfall that is cairned on the left side maybe 400ft after the three tier. The bypass climbs up the left where you'll hug the rock wall high above the canyon for about 0.1m before descending down again a steep loose slope. There is another dryfall after this but it's super easy to just walk down it like you're on stairs.

Colorado city alt
this route out of town is appealing, and the but along short creek and squirrel creek is nice. after that things devolve into 13 miles of sugar sand, the worst I've experienced on this trail so far. I don't know how the official Hayduke compares, but if I knew this prior I probably would have avoided this alt

Reese Canyon
Reese canyon 'bubble seep' - small amount of water once you enter Reese, I think unfortunately this also has the same issue as the last two canyons and should be avoided due to magnesium sulfate 5/4

Colorado river access

camp spots here and west
cool camp spots from this point along the alt and to the west. the waterfall to the east however would probably be most practical

Official Hayduke Terminus
Not much easier to get to, and not the most scenic beginning, but it is the historical start of the Hayduke

Busy Hwy 89
could potentially hitch to Paige (east) or Kanab (west) from here. We have heard that it is a difficult hitch though, as the cars are all going fast here, and there isn't much time for them to stop. Better luck might be continuing down Buckskin until you hit the next dirt road and hitching from some hiking tourists there.

rafter hangout
popular spot for rafters as they do the day hike up deer creek

Dirty Devil River
Dirty devil river - following the river for 6 or so miles, it's fastest to take cow paths and cut off the river corners. Though likely more interesting to just follow the banks until you *have* to cross. Walking in the river is refreshing though. The water itself I didn't try as I heard it's alkaline, has agriculture run off in it, heavy metals?, is surrounded by cow tracks, and is extremely silty. Our friend camped by the river and said if you take some bottles of it and let them sit overnight, all the sediment sinks to the bottom and then you can then easily filter it! He said no ill effects, no noticably bad taste. So overall this river is maybe better than the guide makes it seem 4/22

Yellowstone spring
just up the road to the right of the black tire trough with bad water is a piped spring feeding into a big black rain catcher thing. it's great, clear, and cold water.
up the road to the right 150ft is a fenced area with a big rain collector and a piped spring feeding into it. this is just past where you'll see a black tire trough full of bad water, go past that.
Unfortunately there isn't much shade directly at the water, but not very far away on top of the hill you can find quite a bit of trees and good camping
after you go a mile or two past this water source there are no more trees and shade all the way to town.

pond in fence, not great
hard to access as it's surrounded by a lot of deep mud and swamp. the edges have worms in the water so it's extra annoying, even if you wade in calf deep it's not much better. this was my least favorite water source on the entire AZT and it's proved again to be not fun. plenty of water here, though there's a better source about 2.5m sobo from here

Stevens Arch
220 foot wide arch, incredible view from the escalante river side. There is a way up to this for the extra adventurous on the south side but we did not try.

Airport Hayduke Start
A very common place to begin the Hayduke as it is logistically the most easy place to get to. From here you would hike cross country to the east into Arches to join the Hayduke, or you could walk dirt roads.
Whether you fly into this location, take an uber here from town, hitch, or drop off your rental car here... there is no simpler starting location.

Hole in the Rock Road
Hole in the rock road - arrived at 9:30am and got a hitch almost exactly an hour later from the first car to drive by in that time. You may have good luck with hikers coming out of the gulch that you may have passed on your way through. You may also have better luck later in the day. This would be a miserable spot to sit and wait for too long though and it's worth considering your timing. We heard if you're willing to walk 9 miles up the road, that is a more popular trailhead for spooky canyon where you would have even better luck. Probably not worth it to do so unless you're really desperate. I did not look for water here at the road, but see on my map that there should be some cow tanks or something. 5/1

Halls Creek
Halls Creek - on the baker Stevens canyon alt, after leaving the narrows, staying on the west side of halls creek you'll cross a bunch of little streams for the next 5+ miles which feed into the larger (dirtier) halls creek. Some of these side streams are great, some aren't as good. 4/29

kanab creek
kanab creek flows most of the way down the canyon, basically from where hack canyon begins. for the first 10 miles it's great, and then it disappears. (about two miles after shower bath spring). about 8 miles later around Chamberlain canyon it reappears for one more mile.
mostly this is an amazing oasis compared to the Colorado river walk. shaded for the first half of the canyon. flowing water to walk through, fun mazes made by fallen boulders, and easy miles. the water is a great temperature, significantly warmer than the Colorado. tons and tons of beautiful swimming holes in lower kanab.
the water has a funny taste though, like potting soil? and has lots of algae at times along the banks of the creek. some side springs and canyons offer clearer better tasting water if you prefer.
Unfortunately halfway up canyon the walls aren't as narrow and the water disappears. It's sunny and hot. Enjoy it up to showerbath spring!

Jacob Lake
Jacob lake - may 15 the north rim opens, so prices double just before then for rooms, and it's possible you won't even be able to get a room past that date. If you're here to early in the season their restaurant may not be open yet. This place is hiker friendly, great pastries, nice little restaurant, minimal FS campground across the street. If you can't get a room, 0.5m down the road is another campground that I think has laundry and showers? Jacob lake has minimal snacks and would be a not great resupply if you need more than just a couple days, but a hitch north to kanab wouldn't be very hard from here

Scree Slope

The Glen Canyon Dam
The sensation of freedom was exhilarating, though tinged with a shade of loneliness, a touch of sorrow. The old dream of total independence, beholden to no man and no woman, floated above his days like smoke from a pipe dream, like a silver cloud with a dark lining. For even Hayduke sensed, when he faced the thing directly, that the total loner would go insane. Was insane. Somewhere in the depths of solitude, beyond wildness and freedom, lay the trap of madness.

25ft dryfall
if you get to it, you need to backtrack 0.1m to a cairned route on the left (south west) side of the canyon. the bypass climbs up a steep slope to then traverse it forward passed this obstacle. you'll gain a ridge, follow that for a bit, and then descend down the other side into a side canyon. rejoining saddle canyon shortly thereafter. this bypass is brushy and lengthy

cache here
Hack reservoir - I did not look at the reservoir for water, as I had a cache here. It's 22 miles of pretty easy driving on bumpy dirt roads to get to this point. There is traffic on this road, a lot of ATV kind of things, and then some ranchers. 5/30

trail sign/ cremation use area
trail sign that notes the beginning or end of the cremation camping area / use area. I think this is BJ9 in the permit system

thunder river
the shortest river in the world?

West Fork Cottonwood Creek
West fork cottonwood Creek - just a mile or so past the last source. Not much water here, barely flowing, wouldn't rely on. Just a couple pools basically 5/20

Cannonville
Did not stop here and I do not know other Haydukers who have. Tropic seems like it is slightly bigger with much more to offer, though cannonville is more convenient.

Under Tarantula
Under tarantula - this was flowing nicely, but it had rained the past 24hrs so I don't know if it is always reliable. Did not try it as I still had water from the day before 4/27

Squaw Canyon
Squaw canyon - (peekaboo alt) just past the SQ2 campsite at the fork in trail and sign there is a very large pool of water. This is the last water for potentially 19 miles(depending on which route you take) 4/18

hiker biker camp
only people who have hiked here can stay here (or biked)

Buffalo Trick Tank
plenty of water in the cow tank, doesn't look the best and didn't try. nice big pool, though the AZT people say that this is often dry. there is also a large surface rain collector and metal tank I didn't look at, but again AZT people said was dry. maybe worth a look but probably not reliable 5/15/2024

Nankoweep Trailhead
Kind of surprised to see so many people camping at this trailhead in their cars. There is a trail register here

Nankoweap Creek
excellent water, flowing great and following it down to the Colorado a mile or two from this point

Sheep Creek
Sheep creek - water looked extremely silty, not dirty devil silty but not far off. It's been windy so maybe that's kicked up the dirt and it's not always like this. Either way I'd rather just get water from the paria and go to Willis from there 8 or so miles. 5/8

Muley Tanks
Muley tanks - great big pools with a little waterfall. Shade trees or nice sandstone to hang out on. Good water 4/28

Kanabownits Spring
Flowing right under the road, good water. this could be the last source for the next 14 miles. swamp lake will have water along the way but is pretty bad

trail
intersected with a real trail around here, which follows the ridge all the way up. you could probably see it from the distance a while back

campsite under alcove
beautiful spot on the north side of the river, maybe 20ft above the water, and under a cool rock alcove

water seep
water slowly flowing down from the rocks above, very light trickle but think it's pretty reliable

Willow Spring
yes good small flow. Seems reliable, flowing down it's own side canyon, and then down into the wash that the trail is in for another couple hundred feet. Small unreliable pools for about a mile before and a mile after the spring, which didn't look great. 4/13

plunge pools begin
there are bypasses for almost all of the plunge pools, generally on the left side of the canyon. only a couple do you actually have to drop down into, though we found it more fun to just go for it.
most of the pools for us were unfortunately dry up until just the last few

bear locker box
just empties again, always optimistic though

Landscape Arch
Landscape Arch is the longest arch in North America with a light opening of 306 feet (93.3 meters) and a diameter of just 6 feet (1.8 meters)

needles visitor center / canyonlands

powell spring
flowing down across the trail, coming from up canyon where the head of the spring is

Home Water Spring
Home water spring - cow trough with a piped spring. The pipe was barely dripping, about a liter every 8 minutes. The trough had about 3 inches of water in it, which I used my cold soak jar to scoop. We heard you could follow the pipe up to a fence behind the trough for maybe better success. I think this source is fairly reliable, and usually better than how we found it. 4/19

stay to left (south/east)
stick to the left or south east side, and climb 'poison ivy hill' to avoid a dry fall

possible water below dryfall
pools and a seep just below a 15ft dryfall, we went just barely left around the edge of the drop which was good

possible water
small very light flow creek here 5/25/24

Halls Creek Narrows
The narrows - on the baker Stevens canyon alt, the water through the narrows is entirely mud colored. I wouldn't drink it but maybe it'll be different for you. I would imagine if the creek/wash you've been walking through is mud colored then this will be too. Next water in 5 miles I think at halls creek. The deepest part of the narrows got up to my belly button at 6'2" but that was very brief, while mostly it was just ankle deep or occasionally knee deep. Lots of cool camp spots in here. Beware of flash floods and bad weather 4/29

toilet, popular camp?
we ran into two rangers here at the camp. Know your permit info, where you are supposed to be, and how far it is you are off it if you are off it

camp spot national forest
old fire ring here, sheltered spot, and outside of the national park. flowing water in the wash a couple hundred feet away

possible water in trough
just like the one a mile north of here this metal trough may have some rain water in it. there was much more in this one than the last for whatever reason. don't think I'd rely on these 5/15/2024

Narrows
Round valley draw narrows - rained a bunch last night, no water in here at all. Did not check the corral or cow tank that's near the trailhead before heading down into the canyon as supposedly that can have water 5/6

leave the AZT

small lake / tank
good water here, edges are a bit swampy. looks like this probably dried up by fall but who knows. for now it looks good. may/2024

Hackberry Canyon
Good spring in hackberry canyon - the first water I got to was disgusting, like black sludge ruined by cattle. Less than a mile from that initial point the water suddenly is extremely clear and flowing great. You'll likely be following along this water for the next 7 miles. Water for the most part gets better as you continue down the canyon, as a lot of side springs and canyons also flow into this. This river slows to a stop just before the end of the canyon 5/6

cattle tank water
flowing water into a blue cattle tank on the west side of the road within a fenced area. about 10 miles past the last water is another cattle tank on the right (west) side of the road. It's a blue kids swimming pool type thing inside a fenced area. The water is clear and flowing into it from a pipe. I think up the canyon on the other side of the road is a spring but I didn't look, they say "0.25m up a steep road". This source was not marked on any of my maps, so do what you will. This is potentially the last water for the next 26 miles once you're on the AZT, unless you yogi some from tourists, or hitch into kanab/paige. 5/12

Grocery / South Rim Grand Canyon Village
A great grocery store is here, a post office, and some restaurants. You could easily resupply out of this if you didn't send a package.

Camping outside park boundary

Willis Creak Trailhead
Easy hitch to town from here as it's a popular trailhead, but might be mildly difficult to get back as this is pretty far out of the way

AZT Terminus
Potential for trail magic, potential for a water cache, but I would not expect anything or rely on anything being here. You will however most likely start running into swarms of AZT hikers finishing here or on the way to here.
AZT - congrats you're on what surely now feels like a highway with plentiful water reports; download farout for this section while you have internet. (First water was 3 miles past terminus, then 7 past that, then 10 past that, and 6 from there to Jacob lake.) The majority of this section to Jacob lake I had cell service.

piped spring
about 0.1m before the turn to cable mountain is an easily missed side trail to a piped spring. water is flowing out of it very slowly but it's good

Busy Trailhead
Many people park here to hike Buckskin Gulch, Further down the road are more busy trailheads if you need something or want a hitch to town

Rain Capture Trough
Rain capture troughs - a few miles before descending off tarantula mesa there's a fence and a cow trough. Behind the fence down a little dirt road is the trough 100ft or so. Great water as of now, some dead bugs floating but have seen much worse. I think next water is in 10 miles or so 4/26

short creek
this town used to be named short creek. there is flowing water here, and you'll be following it for one mile. Cows in the area and atv's driving through the creek, water looks clear though

pit toilet
I would say you could hide in here during a storm but I think the ceiling is currently in a little bit of disrepair

cell reception

Courthouse Wash
Following this wash / canyon all the way out of the park to the town of Moab. About 1.5mi past Willow springs, at the beginning of courthouse wash was another great water source. Initially not the most impressive but then for the next 3 miles we were walking through crystal clear water flowing down courthouse wash. Great cottonwood tree shade and tons of nice spots for a break. The small stream eventually just disappears into the ground. (To reappear a bit later) 4/13

cement water trough
good water with a bit of algae in it. just off trail inside a fenced in area, could be easy to miss

Tropic
Tropic - hitching into tropic would be very easy as Willis springs trailhead is extremely popular due to the narrows section of the canyon, which starts a couple miles before the road. Hitching out of tropic back down here would be slightly more difficult as the road is dirt, and doesn't lead directly to town, but instead cannonville a much smaller community outside of tropic. Still wouldn't be too bad. Tropic itself isn't the coolest of places, but it does have a handful of restaurants, a couple hotels, grocery and gas station. The gas station had a better selection of bars, while the grocery had more of the larger items. The red ledges inn had laundry on site but there is also a coin laundry in town. Everything is within 0.2 miles of one another. Nothing special here but it's got most of what you could want.

very large dryfalls / plunges
a 10ft drop and then immediately followed by a 14ft drop. both can be climbed down if you're into that kind of thing. we bypassed though. you can bypass these if you backtrack a bit and go up the rock to the left, which sucks and turns into a weird bushwhack on a steep side slope. neither great options and maybe there's a better way altogether that we missed, though I think that would involve a much more lengthy backtrack, or not entering this little narrows section at all to even take a look at what's ahead.

possible water
could see it from the trail down in the wash but did not go down to it. to access this potential source I would have needed to walk about 200ft down the wash from where the trail crosses. the other water at grapevine is better

Paria River
Paria river - water looked slightly silty at the mouth of the canyon but the further I went the clearer it was. More cows in the first half of canyon as well, and then their tracks petered out. Either way, good water and you'll be walking along it forever 5/7

lake / marsh
tons of water in a large lake or 'tank' a bit of algae in it. this source is better than the one north of here. I think in the fall this is more of a not great marsh than a lake

possible cell service

Fable Valley
Fable valley water - stream with good flow for about a mile up the canyon. The location that is likely marked on your map I felt was the best spot. Saw some bear tracks here. 4/19

Pothole near T intersection
Pothole near t intersection - (37.83018, -110.25574) about 8 miles before Hite marina turnoff on the west side of the dirt road is a large pothole. You can only see it from the road if you're actively looking for it. I didn't go down there but it very clearly had water and looked like a fairly significant amount. Certainly wasn't clear looking, and surely a lot of cows in the area. But hey water could be water. I wouldn't rely on this but if you're in need it's worth a check. Also this is the same road for that popular trailhead/Sundance trail, some locals stopped us and asked if we needed water. Could maybe be a good yogi spot as they have to drive super slow past you. For the 11+ miles on the dirt road, six cars past and three stopped to see if we needed anything, on a sunday. 4/21

kanab creek ends
fill up here, kanab creek and any flowing water ends here-ish and it's dry for quite a long time, potentially 29 miles if you don't have a cache inbetween

Chimney climb bypass
Old road that goes up the cliff near here, which would bypass the upcoming chimney climb.

possible cell reception
there were a handful of spots on this road where my partner had cell service, while I did not. both of us have AT&T

Colorado River
Some people come down here to get water from the Colorado River, we did not. This next section could be a massive dry stretch so it is worth considering.

Rogers Canyon
Rogers canyon - tons of water in here, tons of cows. This water all through Rogers is known to have magnesium sulfate in it, and will make you shit yourself so we avoided. Walking felt a little bit less tedious here than it did in Monday canyon so that's nice 5/3

Courthouse Wash Bridge
right after going under the main road bridge over courthouse wash there were very deep pools of water. They didn't have the best color to them but looked good enough. Beavers have jammed this stream up a couple of times, hence the color and stagnation. Further down the water gets better in many places. You'll be following this stream all the way to moab. Hopefully you see a beaver on the way 4/13

Navajo Canyon
Navajo canyon - I didn't see any water here, but know sometimes there is. Unfortunately I guess any you do find here, is also full of magnesium and will make you shit yourself. So again I would avoid. Navajo canyon is really great though, beautiful and more fun than the other two. 5/4

Upper Buckskin Gulch
Upper buckskin gulch - (hwy 89 to AZT terminus) no water to be found except one or two very nasty puddles. I would definitely not expect anything from here even after a rain. I took a chance and carried less water from the last source expecting to yogi some off tourists, which worked but maybe wasn't smart. Buckskin trailhead, the wave trailhead, and AZT terminus is all high chances for plenty of tourism if you don't mind pretending like you didn't purposely carry too little. 5/13

Fishtail Canyon

Ribbon Falls
a must see cascading waterfall

cell reception hereish
for the next two miles I had off and on cell with at&t

cult leaders home
the "Zions most wanted" hotel is more than just a bad name, this was actually the home of the terrible cult leader. personally I would not want to stay here

Dark Angel
150 foot sandstone tower

Dark Canyon
Dark canyon - from about half a mile before Young's and dark canyon converge we started seeing great flowing water. For the entirety of this canyon you will be walking right beside that, about 7 or so miles until you get to the climb out of dark. It's great water, many awesome spots to swim, and just super beautiful the whole way. Beware of heavy poison ivy within the first mile of dark, almost impossible to avoid. At the end of this canyon(up the climb) is a very popular trailhead. Within the final two miles before the climb I started seeing group after group of overnight campers. 4/20

Last water for long time
Fill up here as it is likely a long time until you see water again. Some options are to try and yogi some from cars either in a few miles, or once along the main hwy, or to have already cached water ahead before starting. Some people will hitch 47 miles about an hour to Hanksville from the hwy, to then hitch back the next day if you don't have a cache. I think with our cache it was 15 miles from here to it, and then another 25 miles from there to Poison Spring. Without the cache it would be about 40 miles.

Hite Marina
Hite Marina - closed this year, don't know if it's closed permanently but don't think so. I heard that the water is turned off and bathrooms are closed unfortunately. I think the past couple years the business was closed, but water and bathrooms were open. Did not walk down the road to find out. Many years ago I heard the marina would hold packages and were very friendly, so hopefully it opens back up soon. This hwy is pretty popular and you could just hitch an hour+ (47ish miles) to hanksville from here, which honestly isn't a bad option to split up a massive water carry if you don't have a cache or if Hite is closed. 4/21/24

Crescent Creek
Crescent Creek - about 10 miles out of hanksville, this creek was gushing from all the spring snow melt. We took the lower alternate from here as it was snowing at higher elevation. Along the road to penellen pass were a couple other snow melt creeks that were also raging, and after penellen pass there was a cow trough that was completely full (roughly 10 miles from here) 4/25

cell reception here
was kind of in and out, but 5g at times

Potential Water in Pools

water in squaw, 19 miles till next

Big Dryfall

hack canyon trailhead
there's a trailhead and trail register here, and now it's a road walk instead of cow paths. I think for anyone wanting to cache here you'd probably want a 4wd car as there's a couple tricky spots to get here. I know my car couldn't do it. we cached 9 miles ahead where the road was easy driving to get there, right before the turnoff to here

don't drink the little Colorado

Trail down chute

bees marketplace
Large grocery store with seating and outlets inside. a cafe and a fastfood burger place inside as well.
Overall I would get in and out of this strange town

Double O Arch
One arch on top of the other

unlikely water
cattle pond, didn't look but assume dry.

tire trough water
tire trough full of water, doesn't look the best but I've certainly seen worse. as of right now there is a dead bird in it which I removed. did not drink.

pocket hollow spring
good water in a blue kids swimming pool, water comes gushing out of a pipe into it. clearly a lot of cows nearby but the trough looked clear 5/2/2024

Short Scramble

look for Cairns, they exist for the entire descent

Colorado river
I drank it, the rafters drink it. I hear it gives some people stomach problems

camp spots
adjacent to a big overhanging wall, with some little trees for cover. there's many great spots all throughout this canyon however so I wouldn't bother pushing just for this

Giant Pothole
Pothole just before pour off - awesome water, giant pool just past the loop alternate. Great overhanging cave for a break. Really nice water and spot 4/16

unlikely water
cow pond, bone dry

slotish canyon

bear box
potential for a water cache to be here, but it was empty when I passed. large metal bear box

Scotty's hollow
the water tastes better coming from this side canyon, it's clear and has no algae. also looks like it would be a cool little side trip if you've got time. though I'm sure many of the side canyons off kanab would be cool

Lost Canyon
Lost canyon - (peekaboo alt) about 9 miles past the outpost, once in lost canyon, we came across some flowing water and large pools. Nearest to LC2 campsite. This water mostly petered out within a mile after I first I saw it. 4/18

Grocery Store

grand canyon np boundary

water in post canyon

Colorado river access
for the next three miles or so

possible cell service (from here to city)
I didn't actually check this time as my phone was dying, but you can see the city just to the north, so I assume you'd have cell reception.

Colorado river access
not a popular spot for rafters to stop unfortunately

cow trough
don't know if this is reliable, but a metal circular cow trough right along the road with some pretty good looking water in it.

flowing water
quite a bit mucked up by cows but flowing and looks clear. I did not try it 5/24

possible rafter spot
didn't see any rafters stop here but there's tons of footprints in the beginning of the canyon and a beach they could park at by the mouth, just before some rapids.
maybe you'll get lucky one last time

east fork virgin river
great water all through this canyon, flowing and clear. some side springs join it here or there from side canyons as well

barbed fence, gate on north side

Scramble out of canyon
difficult rock climb out of canyon often called the chute. We found it easiest to go up without our packs and then to lift them up behind us with a rope once we had already done the climb unencumbered.

flowing water
in the side canyon adjacent to squirrel creek there's some flowing clear water for a brief time

cell reception ends hereish

Willow spring (do not drink)
guidebook says it is radioactive. it also looks nasty and has a sign saying not to drink.
Saw that a couple geologists from salt lake conducted some surveys here recently and this water is definitely bad news! Apparently hack canyon was one of the biggest uranium mines in the US.
Someone we know did drink from this, why? I don't know. He did not mention ill effects, but I would still avoid it entirely.

could get out here, or get in to skip the initial climb

deer creek narrows
look for native american painted hand prints on the other side of the deer creek patio walls as you hike through

cell reception
for most of this climb up fifty mile mountain I had cell reception

cowboy camp

logjam obstacle
there's a log Jan in the center of the canyon, you could go straight down it but you'd get really wet and in high water could be dangerous. it's like a six foot drop waterfall of logs and fast water. a bypass exists up and to the left, where you climb some small boulders and then pass through a small crack between the canyon wall and a large boulder breaking off from it. it's very fun, and there's even some old climbing rope in there to help aid your descent

pit toilet

grapevine creek
Grapevine creek - there are two forks to this creek, both had water. The first we got to was better with lightly flowing water immediately visible across trail in the wash, filling large potholes. The second fork also had water (which I did not go down to) about 200ft down the wash from where the trail crosses. Both of these are about a mile past the spring. This is your last reliable source until the south rim, about 20 miles 5/20

Cache here
good shady spots in this wash, after the exposure of this entire last section. Would be a good area for a cache, splitting the water carry in half roughly. We had cached closer to the bridge but I think doing this again and I would rather do it here instead.

dryfall seep
some water coming out of the bottom of another large dryfall. I went around right of it, a little bushy for like 30ft forward and then some ledges to scramble down easily. it looked like you could go straight down the drywall as someone built a little rock step at the bottom, would involve a three or four foot drop though.

general store
pretty good selection of food, but wouldn't be suitable for a full resupply. definitely good enough to supplement with. Keep in mind the north rim everything doesn't open until about May 15th, and many Haydukers will be here before then with no option for resupply here.

cotezi water, hope so wash

camp spot
just after seeing tapeats creek for the first time there's a little camp spot a hundred feet or so ahead. it's about 7ft above the river (at least at its current flow rate)

turn onto old road

Tent only Campground
The tent only campground in town isn't that terrible. Could charge up, shower, and it's close to the big grocery store.

The Loop Overlook Alt
Like Horseshoe Bend, but without all the influencers

Hite Bridge
Could potentially yogi water here, or hitch to hanksville from here 47 miles, 1+ hour

Poison Spring Canyon
Poison spring canyon - (piped masonry spring & springs canyon) about 6 miles after I left the dirty devil I started seeing a lightly flowing stream. This lasted for a bit less than four miles, just a small stream running beside or across the road. I did not go searching for the piped spring itself, or the other one further up to find their sources. What was a long the road was more than great enough. 4/22

kanab creek disappears
this is roughly two miles past showerbath spring, some other reports have said less miles so just be aware that kanab creek disappears somewhere around here. it doesn't reappear for another 9 miles, a bit past Chamberlain canyon

unnamed spring
water wasn't the clearest looking but some spots were much better than others. there was a fair amount of it flowing beside the road for about a quarter mile south of here

piped spring into trough
piped spring into trough, good clean, and flowing well

Youngs Canyon
Young's canyon - flowing great, and you follow it for about a mile. First water we saw was after the very steep descent(which is entirely cairned and had a nice path) 4/20

popular rafter lunch spot

deer creek falls
100ft waterfall

cell reception
basically I had cell reception from here all the way until the end. some little pockets of dead zone but not many

lone tree creek
good water here now, flowing lightly right across the trail in the wash. the water report in the past and even my information from the rangers at GC seem to say that this is probably best to not rely on. could be dry, could be flowing, dunno if I'd trust it. they say that if you walk 20 minutes down the canyon there's a 'better chance' of water there by a lone cottonwood tree.

showers & laundromat

good shady spots once in wash
the section from Sundance trail to here is very exposed

Indian Creek
Indian Creek - very alkaline but flowing on trail in rustler canyon. I think other years it's better which depends on ranchers 'upstream' who hold water rights. One week this could be bad, and the next it could be great. We did not drink it 4/16

Needles Outpost
Needles outpost - Nice place! Super friendly. The current owners acquired the outpost in 2019 or 2020 and seem to very much enjoy the Hayduke hikers. They probably have a hiker box, there are showers, and it's just a fun little place. You could resupply here based on what they had in the store but it would be difficult. We sent a box here which I think had to be UPS or Fedex only? I would look further into that. The shipping people gave us grief about the address as well as if it didn't exist, but our package made it fine. 4/17

likely to have water
did not go look at it

wildlife tank
just off trail is like a rain collector. doesn't have the best appearance but tastes great

milk creek
Milk creek - great water flowing very well across the road, about four miles past the last source. Still little snow patches in this area so there was one other source we passed on the way to this one as well 5/25

toadstool

Indian Creek exit
Many ways out of this canyon right here can work

deer creek
there's another spot you can get water just before this by about 0.3m on the way down the hill

potential water in trough
green/rusty metal trough that looks like it holds some rain. a fair amount of water in it currently that looks good, not enough to fully submerge a water bottle but very easily scoopable. I wouldn't rely on this 5/15/2024

little waterfall

some kind of cabin? rangers?
cabin can be seen from the road, a white vehicle was over there. this might be a ranger cabin that's just not on my map

Camping outside park boundary
following the Arches park boundary here for a while, you can legally camp without a permit on the west of the fence.

Kane Springs Creek
water flowing, but doesn't look too great. There's more than enough of it though. We took the amasa back alt here so didn't see other sources that may be along the road on the main trail 4/14

possible (and likely) water
down the north bass trail is queen Anne spring which usually has water. just 0.2 miles or about an 8 minute walk down the north bass trail you'll find flowing water running across the trail. So once you get to the old historic ranger cabin, don't go down towards that but go on the north bass in the other direction.

Potholes, Waterpocket Fold Climb
Water pocket fold climb - on the baker Stevens canyon alt, after leaving halls creek to climb up the water pocket fold there were many medium sides potholes with water in them on the way up.the potholes were maybe a meter long each, some bigger some smaller. I wouldn't rely on these but it was a nice thing to come across. Passed 10+ of them on the way up. There were then another 10 or so between the top and on the way down into Stevens canyon 4/29

Mt Ellen (Hayduke Highpoint)

15ft chimney climb
a difficult chimney to climb down to get into the canyon. lowering your pack with rope and then using both sides of the walls to stem I thought was the best way, which felt safe and easy. if you haven't done stemming before this will feel awkward. pressing your back into the wall, and your feet on the other side apply pressure both ways to inch yourself down slowly. there are at least two bypasses to this climb, but both would miss out on the slot canyon portion of round valley draw and if you wanted to see it then you'd have to do an out and back. the chimney climb used to be easier as a log aided the downclimb, but with floods this entire canyon has gotten harder as certain things wash away, and large boulders have now served to block the path here or there. nothing else is nearly as difficult as simply getting inside the canyon though