First drop into slot canyon Round Valley Draw

We left Escalante early so I could get to the trail head at Round Valley Draw. I had quietly debated whether or not to do this slot canyon...one with many drops where you have to lower your pack and then find a way to down climb. But, in the end, decided to do it as it was such a feature of this section.

When I did get to the slot canyon, I must have stood there for ten minutes screwing up my courage. I didn't throw the poles down at first, because I knew once they were down there I was committed. I was checking out my route down - where I'd place my feet, what hand holds there were for me. Finally, down went the poles. Then I lowered the pack using the rope I had with me. Finally, it was my turn. This one wasn't as bad as it looked, as there were places for my feet and hands to hold on or stabilize. Once down, back on goes the pack. I thought I'd have some time before the next drop, but just seconds later - another one. And on and on. More drops than I'd thought. And, this slot was NARROW. Sometimes there was a path to walk on, other times, you squeezed through space in the rock walls. It was really hard...I was both physically and mentally exhausted by the end. It's only about 1.5 miles, but took about 2 hours to get through because of the effort and time it takes to take the pack off, lower it, get myself down, undo the rope, pack on, MOVE! I have to say I was relieved when the slot finally seemed to open up. But, there were still two more drops! On the last one I banged my coccyx bone (lower sacrum) on the rock wall - boy that smarted. It's still sore. I think I deserve a medal for going through Round Valley Draw slot by myself! So there. I stopped to cook a hot meal when I finally got through.

The end of Round Valley Draw and beginning of Hackberry Canyon featured a wide deep sandy wash with light colored rock walls. Basically, it had little elevation change, but was still tiring walking in the deep sand. That went on for several miles. Found water in a creek marked reliable on my maps. The middle section of Hackberry wasn't as scenic - more brushy with greyish rock. This is where I ultimately camped after reaching the spot I had planned to stop. It had been very windy that afternoon - sand blowing in my face all day. It was supposed to rain that night and clouds were forming, but I had time to set up, batten down the tent (got to have BIG rocks to hold the stakes in), and eat. I was snug in my sleeping bag by 6pm and fell promptly asleep. At 8pm I woke to a rain shower which probably lasted about 20 minutes or so. I fell back asleep hoping it would'nt be raining when I had to pack up in the morning. It was still pretty windy.

Lucky me -- it hadn't rained again and the wind had almost dried the tent. I was up early and it was too dark to get going, so I made coffee and had some food before packing up at first light. Hit the trail by 6:30am.

The lower part of Hackberry Canyon did not disappoint. It got narrower and more beautiful. The creek continued the whole way down canyon and the walls of the canyon now reddish closed in. You had to constantly cross the creek or walk in the creek, as there were sheer rock walls on each side. Cow presence everywhere though I didn't see any specimens. I did have to pass through a couple of gates. The one thing, the cows have created paths you can walk on through brush! They are good for something. There was one waterfall to get beyond. At first, I considered scrambling over the boulders but I could not see the final drop from where I stood. Decided to follow the cow path up...smart move...those cows don't scramble over rock -- they take the path of least resistance. That got me easily over the waterfall obstacle. Phew.

The rest of the canyon was stunning and in the last half mile or so I walked in the creek. It wasn't very deep, rarely more than just over my shoes. The 3 miles from the end of Hackberry Canyon to the Paria River was unexceptional. A not so interesting walk in a wash. I tried to walk over spits of land to cut off as many bends in the wash as I could.

Finally, the Paria River - very silty. I wouldn't want to have to drink that stuff...Only 2 miles to go to where Yeti would pick me up. The Paria was great: red imposing cliffs. The canyon began very narrow, so lots of river crossings. More water depth and current here, but not scary. Just had to be more attentive. I wandered up river -- many crossings. The canyon opened up a lot to a wide plain with sage brush and the usual desert shrubs and occasional trees. I was following a straighter path than the track on the GPS, but that might have gotten me in trouble towards the end. I got to the dirt road and followed it to where the car was...but no Yeti. As feared, he'd walked in to meet me. Always tricky on these kinds of routes. Even with the GPS track you could be 40 feet apart and not see each other. I did a dumb thing and put my pack in the car (I had keys) and TURNED OFF MY MINI. Big mistake. Yeti could have seen my position if I'd left it on. I actually started walking back on the track trying to find Yeti as he was going back to the car to find me! We wasted about 30 minutes with that drama. Anyway, I learned not to turn off the Garmin Mini and stay at the meeting point and WAIT.

Oh well. On to Kanab to get something to eat. I was starving. I had only snacked as I didn't want to use up a lot of time to cook a lunch. It rained and snowed on the way to Kanab. And, the temps starting going down. We had a great meal at the Rocking V Cafe - we'd eaten there the last time we'd been in Kanab. Then off to Cannonville to the RV Park where I'd booked a rustic cabin for two nights. We move over to Tropic for 2 nights after that. I hope we manage to get to Willis Creek on one of these days to day hike the Narrows - only about 4 miles round trip.

Then, we will be going to Bryce Canyon National Park only a few miles from Tropic. I'm doing both Hayduke route and some additional hikes there. We will be at Ruby's RV Park and set up our big tent. Hopefully, Yeti will hike with me a bit - that's the plan. So far so good with the ankles/legs - no problems. But, boy I can tell how tired I am. Not in thru-hiker condition. My strategy of lower miles and more days off seems to be the way to go. Fingers crossed and I may actually make it to the end this trip.