Author: Derek Honeycutt

While continuing to hang out nearby Zion National Park another week, I decided to spend my weekend doing a good amount of solid hiking. Saturday morning, I woke early and headed out to the Kolob Canyons to do the 14 mile trek to Kolob Arch and back. Sunday, I then did the 20.6 mile trek to Deertrap Mountain and back, via the East Entrance.

Friday afternoon, I decided that I had had enough of the cold around Bryce Canyon and headed down to St George and Zion National Park. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, I visited the park, hiking to the Emerald Pools, Angels Landing, the arch at the end of Hidden Canyon, and Observation Point.

On Friday, I decided that I had enough with Moab and moved on. Over the course of the weekend, I ended up visiting National Bridges National Monument, the proposed Bears Ears National Monument, Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area, Capital Reef National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Bryce Canyon National Park. I finally found a campsite at Cabin Hollow to spend the cold week ahead.

After arriving at Hamburger Rock Campground Saturday night, I headed to the Elephant Hill Trailhead early Sunday morning, set out to hike to Druid Arch. I had actually not received any particularly compelling reason to hike this particular route, but I enjoyed it so much that I ended up also including most of the Chesler Park and Joint Trail loop as well, making for a 15.7 mile hike! This is now easily one of my favorite hikes of all time, making me remarkably happy to complete it. Finally, I even made it back to Willow Springs Road to setup camp again before dark.

Friday afternoon, I decided to pack up and head back to Moab for a weekend of hiking and fun. Staying a night at the familiar Willow Springs Road that night, I woke early and headed into Arches National Park to do the Devils Garden Primitive Loop hike. Once complete, I headed to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, finding a campsite at Hamburger Rock, just outside of that park.

On Friday, I decided to leave my campsite outside of Winnemucca, NV. I wanted to spend the weekend again exploring the Loneliest Highway In America: Nevada’s section of US-50. I didn’t make any actual plans, choosing only to hit the road and see where it took me. Seeing artifacts of the old Pony Express and taking in the views of the road, I finished with a day in Great Basin National Park before heading across Utah to Grand Junction, CO.

On Friday, I left my campsite outside of Bend, OR, and I headed to Southeast Oregon. I found myself driving through the recently newsworthy Malheur National Wildlife Refuge before finding a campsite at the Western base of Steens Mountain. I woke up in the morning Saturday to explore the mountain and then head down to Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. Finally, Sunday, I headed into Winnemucca and founding camping in Water Canyon just outside of town.

After boondocking in Snoqualmie Pass and visiting Seattle, I ended up deciding to move to just outside of Hanford Reach National Monument. I spent a good week and a half there before moving on to visit John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which I absolutely fell in love with spending the day there. However, as there is no cell service there, I had to move on to Bend, where I also dropped by Newberry National Volcanic Monument today.

On Tuesday, I woke up in my hotel room in Walla Walla, and set off to the local tire shop. After getting the tire repaired, I set off to a campsite for the week, finally ending up on the Western side of Snoqualmie Pass, at a free boondocking spot in the National Forest.