Experiencing all of Utah's many colors...

Day 216
10-9-2006
Started: Posey Lake Road, UT
Finished: Awapa Plateau, UT
Today's Miles: 27.0
Total Miles: 3190.5

Utah is definitely showing us all of its colors! There's nothing quite like starting your day dressed in a pair of shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt and ending your day dressed in every piece of clothing you have with you. That's how our day progressed today as the temperatures were in the very pleasant 50's this morning and barely in the 30's this evening. From the moment we stepped out of our tent this morning the sky was definitely threatening storms but we did manage to enjoy a couple early morning hours that were precipitation free. We were paid a friendly visit this morning by a local Park Ranger named Gabe. He thought for sure we were pushing a child with us and wanted to check in and make sure we knew we were definitely headed into the backcountry. He, like everyone else, was relieved to see we had no child in tow and we enjoyed spending a few minutes talking with Gabe about our journey and listening to the good local knowledge he offered concerning our day's hike. It wasn't long after saying goodbye to Gabe that Mother Nature once again released her fury upon us. At first what fell from the sky was just a good soaking of rain, no thunder or lightning, just wet. Then, about an hour later the temperatures began to drop and the rain turned to a chilly hail. The hail probably lasted for about an hour too until the temperatures dropped even more and we eventually found ourselves walking in a full blown snow storm. It is hard to believe that yesterday we were sweating in shorts and tee-shirts, having to reapply sunscreen throughout the day, and today we were walking in a small blizzard. Most of the day today we walked along the Awapa Plateau and remained at an elevation of about 9000ft all day. The snow was quite beautiful as it blanketed everything around us. Unfortunately it got way too cold and snowy for us to even consider stopping for a break, so we ate lunch on the move while we tried to consume calories and keep our body temperatures warm at the same time. We are still having to push our cart to carry water and our relationship with it has evolved from a love- hate relationship to a strictly hate- hate relationship. Although it has now survived its first snowstorm, and has certainly been very good to us, Randy will tell you first hand that it is no fun to push it through four inches of snow. The dirt roads quickly became a soggy mess early in the day and then became covered in snow as the day progressed, making it very hard just to walk, let alone dragging an extra sixty pounds of water. However, our cart did give us the opportunity to meet two very nice local gentlemen today. Roger and his dad were actually out looking for their sheep today, and not having much luck finding them, and discovered some very odd looking tracks in the snow and thought they had better investigate. They too were very happy to see that we were childless and told us they just had to see where the two of us were headed. After telling Roger and his dad about our journey they offered us some local advice on our route for the day. They told us of a road we had passed a couple of miles ago that would be great walking and would even lead us to our next town stop with fewer miles in between. After discussing our original plan with Roger and his dad we decided that we would accept their offer of a ride back to the turn off we missed and continue hiking into town from there. Of course, Roger and his dad offered to take us all the way into town, but we explained to them that we have walked every step thus far and plan to walk every step west. We're sure on a day like today especially, that concept is hard to understand for most people, but our goal is to walk from from ocean to ocean, not drive it. We thanked Roger and his dad for their kindness and continued off into the wintry mess that was all around us. As the sun was getting lower in the sky we were both feeling very fatigued and slightly chilly so we made a beeline for the first and only set of trees that we'd seen all day. After two hundred plus days we are pretty practiced at setting up camp and today we worked quickly as a well oiled machine to set up our tent and get out of our soaking wet clothes without drenching the few dry items we have. We jumped into our sleeping bags right away in an effort to get feeling back in our hands and feet as quickly as possible. By the time we were warm enough to get out of our bags to eat some dinner, the snow had just about stopped. The temperatures are in the mid thirties and it is definitely going to be a cold night. Although our sleeping bags are very warm, the ground beneath us feels like a block of ice. In fact, Sheri hasn't been able to sleep on her side in weeks because her hips go numb from all the walking we do, and she swears she is able to lay on her side tonight because the cold ground feels like an ice pack and has taken care of numbing her sore hips. The condensation on our tent is quickly turning to ice and we are as bundled up as we can possibly be. The good thing is, the last time we checked outside all we could see was a star filled sky, so we are keeping our very cold hands and toes crossed that the sun will warm us back up and dry us out tomorrow.


Your Friends on the ADT,
Randy and Sheri
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