Miles: 23 Steps: 47,099 Vertical gain: Strava knows! Liquid consumed: 140 oz. Wildlife: Rabbit, cattle. Faith in Humanity: numerous people stopped on the road and offered water, and I was offered a place to stay!!! Feels good to be hiking again! Gear to have days off and they sure were adventurous, but I also just love hiking and enjoying beautiful scenery and sleeping in a tent! Woke up and showered, hit the hotel breakfast where I devoured 6 eggo waffles and a cinnamon roll, and a bunch of OJ. One final pack of the backpack, and check of the hotel room and it was off to return the rental car after filling it with gas. Naomi is going to hang out in Moab a couple days before joining me at Canyonlands National Park, so she rented a car and drove me to McDonalds, which is oddly where my hike continues from. I couldn’t resist a 2nd breakfast and a buy 1 get 1 coupon made my stomach happy! I finished up a couple last minute errands on my phone and hit the road! The wind advisory issued for today was no joke! Strong winds all day long, sometimes worse than others. The scenery, however, was spectacular! Along the Colorado River for some of the hike, huge towering red walls for the entire hike. I stared in awe throughout the day! So much beauty around here, and such a unique landscape as well! Met several incredibly nice people today. A few stopped to ask if I was ok or needed water. A man and woman and two kids from northern Utah were so nice and offered me some snacks (which I declined! What’s wrong with me!!!? Especially since right now I’m so hungry sitting in my tent, haha!). One guy in a truck pulled up and host first words were “hayduker or American Discovery Trail?” Given that most people have no idea either Trail exists I knew he was cool! He quickly explained that he lived just past Hurrah Pass and said I could stay there if I wanted! How cool! He passed me again a few hours later and took my picture. Unfortunately I didn’t take him up on his offer because I need to Meet Naomi at a specific time. Usually I jump at these opportunities, but I’m very excited to have company for a few days too, so it’s all good! Hurrah Pass was gorgeous, just like the rest of the hike. I continued past the Ranch that offered a place to stay goggling a bit about how rare this is for me, and continued into the wind. Towards the end of the day clouds were really building. Was I going to see some desert rain? It was looking likely. I tried to make as many miles as possible before the sun set, and of course, about 20 minutes before sunset the trail entered a huge canyon at the very bottom! Almost everywhere up to that point the whole day was good for camping, but now the sky was filled with dark clouds and I can’t camp at a canyon bottom due to risk of flash floods! I thought I might have to night hike in the rain, but thankfully just before sunset I found a small flat patch above the canyon and quickly set up camp as it started raining. It was so windy, too! Crazy evening of rain and wind but it does down and I went to sleep. Another interesting day of Walk The Parks!