Here is a report we provided to the Ranger in charge of the backcountry in Bryce:
Kathy and I hiked the UtRim trail Fri-Sun, from Rainbow Pt to Bryce Pt. We stayed at Natural Bridge and Sheep Creek campsites. As you had noted, the trail was passable, with some blowdown in areas, mostly to the south. One large tree had branches cut off beneath. There was also 3 areas where rain runoff threatened the trail. We can provide more detail or pictures if you want. We tore down 2 of 3 illegal fire rings, all in the 3 Yellow Creek sites. The guys we met at YC group site said they would tear their's down. A camper had alerted us to them and wondered why the park would be encouraging fires and trash by their presence. They had packed out the trash they found from one of the fire rings. Intermittent streams were running in many places, one most notable was just south of Iron Springs, this would be a better water source than the spring itself when it's running. Two more interesting notes: we met a thru-hiker of the Hayduke trail (900 miles) and 2 different reports of mountain lion tracks near Yellow Creek group site, one guy told us there were both adult and baby tracks. We couldn't spot them for ourselves as we hiked out. We encountered 16 other campers, including 3 of the group of 8 staying at YC group site, all had permits although we didn't inspect them, and all seemed to be knowledgable about handling things in backcountry. We enjoyed our trip, it was a great weekend and will be interested in doing it again.
Added note: The long distance hiker we met went by the trail name "Dogwood". He chuckled when we told him ours were Tenderfoot and Brownie D. (D for dropout). When we first encountered him on the trail, we asked him where he was headed, he replied "Zion". We thought he was joking, but then found out that he was doing the Hayduke Trail (name comes from Edward Abbey's character in "The Monkeywrench Gang"). Before he gets to Zion though he dips down into Arizona and goes to both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon. He started his hike on April 11, and encountered deep snow in the Henry Mtns. He also got sidetracked near Capitol Reef by going into the wrong canyon, he is only traveling with topo maps and compass, which can be tough in canyon country. He bemoaned the fact that his error cost him a full day. All he wore on his underside was hiking shorts, he admitted it was tough when he was postholing. He also wore light weight low cut trail shoes. He had a 7 ounce wool bivvy sack, he said it was very warm. He had a tarp but rarely used it. Sometimes he has to carry 25 pounds of water, he noted that Utah is very dry. So he can't always travel light. We talked with him at length about lightweight backpacking options. He has done all the other major long distance hikes, and said that not many more than ten have thru-hiked the Hayduke. We later met two other guys who had camped with Dogwood the night before. They spent the evening talking with him, said he was very interesting and since he had not talked with anyone in nine days he was very keen on talking. We wish we had been there, but hopefully we get a chance to spend time with another l.d. hiker, they are an interesting lot. We helped Dogwood with what to expect with water on the UtRim trail, and later I wish I had offered him the rest of our trail mix that never got eaten that day. We wish him well as he continues on his journey, finding water will be his biggest concern but he will complete it we have no doubt.
P.S. Today we were back at work, although our supervisor Jan counted our time on the trail this past weekend as 'time served'. The number of volunteer hours = $$ at the parks. But today I thought that some of the visitors at the VC seemed to be a little more annoying than usual. I guess those days happen. Jan felt the same and said yesterday was similar. I expect not all days will be so, just some. Tonight we heard 'Dox' talk about migrating birds at the Evening Program. Birds are amazing, wherever they are. Dox says that any day can be a good (and amazing) day, just go out and see what the birds are doing.
Kathy and I hiked the UtRim trail Fri-Sun, from Rainbow Pt to Bryce Pt. We stayed at Natural Bridge and Sheep Creek campsites. As you had noted, the trail was passable, with some blowdown in areas, mostly to the south. One large tree had branches cut off beneath. There was also 3 areas where rain runoff threatened the trail. We can provide more detail or pictures if you want. We tore down 2 of 3 illegal fire rings, all in the 3 Yellow Creek sites. The guys we met at YC group site said they would tear their's down. A camper had alerted us to them and wondered why the park would be encouraging fires and trash by their presence. They had packed out the trash they found from one of the fire rings. Intermittent streams were running in many places, one most notable was just south of Iron Springs, this would be a better water source than the spring itself when it's running. Two more interesting notes: we met a thru-hiker of the Hayduke trail (900 miles) and 2 different reports of mountain lion tracks near Yellow Creek group site, one guy told us there were both adult and baby tracks. We couldn't spot them for ourselves as we hiked out. We encountered 16 other campers, including 3 of the group of 8 staying at YC group site, all had permits although we didn't inspect them, and all seemed to be knowledgable about handling things in backcountry. We enjoyed our trip, it was a great weekend and will be interested in doing it again.
Added note: The long distance hiker we met went by the trail name "Dogwood". He chuckled when we told him ours were Tenderfoot and Brownie D. (D for dropout). When we first encountered him on the trail, we asked him where he was headed, he replied "Zion". We thought he was joking, but then found out that he was doing the Hayduke Trail (name comes from Edward Abbey's character in "The Monkeywrench Gang"). Before he gets to Zion though he dips down into Arizona and goes to both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon. He started his hike on April 11, and encountered deep snow in the Henry Mtns. He also got sidetracked near Capitol Reef by going into the wrong canyon, he is only traveling with topo maps and compass, which can be tough in canyon country. He bemoaned the fact that his error cost him a full day. All he wore on his underside was hiking shorts, he admitted it was tough when he was postholing. He also wore light weight low cut trail shoes. He had a 7 ounce wool bivvy sack, he said it was very warm. He had a tarp but rarely used it. Sometimes he has to carry 25 pounds of water, he noted that Utah is very dry. So he can't always travel light. We talked with him at length about lightweight backpacking options. He has done all the other major long distance hikes, and said that not many more than ten have thru-hiked the Hayduke. We later met two other guys who had camped with Dogwood the night before. They spent the evening talking with him, said he was very interesting and since he had not talked with anyone in nine days he was very keen on talking. We wish we had been there, but hopefully we get a chance to spend time with another l.d. hiker, they are an interesting lot. We helped Dogwood with what to expect with water on the UtRim trail, and later I wish I had offered him the rest of our trail mix that never got eaten that day. We wish him well as he continues on his journey, finding water will be his biggest concern but he will complete it we have no doubt.
P.S. Today we were back at work, although our supervisor Jan counted our time on the trail this past weekend as 'time served'. The number of volunteer hours = $$ at the parks. But today I thought that some of the visitors at the VC seemed to be a little more annoying than usual. I guess those days happen. Jan felt the same and said yesterday was similar. I expect not all days will be so, just some. Tonight we heard 'Dox' talk about migrating birds at the Evening Program. Birds are amazing, wherever they are. Dox says that any day can be a good (and amazing) day, just go out and see what the birds are doing.
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