Hayduke Trail Hiking Data and Stats

I’ve decided to put out my Hayduke Trail hiking stats to help future Hayduke hikers (Haydukers or Haydookies) plan their trips and manage their expectations.

There’s so much variation in the Hayduke that you could literally “hike the Hayduke” twice and have not only a completely different experience each time (a spring vs. fall hike, for example), but you could also have minimal physical overlap in the trail you’re on from one hike to the next. Often, people refer to the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) as a choose-your-own-adventure trail, but the CDT is a far second to the Hayduke when it comes to adventure choosing.

Before delving into the data, it’s worth pointing out a few key features of my Hayduke hike: I hiked in spring, it was a higher-than-average snow year, I took an extended break to go on a rafting trip and let Grand Canyon creek levels drop, and I packrafted 60.18 mi / 95.85 km of the route. But more on all this below.

Notes on My Hike

The Hayduke – more than many other long-distance hikes – is a route filled with alternates, detours, side quests, and optional adventures that make each person’s thru-hike unique. I wager it would not be easy to find two people who hiked the Hayduke (not together) and ended up taking the same route (regardless of the time it took them).

Here are the notes to remember when reviewing the data from my Hayduke thru-hike.

• On Day 3, in the tables below, I only hiked 4.05 mi / 6.52 km because I left Moab in a thunderstorm and then thought to myself, “Why the hell am I leaving town in terrible weather?” I hitchhiked back to town (you’re on a paved and then a dirt road leaving Moab), stayed the night, and left the next morning after the storm.

• The distance from Moab to Needles Outpost is a bit off from a more traditional Hayduke hike because I hiked from Moab to a beach south of Basecamp Adventure Lodge via the official route and then hiked back to Moab via the Jackson Hole Alternate. I then hiked from Moab back north to the Colorado River and packrafted down to Basecamp Adventure Lodge. Why? Good question. More on why you shouldn’t do this here.

• I took a double zero in Hanksville, not because I wanted to but because I had to wait for a phone to arrive at the post office (I do not trust overnight shipping to these small towns). This second phone was my backup navigation device in case my primary phone failed.

• I took an extended break from the Hayduke (to raft the Desolation Gray Canyons section of the Green River) after reaching Jacob Lake (Days 35-45). This was to (hopefully) allow the creeks in Grand Canyon National Park some time to recede, as they were all still running high from the spring snowmelt.

• The North Kaibab Trail (the typical route out of the Grand Canyon after stopping at the South Rim) was closed due to rockfall. This forced me to take an extremely circuitous route, first hiking west from Grand Canyon Village to the South Bass Trail, down the South Bass Trail to the Colorado River, where I had to hitch a ride on a raft to cross, and then up North Bass Trail to reconnect with the Hayduke at Muave Saddle/Teddy’s Cabin. This was further complicated because it took nearly 24 hours to find a safe place to cross Shinumo Creek, which was in flood.

• Long story short: other Hayduke hikers met me and the people I was hiking with at Hack Canyon Trailhead (with a vehicle), and we ended up hiking a shorter day (May 25, Day 59) and going into Kanab to spend the night/resupply. This is not a typical place where people hitch into town, although it is possible (but may be difficult). It is less than 40 mi / 64 km from this spot to the next resupply spot in Colorado City/Hilldate (also, Colorado City/Hilldate is called Colorado City/Hilldate because it straddles the Arizona/Utah border. Colorado City is in Arizona, and Hilldale is in Utah; however, they’re essentially the same town as far as Hayduke hikers are concerned.

• The original route the Hayduke follows into Zion National Park at the trail’s western terminus is closed indefinitely due to rockfall. Instead of hiking to the highway in Zion and hitchhiking through the tunnel to finish, I hiked north out of Hilldale/Colorado City through the Canaan Mountain Wilderness into Rockville, then west from Rockville, and then north into the western half of Zion before taking an off-trail route over a pass (Around Zion Alternate) and then hiking the West Rim Trail down into the valley.

Hayudke Alternates

There are a ton of alternates on the Hayduke Trail (I’ll cover them in more detail in a separate post).

The following is an overview of the alternates, detours, shortcuts, or side quests I completed during my Hayduke thru-hike. Yes, it’s a lot.

• Devils Garden Alternate in Arches National Park (to begin the route)
• Unknown Alternate bypassing Lower Courthouse Wash in Arches National Park
• The Jackson Hole Alternate south of Moab (this was hiked in reverse back to Moab after hiking the main Hayduke route to where they intersect)
• Needles Outpost/Visitor Center “Fast” Route in Canyonlands National Park
• Salt Creek to Beef Basin Alternate (to Peekaboo Connector Route) in Canyonlands National Park
• Peekaboo Connector Route (to Heart of the Needles Alternate) in Canyonlands National Park
• Heart of the Needles Alternate (from where it connects to the Peekaboo Connector Route back to the main route) in Canyonlands National Park
• An early route up from the Dirty Devil, which connected to a road that intersected the Hayduke
• A lower route through the Henry Mountains along Henry Mountains Road (there was a lot of snow in the Henrys
• Under Tarantula Alternate
• Reese Saddle Shortcut
• Upper Paradise Alternate
• Bryce Canyon Extension via Tropic
• Made up alternate paralleling Arizona Trail south to Jacob Lake after climbing up to Kaibab Plateau south of Stateline Campground
• A low route via Buffalo Ranch/Houserock Road to reach the Nankoweap Trail Trailhead and then reconnect with the Hayduke at the Grand Canyon National Park boundary
• South Bass Trail to North Bass Trail in Grand Canyon National Park (because the North Kaibab Trail was closed)
• Forest Service roads from North Bass Trailhead to Bill Hall Trailhead to Thunder River Trail to bypass Tapeats Creek
• Water Canyon Road and trail north out of Colorado City/Hilldate to Around-Zion Alternate
• Zion Traverse West Extention into Zion National Park (from Around-Zion Alternate) from the west

Totals and Averages

• Total Days: 64
• Zero Days: 19 (see above if you skipped here and are wondering why I took so many zeroes)
• Hiking Days: 46
• Nearo Days (< 10 mi / 16 km): 6
• Total Distance Hiked: 894.54 mi / 1,439.62 km
• Total Elevation Gain: 116,628 ft / 35,548 m
• Average Daily Pace (hiking days only): 19.45 mi / 31.1 km
• Average Daily Elevation Gain (hiking days only): 2,535 ft / 773 m
• Median Elevation Gain: 111 ft/mi or 21 m/km
• Miles Packrafted: 60.18 mi / 95.85 km
• Total Distance Covered: 954.72 mi / 1,536 km

• Resupplies: 9
• Average Distance Between Resupplies: 106.08 mi / 170.72 km

• Longest Day of Hiking: 32.72 mi / 52.65 km with 984 ft / 300 m of elevation gain (you’re not reading that incorrectly; it was absurdly flat) from Lick Wash to Stateline Campground via Upper Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass with an average elevation gain of 30 ft/mi or 4.5 m/km
• Most Elevation Gain in a Day: 6,532 ft / 1,991 m over 16.11 mi / 25.92 km from Shinumo Creek to Muav Saddle via North Bass Trail (this is not part of a typical Hayduke hike – I was forced to do this because the North Kaibab Trail was closed) with an average elevation gain of 405 ft/mi or 77 m/km

• Times Snow Encountered: 4 – Dark Canyon Plateau, Henry Mountains, Bryce Canyon National Park, Kaibab Plateau (North Rim of Grand Canyon)

Town Data (Imperial)

		Distance (mi)	Elevation Gain (ft)	Days	Nights
Start	Moab	31.72	3,304	2	1
Moab	Needles Outpost	81.50	10,637	3	2
Needles Outpost	Hanksville	113.12	13,127	5	4
Hanksville	Escalante	129.84	13,455	6	5
Escalante	Tropic	124.95	11,929	5	4
Tropic	Jacob Lake	108.48	12,786	4	3
Jacob Lake	Grand Canyon Village	103.07	19,166	5	4
Grand Canyon Village	Kanab	136.17	20,418	8	7
Kanab	Colorado City/Hilldale	30.09	1,542	3	2
Colorado City/Hilldale	Finish	51.51	9,738	3	2

Town Data (Metric)

		Distance (km)	Elevation Gain (m)	Days	Nights
Start	Moab	51.04	1007	2	1
Moab	Needles Outpost	131.13	3242	3	2
Needles Outpost	Hanksville	182.01	4001	5	4
Hanksville	Escalante	208.91	4101	6	5
Escalante	Tropic	201.04	3636	5	4
Tropic	Jacob Lake	174.54	3897	4	3
Jacob Lake	Grand Canyon Village	165.84	5842	5	4
Grand Canyon Village	Kanab	219.10	6223	8	7
Kanab	Colorado City/Hilldale	48.41	470	3	2
Colorado City/Hilldale	Finish	82.88	2968	3	2

Data Table (Imperial)

Day	Hiking Day	Date	Miles	Gain (ft)	Total (mi)	Cumulative Gain (ft)	Packraft (mi)
1	1	March 28	14.09	1,575	14.09	1,575	0
2	2	March 29	17.63	1,729	31.72	3,304	0
3	3	March 30	4.05	125	35.77	3,429	0
4	4	March 31	30.32	3,045	66.09	6,474	0
5	5	April 1	6.72	302	72.81	6,776	0
6	6	April 2	4.16	99	76.97	6,875	0
7	7	April 3	26.13	5,020	103.10	11,895	19.22
8	8	April 4	25.05	2,572	128.15	14,467	0
9	—	April 5	0	0	128.15	14,467	0
10	9	April 6	22.90	2,808	151.05	17,275	0
11	10	April 7	26.63	3,100	177.68	20,375	0
12	11	April 8	20.79	3,097	198.47	23,472	0
12	12	April 9	28.82	2,583	227.29	26,055	0
13	13	April 10	13.98	1,539	241.27	27,594	0
15-16	—	April 11-12	0.00	0	241.27	27,594	0
17	14	April 13	14.71	4,669	255.98	32,263	0
18	15	April 14	24.88	2,421	280.86	34,684	0
19	16	April 15	25.61	1,529	306.47	36,213	0
20	17	April 16	20.82	2,572	327.29	38,785	0
21	18	April 17	0	0	327.29	38,785	0
22	19	April 18	12.98	2,264	340.27	41,049	26.03
23	—	April 19	0	0	340.27	41,049	4.81
24	20	April 20	10.95	3,501	351.22	44,550	0
25	21	April 21	22.71	2,070	373.93	46,620	0
26	22	April 22	30.03	2,851	403.96	49,471	0
27	23	April 23	30.84	1,765	434.80	51,236	0
28	24	April 24	30.42	1,742	465.22	52,978	0
29-30	—	April 25-26	0	0	465.22	52,978	0
31	25	April 27	21.00	5,135	486.22	58,113	0
32	26	April 28	27.87	3,104	514.09	61,217	0
33	27	April 29	32.72	984	546.81	62,201	0
34	28	April 30	26.89	3,563	573.70	65,764	0
35-45	—	May 1-11	0	0	573.70	65,764	0
46	29	May 12	22.95	1,837	596.65	67,601	0
47	30	May 13	20.18	3,717	616.83	71,318	0
48	31	May 14	19.09	4,006	635.92	75,324	0
49	32	May 15	26.60	4,780	662.52	80,104	3.53
50	33	May 16	14.25	4,826	676.77	84,930	0
51	—	May 17	0	0	676.77	84,930	0
52	34	May 18	27.47	1,677	704.24	86,607	0
53	35	May 19	7.96	2,146	712.20	88,753	0
54	36	May 20	16.11	6,532	728.31	95,285	0
55	37	May 21	27.36	3,760	755.67	99,045	0
56	38	May 22	15.94	1,713	771.61	100,758	0
57	39	May 23	9.37	1,585	780.98	102,343	0
58	40	May 24	24.02	1,883	805.00	104,226	0
59	41	May 25	7.94	1,122	812.94	105,348	0
60	42	May 26	11.28	741	824.22	106,089	0
61	43	May 27	18.81	801	843.03	106,890	0
62	44	May 28	21.82	4,613	864.85	111,503	0
63	45	May 29	14.16	3,474	879.01	114,977	0
64	46	May 30	15.53	1,651	894.54	116,628	0

Data Table (Metric)

Day	Hiking Day	Date	Km	Gain (m)	Total (km)	Cumulative Gain (m)	Packraft (km)
1	1	March 28	22.67	480.21	22.67	480.21	0
2	2	March 29	28.37	527.17	51.04	1,007.38	0
3	3	March 30	6.52	38.11	57.55	1,045.49	0
4	4	March 31	48.78	928.41	106.34	1,973.90	0
5	5	April 1	10.81	92.08	117.15	2,065.98	0
6	6	April 2	6.69	30.18	123.84	2,096.17	30.92
7	7	April 3	42.04	1,530.58	165.89	3,626.75	0
8	8	April 4	40.31	784.19	206.19	4,410.94	0
9	—	April 5	0.00	0.00	206.19	4,410.94	0
10	9	April 6	36.85	856.15	243.04	5,267.09	0
11	10	April 7	42.85	945.18	285.89	6,212.27	0
12	11	April 8	33.45	944.27	319.34	7,156.54	0
12	12	April 9	46.37	787.55	365.71	7,944.09	0
13	13	April 10	22.49	469.24	388.20	8,413.32	0
15-16	—	April 11-12	0.00	0.00	388.20	8,413.32	0
17	14	April 13	23.67	1,423.56	411.87	9,836.89	0
18	15	April 14	40.03	738.16	451.90	10,575.04	0
19	16	April 15	41.21	466.19	493.11	11,041.23	0
20	17	April 16	33.50	784.19	526.61	11,825.42	0
21	18	April 17	0.00	0.00	526.61	11,825.42	41.88
22	19	April 18	20.88	690.29	547.49	12,515.71	7.74
23	—	April 19	0.00	0.00	547.49	12,515.71	0
24	20	April 20	17.62	1,067.44	565.11	13,583.15	0
25	21	April 21	36.54	631.14	601.65	14,214.29	0
26	22	April 22	48.32	869.26	649.97	15,083.55	0
27	23	April 23	49.62	538.14	699.59	15,621.69	0
28	24	April 24	48.95	531.13	748.54	16,152.82	0
29-30	—	April 25-26	0.00	0.00	748.54	16,152.82	0
31	25	April 27	33.79	1,565.65	782.33	17,718.47	0
32	26	April 28	44.84	946.40	827.17	18,664.87	0
33	27	April 29	52.65	300.02	879.82	18,964.89	0
34	28	April 30	43.27	1,086.35	923.08	20,051.23	0
35-45	—	May 1-11	0.00	0.00	923.08	20,051.23	0
46	29	May 12	36.93	560.10	960.01	20,611.33	0
47	30	May 13	32.47	1,133.30	992.48	21,744.63	0
48	31	May 14	30.72	1,221.42	1,023.20	22,966.05	5.68
49	32	May 15	42.80	1,457.41	1,065.99	24,423.46	0
50	33	May 16	22.93	1,471.43	1,088.92	25,894.89	0
51	—	May 17	0.00	0.00	1,088.92	25,894.89	0
52	34	May 18	44.20	511.31	1,133.12	26,406.20	0
53	35	May 19	12.81	654.31	1,145.93	27,060.51	0
54	36	May 20	25.92	1,991.59	1,171.85	29,052.09	0
55	37	May 21	44.02	1,146.41	1,215.87	30,198.51	0
56	38	May 22	25.65	522.29	1,241.52	30,720.79	0
57	39	May 23	15.08	483.26	1,256.60	31,204.06	0
58	40	May 24	38.65	574.12	1,295.25	31,778.18	0
59	41	May 25	12.78	342.09	1,308.02	32,120.27	0
60	42	May 26	18.15	225.93	1,326.17	32,346.20	0
61	43	May 27	30.27	244.22	1,356.44	32,590.42	0
62	44	May 28	35.11	1,406.49	1,391.54	33,996.91	0
63	45	May 29	22.78	1,059.21	1,414.33	35,056.12	0
64	46	May 30	24.99	503.38	1,439.31	35,559.51	0

Wrap Up

The Hayduke Trail is by no means straightforward. Because of the variation between hikes, it isn’t easy to compare one Hayduke thru-hike to another. I honestly didn’t think I strayed too far from what would be the “standard” Hayduke thru-hike until I put this together.

This is one reason why the Hayduke is not a route for first-time thru-hikers and should only be attempted by experienced backpackers who have learned to adapt on the trail and can adjust plans on the fly (honestly, one of the best skills you can develop for prolonged outdoor adventures).

If you’re planning to hike the Hayduke, hopefully, this will help answer some of your questions, like, “How long did it take you to get from X to Y?” or “What was your average daily mileage?” It’s good to remember that all this data is based on just a single hike (mine) and that you may have a much different experience than I did.

Is there any data I missed? Is there anything that would be helpful to include? Comment below and let me know; I will respond and add it here. Alternatively, if you hiked the Hayduke, share your data, and maybe we can get enough to put together some interesting comparisons.