Desert hiking is a different adventure compared to anything I encountered on the Colorado Trail.  On the CT, I usually carried only 1 liter of water and went from water source to water source. On this hike, we needed to bring all our water in with us. The Green River, though close by, had steep dirt banks that made it inaccessible. I carried in two 32 oz Gatorade bottles, a 1L Nalgiene (sp?) of water, and a 2L Camelbak of water. Water weights about 2 pounds per liter, so that was quite the weight to hike down with.  The first day I drank all 2L in the Camelbak and one of the Gatorade bottles. This left the final 7.5 miles and 1800 vertical feet ascent with only 1 Gatorade and 1L of water.  Doable, but I actually had to pay attention to how much I drank.

And then we get to our trail… that follows a wash…

And me without a way to process the water… oh well.

The trail followed the wash quite well. It was nice and flat, which was good for sore bones and muscles.

Like they say, good things must come to an end.  We got to the Syncline Loop trail to start our ascent practically straight up.

We made it, and with water to spare.

We opted to hit up a Moab hostel to rest up, shower, and eat a dang good steak at the Moab Brewery.

Life is good.