Sometimes it can feel like you’ve covered every base, then realize none of your bases were covered. Like, at all.

After a week of constant “Ah shit I forgot to buy…” trips to the store to load up for the Pony Loop, a little 184 mile goober of a hike in the super rural west desert of Utah, today was allegedly showtime. I woke up relatively early and packed up the car, complete with basically every gallon of water in existence, and drove west. As we passed the Oquirrh mountains our car was blown around by an abnormally windy day with gusts reaching 45+ mph. It’s gonna be a dusty desert day, I guess.

We drove through Tooele for one last store stop and to top off the gas tank. Shortly after Tooele, there’s only one gas station, then an endless expanse of desert with no services until well within Nevada and even further south into Utah. There’s nothing out here, which is what made it such a unique candidate for a long distance hike.

We left he highway behind and turned onto the dirt road that is the Pony Express Trail, and stopped at the top of the mountain where we realized my dad – who volunteered to kinda just hang out and help set up water caches as I do not have a car of my own – realized the GPX files I sent him didn’t fully download, so he had no way of navigating to my waypoints. We sat up at the pass mulling our options over, varying from “well we could just wing it in the beginning section” to “Nah that’s not really a good idea” and ultimately decided to drive back a little ways to an area with cell service so we could fix his maps.

With these issues fixed, we pushed into the flat dusty and unreal abyss that is the majestic west desert. It’s not home to anything particularly outstanding like the unique rock formations of the famed southern deserts of Utah like Moab, but in its own right stands on its own neck and neck in my humble opinion. In many ways I’d argue I prefer it over the grand spectacles of Utah’s National Parks. It’s quiet. Life flows out here almost unaltered. It didn’t have to adjust to a major influx of tourists visiting established parks. It’s just a dirt road, endless miles of desert, and nothing else. Except… a lot of wind. Like, heaps of it.

We pushed in a fair ways and left a cache in what felt like the center of the universe, and decided we probably shouldn’t push further on until we had some gas cans on hand. His car could make the whole loop I’d argue, but I also do at least attempt to also argue for safety. Especially when you’re in the middle of nowhere with no real backup emergency services. We decided to head back to Simpsons Springs Campground that’s 20 miles into the route – which I’m happy to report has actual real life flowing water from spigots! I also checked the trail register to see if my log in the book from when I took my dog out there on our last wilderness hoorah was still there, and I’m happy to say it was. We sat there for an hour mulling over our options and decided to head back home for the day as it’s a mere hour away and start anew tomorrow, complete with enough spare fuel to survive a Mad Max-tier event just for funsies, or.. y’know.. to at least be able to complete the loop with enough spare fuel to make it back to civilization.

We drove back as a thin veil of dust swept through the Wasatch Valley leaving hauntingly beautiful light rays shining across the mountain tops. A day full of vast expanses and wild animal spottings including a small herd of wild horses. To be completely honest, I felt nothing last night. Maybe a hint of excitement, but it’s because I don’t really hold a ton of enthusiasm for really anything anymore that I’m doing this. It’s been years of me being stuck in a funk and there’s nothing better to kick yourself back onto the horse, or to even find the horse in general, than a long distance hike. Frankly, it’s just been too long since I’ve done something like this. My last ultra was in 2023, and my AT section hike was that same year. I deal with normal life by turning my brain switch off and just gray-blobbing my way through it, it isn’t until I get back out doing things like this that I start to feel like myself. After seeing what’s waiting, I’m happy to report I don’t think I’ll get much sleep tonight because I am so freakin excited.

Tomorrow’s the big day! Due to the nature of this place being – as I said – insanely remote, I won’t have service. I’ll be writing the journal entries on trail, but they won’t get posted until I get back. See y’all on the other side 🙂