Briana DeSanctis on track to be the first solo woman to finish it
Moab is known for its outdoor activities—world-class biking, climbing, river-running—and, believe it or not, thru-hiking. The American Discovery Trail connects the east and west coasts of the United States, bringing hikers from the Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Pt. Reyes National Seashore in California: In over 5,000 miles, hikers travel through national scenic and historic trails, metropolitan areas, national parks, and through Moab, Utah. Briana DeSanctis, who has been walking the trail for over a year and a half, will be the first woman to finish the entire thing solo: she stayed in Moab for one week to prepare for the desert trek ahead.
Coming down into Moab, DeSanctis followed the Kokopelli Trail: the biggest challenge, she said, was dealing with the August heat.
“I was going over the Continental Divide [in Colorado] at altitude—I was almost always at 11,000 feet. And then you start to come down in elevation and it just starts getting hotter,” DeSanctis said. “I remember when I first started to make my way toward Grand Junction and Fruita, and I was like, oh, it’s getting real.”
For a few days, she said, she was dealing with heat exhaustion: she found herself shivering in the middle of the day. The trail’s exposed route through Utah totals 593 miles—DeSanctis has nearly 1,300 total to go before she finishes.
She relies on water caches left by Bob Palin, the Utah American Discovery Trail Coordinator, who drops a cache of water every twenty or so miles. That reliance made her nervous, she said: there’s nearly no other option to get water if something goes wrong. Palin sends her the coordinates for each drop, along with a description of the area—usually, he hides them a bit off trail so they’re not found by passing bikers or runners.
“Sometimes it’s buried in the sand and you have to dig it out, or sometimes it’s under a pile of rocks,” DeSanctis said. “Then you carry everything with you: when I walked into Moab, I had three empty gallon water jugs strapped to my backpack.”
On the Kokopelli Trail, she hardly saw any other trail users until she reached town.
From Moab, DeSanctis will walk Kane Creek Road, cross Hurrah Pass, follow the Lockhart Basin Trail to Canyonlands National Park, pass into Bears Ears National Monument, and finally reach Hite, where she’ll be able to resupply after 174 miles. The trail is split into four other stretches of resupply areas: Hite to Boulder (89 miles), Boulder to Circleville (74 miles), Circleville to Beaver (28 miles), and Beaver to the Nevada State Line (115 miles).
DeSanctis spent most of her rest week in Moab at the post office, she said, figuring out supply drops. When walking on the trail, she averages 20 miles per day: She’s tentatively hoping to be finished with the trail by the end of this year.
“I really, really love Moab,” she said. “This community is really great, and until I came here this time, I didn’t realize all the resources you guys have, from having a really nice library and public swimming pool and recreation facilities. I’m extremely happy to be here, and everybody that I’ve met has been absolutely wonderful.”
You can follow along with DeSanctis through her column (published through a local paper in Maine, the Daily Bulldog, www.DailyBulldog.com), or on Facebook at “Rocky Mountain High on the American Discovery Trail” (www.Facebook.com/RockyGoesHiking).
