It was Christmas Eve and I’d failed to get a nap in at Hurky Huffman/Bull Creek WMA. I couldn’t fall asleep because I kept watching the traffic on on US 192. The idea was that we’d night hike the road walk into Christmas, and doing it overnight instead of sleeping would mean less traffic.
Only it wasn’t slowing down.
It was 9pm when we walked into traffic. The giddiness and adrenaline pushed us through the dangerous late night traffic in a half hour. But that was only the first two and a half miles that were on the extremely busy US 192, with most of the rest of our night hike being on a semi deserted road that cut through the Mormon Deseret Ranch property. So there was no stopping for the large 26 mile section in the middle, and certainly no camping.
The traffic was thin, the sky was clear, and the moon was bright. The road mostly cut north, and we followed the North Star into Christmas, most of us wearing everything we owned. A cold front was pushing through and we were going to be hitting near freezing temperatures on the overnight walk. But nobody complained. Spirits were high.
We walked the middle of the road as much as possible, talking back and forth, listening to music from an excellent playlist chosen by Roundabout to set the mood after everyone went silent, absorbed in the beauty of the night sky.
After the temperature dropped below 40 F our pace started to slow. By the time we were through the Mormon ranch the temperature was closer to freezing and everyone was ready for some kind of break.
We found a break in the trees along Nova Road, before turning ontoSR 520, the last stretch into Christmas. It was a quiet little spot where locals discarded garbage too large for the dump, but for us it was the perfect group cowboy campsite.
None of us setup our tents. We laid out, under the stars and promptly fell asleep until sunrise.