Bikepacking the Aquarius Trail, days 1 & 2 (of 6). A great back-country adventure!

Here are the first 2 days of our 6 days bikepacking adventure on the Aquarius Trail.

The Aquarius Trail is a route put together and supported by the Aquarius Trail Hut System, a series of 5 huts located on public land that tie together a number of single track trails, forest roads, and gravel roads into a 6 day adventure across some of the most scenic parts of Southern Utah. We arrived in Brain Head, UT on Sunday and shuttled our vehicle to the route’s end in Escalante. Brian Head is a ski resort town located about 40 minutes from Cedar City, UT, and sits at about 9700 ft (2956 m) in elevation. We shuttled our vehicle to the end of the route (Escalante), enjoyed a local festival, and stayed the night in one of the local hotels.

Day 1 started with a spicy climb up to the peak of Brian Head (11,307ft / 3446m). We later learned that most people stay in Escalante and shuttle themselves to the top of the climb to start rather than climbing out of Brian Head. The trails were passable, but we did numerous short snow traversals. The views were astounding with many wide open vantage points. We rolled through vast high meadows where the abundant wild flowers were in full bloom for a few hours before enjoying the amazing Bunker Creek single track descent which drops 3000ft (914m) over 12 miles (19km). We arrived at the Hatch Hut late in the day, having covered 38 miles (61km) having descended down to 7300ft / 2225m.

Day 2 started with 2500ft / 762m climb through Proctor Canyon to the top of Sunset Cliffs. The rocky outcrops kept the ride interesting and the beautiful cliff lines made for a nice pay-off. The day was almost entirely dirt and gravel roads. We ended the day at the Butch Cassidy Hut, sitting at 7800ft / 2377m, having covering about 30 miles / 48 km for the day.

All my bikepacking video can be found here.[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaiawYjP8XM&list=PLEezexXioMhvnnJJ0y5m7axk7wgAPdVxu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaiawYjP8XM&list=PLEezexXioMhvnnJJ0y5m7axk7wgAPdVxu)