AZT week 4 (10/13 - 10/19)

10/13 390. Mineshaft, amazing views, met Solo at night, the sign, halfway!, different plants each mountain face including a bit of snow on a shaded side. 

10/14 413. Saw a sleeping tarantula next to me when I woke up. G-whiz caught up to me. Got some trail magic at the underpass. Met a trail crew. Saw pheonix at night. 

10/15 Roosevelt Lake 441. Long ridge road walk in the morning. Hiked past the four peaks. Pushed in to get some food. Ended up night hiking by moonlight. I could see the glow of the bridge and dock lights. Stealth camped behind a hiker area.

10/16 451. Took a while at the marina in the morning. Ate breakfast, charged my battery, bought resupply, and jumped in the lake. On trail, I saw some javelinas? and some cows. Passed another hiker. Unlike the AT where I had to look down to check my footing, on the AZT I have to look down to avoid spiked plants.

10/17 470. Saw a kingsnake, met a couple weekend backpackers, climbed Montana mtn, met a group of weekenders yelling to scare off an animal they thought was following them.

10/18 Superior 485, hitched in, went to a dollar general just as a shoplifter was leaving. Stayed with the trail angel MJ, who is amazing and one of the trip's highlights. 

10/19 zero in Superior, 3 other hikers showed up. Had some good BBQ, and good rest.

This week has been a lot of mountains, and cat-claw. Also some of the best views so far. Tucson here I come!

AZT week 3 (10/5 to 10/12)

10/5 235 + 5 urban trail. It was a rainy day, so I started late in leaving Flagstaff. I waited out most of the rain and left around 11. There was so much mud on the trail, and it started up raining again while I was hiking. I ended up pitching my tent under a tree on some relatively solid ground.

10/6 253, double springs campground near Mormon Lake. Sticky mud trodding most of the day. 

10/7 271, resupplied and re-charged at mormon lake. I was there for about 3 or 4 hours. Saw a lot of cows today. Probably saw coyote tracks too. Passed a hiker I knew. 

10/8 295, blue ridge campsite. met a nobo, drizzle at camp, camped at another closed campsite. Feels a bit strange to be the only one up here, but the water is still flowing. I still feel like I'm carrying too much food, and can improve my resupply. I still refuse to calorie count, and I appear to be maintaining weight (although, now that I mention it, I haven't been able to check for a while) 

10/9 321. Climbed down the mogollan rim, 300, saw a rattlesnake, shooting star

10/10 331 Pine/Strawberry. Short popular hike to town, split a motel room with another hiker. The motel had themed rooms, and ours was Duck Dynasty themed.  Played pool at the bar next door.

10/11 347. Slow start, hitched back to Pine for breakfast, and had too much coffee. Road walked back a mile to the trailhead. Continued to go down in elevation. Much thornier brush to walk past. Water still frequent. At night it was drizzling a bit, and very windy. I saw a bunch of beetles, scorpions, and a big stickbug walking over my tent. The wind almost knocked my tent over a few times, and I didn't get much sleep. 

10/12 Chilson camp 370. Started with a descent to the East Verde River, and then a 3000 ft ascent to my first ridge of the Mazatzals. I crossed over, and was inside the range. The AZT isn't a ridge trail here, and mostly stayed to the west of the high ridges going north/south. There were several flowing springs, and amazing views. Stopped for a water break and a small nap. The trail was overgrown in a few places, but mostly easy to follow. There was an unmarked switchback, and I had to bushwack my way past it. Camped at a nice flat area. As I was eating dinner I heard an animal making sounds. I saw it from a medium distance, but couldn't fully identify it. Maybe a cat, or fox. Pointed ears and a black fuzzy tail. I haven't seen anyone else since Pine, but there are a lot of side trails through here that look like nice day hikes and overnights. 

I finally got off the plateau this week, which was a welcome change of pace. The trail has been flying by, and I'm almost halfway done. Superstition Mountains, here I come!

rejoining the equestrian route

AZT week 2 (9/29 to 10/4)

9/29 125 by wildlife tank. Plenty of elk calls to be heard. I saw horses, cows, and elk roaming around. I also saw a tarantula. According to a hunter, this weekend is the end of elk season, and the start of turkey season. According to another hiker, Juggie, its tarantula mating season.  The trail was nice and flat, with some last views of the grand canyon. I hiked the last few miles with Juggie, and we camped together near the water source. It rained a little more during the day.

9/30 Camped at mile 148. Mostly flat, saw more tarantulas. Gradual transition from pines to Junipers. Passed the old Moqui Stage Station, where people riding to the grand canyon could switch out horses over a hundred years ago. I took a slight detour to grab water from a tank, and there was a dead cow lying right next to the water. Luckily, there was another water source not far after. 

10/1 173, met trio, met photographer and two farmers (not hiking), met two bikepackers, reached the san francisco mountains, passed by many cows and fell asleep to the sounds of moo-ing, and maybe some coyotes.

10/2 2 miles of urban + 194. Woke up to the sounds of cows mooing at the sun. There was an annual 10k, 25k, 50k, and 50 miles biked race taking place on the AZT. Stumbled across it and chatted with people at a water station. I also met some nobo sectioners, going up to the grand canyon. I grabbed water at a spring near a historical mormon shack. Even though the trail climbed around 3000 feet, it was graded so gradually, with so many switchbacks, that it got a bit annoying. The bike-grading was very different from the AT, which often took the hardest path up a mountain and got there more directly. Near flagstaff, the trail splits into the Urban route, and the Equestrian route. I took the urban route which goes straight through the city, as opposed to going around. I camped just outside the city.

10/3 Flagstaff Near0, found a cheap motel to stay in, but they had check-in at 3pm. For most of the day I was walking around with my pack. I did laundry, got food, and took in the city. When I finally did get into my room, the shower was broken, so I got a free upgrade to a better room. 

10/4 Flagstaff zero, I took another day to rest before leaving. I stopped by an outfitter to replace my socks and pants that were finally falling apart after ~2400 miles. A lot of resting, and catching up on calories. I met a triple crowner, who was stopping by flagstaff for a few nights while riding around with an amtrak rail pass. I had run into him at trail days in May.

As I write this, its raining again! This record setting monsoon season is still going, and might even continue later. Monsoons typically have most of the rain in July and August, but this year its continued later. https://new.azwater.gov/news/articles/2021-30-07

sharing water with some cows

Climbing up into the mountains