AZT Day 4: Santa Rita Mountains and Goodwill in Dead Cow Country

Miles Hiked: 24.6
AZT progress: 77
Casablanca Trailhead to Kentucky Camp

I slept well under my tarp at Tera Sol in Patagonia. The extra Mexican blankets they provide campers kept me extra cozy last night. My tarp was wet from condensation, something I hadn’t thought about yet. I crawled out of my sleeping bag at 6am with two hours to get my things together and publish my last blog posts before leaving town. I drank some hot instant coffee mixed with two packs of chocolate protein breakfast essentials. Sort of like hot chocolate with nutrients. Before I knew it, it was time to get back to trail. I took the campground shuttle with two other men named Gandalf and Matt. I’ve only met older gentlemen on this trail so far it’s been interesting. Usually I meet a lot of other people around my age and I have yet to meet a single female hiker.

We all got dropped off at the Casa Balance AZT trailhead at 8:10am right where I got off trail and hitched in to town. This trailhead marks the beginning of passage #4. I got the opportunity to hike and chat with Matt for a mile and a half before we parted ways. It was the first time I got to hike with someone on trail! The trail once again mostly went through exposed cattle country for most of the day. I noticed that the underfoot of the trail was immaculate. Perfectly smooth and graded well with some many little curves and hills for mountain bikers. Oh how I would love the chance to ride a bike here although I have no interest in picking up mountain biking in the extreme sense. I stopped for a break and Matt was surprised when he caught up to me cramming a peanut butter Nutella wrap into my mouth. We decided to hike together a bit farther. We came to the water source I was planning on filling up at and I took a photo opportunity with four cow skulls all lined up. The source was good but not the best. A pool with algae and cow bones in it and some flow. When I went to filter my water it was coming out one drop at a time. What the heck! I have religiously taken care of my filter ever since I got it being careful to sleep with it on nights below freezing and spending five minutes at each town stop back flushing it with hot water. I felt so stupid I hadn’t tested it out before the trail. On top of that I didn’t bother to bring a back up water purification on a trail known to have nasty water sources. A sloppy mistake. Matt saved me by filtering a liter for me and giving me four water tablets which was enough to make sure I get to the next town. Thank you Matt! I plan to fix my mistake as soon as I can and cautiously carry water from the road side caches and spare the tablets for when they are needed.

Matt and I split ways here as I was planning to hike quite a bit farther. I was really motivated to make it to Kentucky camp with the promise of a chance to sleep inside a building on a stormy night. The rest of the day I passed way better water sources to choose from in beautiful canyons and washes with lots of vegetation. I felt really silly. I thought all the water was the prettiest part of the Santa Rita mountains. I can see these sources easily drying up in the heat of the summer. I took lots of breaks the rest of the day as my feet really started to hurt. The familiar ache. I always expect the first week on trail to be the worst as far as body pains go and then it gets a bit better but my feet hurting are a consistent problem. I also have a tendency to roll both of my ankles really hard and fall down forward which has already happened so many times on this trail. It really hurts my ankles and knees when it happens but I tend to get up and recover well. I did end up needing to use an ankle brace on the PCT it got so bad. Something about my balance with a pack on I think. It rarely happens when I’m trail running or hiking without a pack. The AZT in particular has many perfectly round rocks to roll your ankles on.

Around dinner time a couple riding mules stopped to chat with me as I was eating another PB Nutella wrap. They told me they met “Badass Mary” a 77 year old lady I ran into in the middle of the Great Basin on the CDT. It was good to know she’s still out hiking but it sounded like she was having a rough time. I’m curious if I will get to see her. She definitely would not remember me. The last six miles of the day followed an old gold mining ditch/ pipe all the way to Kentucky Camp. There were many signs explaining the process and how much money was spent to build an elaborate gold mining operation that was ultimately a failure. Kentucky camp is the place where all the gold miners lived. It was built in 1904 and abandoned in the 1960s. Short lived. I was so happy when I finally arrived at the much anticipated building. It was an adobe house made of earth with a beautiful wrap around porch. It was restored as a historic landmark in the early 2000s and now you can rent a building on the property to stay in. A couple named Goose and Mongo caught up to me and we all stayed in the building overnight after talking to the caretaker who was happy to have us but warned us extensively about the mice and rattle snakes. The couple wasn’t interested in talking too much unfortunately. They are the first people my age I’ve seen hiking the trail and I finally met a girl thru hiker! Mango and another lady named Kelly who I passed a few miles before camp. The both of them shared that they were injured in some way and might need to get off trail soon. I set up my sleeping things and quickly fell asleep. I was so tired today but very happy to make it to camp at 6pm and be able to sleep inside!

Happy Trails,

Early Bird