Miles Hiked: 35.8
AZT Progress: 112.8
Kentucky Camp to Gabe Zimmerman TH
This morning I walked outside of Kentucky camp to hail frozen on the ground but the sky was completely cloudless. I was so happy! This is the first time the sky has been completely clear and it hasn’t looked like it’s about to or is actively storming since I started. The trail followed a road for the first three miles today before it began to meander through first range cattle area with mesquite and then more cactus than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The whole day included complete exposure to the sun with very little shade. Almost no plants were higher than my shoulders except for the skinny branches of the ocatillo cactus.
Three miles in to the day I passed a guy breaking down camp and he started chatting with me. Turns out he started on the same day as me and has plans to finish around the same time. His trail name is “Homeless Guy”. I asked him how he was enjoying his dynema tarp and then he shared with me that he is attempting to break the unsupported FKT (Fastest Known Time) record for the Arizona trail. This is an absolutely wild feat. There are three different styles in which one can complete an FKT and unsupported means that he can’t rely on any other resources at all besides what he is carrying with him in his backpack. He has to carry all of his food with him for 800 miles straight, a solar charger for his phone, and he can’t use the water caches at the trailheads like I have been. The Arizona trail is actually the longest unsupported FKT ever set before and only one person has ever done it. There is a really great back packer radio interview with the guy that I will link below. I asked if I could try to pick up his backpack and he let me. I could barely get it off the ground and thought I was going to hurt my pack. It was like the scene from the movie “Wild” if you remember Cheryl Strayed trying to stand up with her monstrous pack. “Homeless Guy” shared that he needed to be hiking about 30 miles a day but it’s taken everything he can do to hike 20 so far. His pack eventually will get lighter and I know he should get faster. I bet I will see him again on this trail if he is successful. It was really cool to meet someone trying something so wild and difficult.
After passing him I grabbed three liters of water and ate breakfast at the box canyon trailhead before continuing on. Now I had 23 more miles to my next cached water source for a total of a 30 mile day. The cactus land was cool but I was so tired of it after a few miles. I was so happy that I got to talk to both my sister and my friend Pop Rocks on the phone today. They gave me a good deal of company. I passed mile 100 and for the first time ever I didn’t even celebrate it. I think I was just grumpy about the endless miles of cactus. Today was still good but not my most favorite day on trail.
By 7pm I finished up my 30 miles with an amazing sunset. I decided to keep hiking five more miles since I wanted to have a shorter day tomorrow and be closer to town in case I needed to go in and resupply or fix my filter situation. I am really hoping I can do both of those things at Colossal Cave which is right on trail. I was glad to night hike a bit in the low desert. Ever since I saw the mountain lion the first night I’ve really been avoiding night hiking. The second paved road crossing of the whole trail was at mile 106. The night was so warm and nice since I was so low in elevation now.
I crossed under interstate 10 through a very long tunnel before arriving at the Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead where I planned on camping. By this point I was feeling totally exhausted and ready to set up camp anywhere but I really wanted to make it somewhere that there might be another person camping. At the trailhead, I saw a person walk by with a can of beer in my headlamp. Immediately I was on edge thinking it was a group of local kids being trouble makers and partying at the trailhead. The man comes up to me and hands me the beer and introduces himself as being part of the Arizona Trail Association. There were a few others there as well. They were so excited to see me. Turns out they just finished up a big fundraiser. We chatted for a while and I learned that I was talking to the head of the Arizona Trail Association. It was so cool to meet the person in charge of such an amazing trail organization that does a really great job of taking care of the trail. I was so loopy from my long hot hike today and then the beer it was funny. Eventually they left me to myself and I set up camp alone. I was so happy to cowboy camp for the first night in this trail! And glad to be done with my very long day. Things were hurting a bit.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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