Miles Hiked: 37
AZT progress: 262
Beehive Well to Kearney
I hardly slept at all last night. I was already awake before my alarm went off at 4am hoping I could get a few more hours of sleep but it didn’t happen. I got out of my soaking wet sleeping bag and tent packed up and hit the trail by 4:30. I had a big goal today. 37 miles to town and I wanted to get there before 7pm so I could hitch in the daylight. I really wanted to get some good sleep tonight and make some miles in the other goal of catching up to some of the faster people in front of me. The desert was very humid and felt creepy to me this morning as I hiked down a wash and then into rolling cactus fields. I played my music out loud on my phone and counted the minutes until sunrise. There were little mice hopping all over the trail and so many jackrabbits everywhere. I want to imagine that the mice I saw were kangaroo mice but I’m pretty sure they are the size of rats. I’ll have to find out when I get Internet. Unexpectedly I slipped on some wet vegetation. My hand arm and hip went straight into a cholla cactus. I hadn’t even thought about falling on a cactus before. The spines hurt to go in but felt even worse pulling them out. Luckily I had gloves on so it helped lessen the damage. I spent the rest of the morning pulling the barbs out of me as I walked. They were itchy too. The sun finally rose around 6:30am and everything in the desert stayed wet well past sunrise. It’s rained so much over the past few days. I’m used to the desert being so dry that my nose hurts. This was a new experience. I listened to podcasts to pass the time and by 8am I arrived at a rain water collector set up by the AZTA. I was really excited about this water source. The AZTA built it about a year or two ago in an effort to make water more reliable in a very dry stretch of trail. It collects water in a giant tank that sunlight can’t get into so no algae can grow and there is a spigot on the side as well as a trough for wildlife to access if there is an excess of water although it is surrounded by barbed wire so I’m confused how the wildlife would get inside the fence easily. I’m assuming the fence is to keep the cows out as they can make things pretty dirty. At the rain collector was also a really nice shaded bench as well as quite a few people camping who had just woken up.
I continued on into the endless rolling cactus fields. Throughout the day the cactus varied from cholla forests, to just prickly pear and mesquite, sometimes ocatillo and I was back into saguaro territory by the end of the day. The trail crossed many washes and oftentimes turned into a dirt road. Today very much reminded me of the Great basin in Wyoming but the cactus version. A couple of times there were some interesting boulders but really not much changed until the end of my day. I was getting pretty tired of the boring cactus fields. Eventually it was finally hot enough that things started to dry off and I took a break to dry out all of my soaking wet gear. I’m glad I stayed dry under my tarp despite the rain last night but I definitely wouldn’t want to do multiple days of rain in it, without a chance to dry off my things I would not be doing very well. The day felt endlessly long as it turned into afternoon and I felt impossibly far from town. My legs started to ache a bit and I stopped more often to take breaks. I backpacker radio episode with Nick Fowler really lightened my mood. I got water from a cow tank of sorts with a spigot 12 miles from town. After this the trail started gaining elevation and things got way more interesting. There were really pretty flowers and I ended up on an amazing ridge with awesome views of the surrounding mountains and a big colorful mine. I was so surprised. Everytime I really start to hate a part of the Arizona Trail such as the endless cactus fields or mesquite cattle range lands the trail redeems it’s self by going through an absolutely amazing part. I was so glad the trail got better right at the end of the day. I really needed the mood booster to help me get to town. As I was descending towards the Gila River trailhead I ran into a girl named Duckling and we hiked the last four miles to town together. Honestly we had a total blast and she shared that she was just as lonely as I was. We chatted the whole way walking quickly as the sunset. I didn’t want to hitch in the dark. She taught me a new flower called apricot mallow. I was wondering what it was all day and I always love learning new plants from people on the trail. When we got near the road we could tell that it clearly was not a very busy one. I gave “Old Time Pizza” a call as the word on the street was that they love picking up thru hikers from the trail. A lady named Jodi picked up the phone and excitedly told us she would be there in 15 minutes. Wow. I was already shocked by how nice they were about picking us up.
When we got in the car at 6:30pm Jodi talked to us the whole way into town telling us about the pizza business, Que the trail angel we were staying with and and how the thru hiker season was going. Apparently there were 12 hikers in the pizza place today. I was surprised. I don’t think I’ve seen that many hikers anywhere yet. I was fully expecting Ques place to be empty but I couldn’t be more wrong there were a total of eight other hikers staying there. After I dropped off my things I very tiredly walked 0.7 miles to the pizza place but first I stopped at a convenience store nearby and got a protein shake, an Arizona iced tea, and a Gatorade rehydration drink. At the pizza place I ordered a salad from the salad bar, one slice of pepperoni, a piece of garlic bread and a beer. It was all $14. I couldn’t believe how cheap it was. I can’t remember the last time I got a beer anywhere for $2 or any food for so cheap. It was the best town meal I’ve had on the trail so far and I was so happy about it. I feel like I haven’t gotten good food that I actually like anywhere until now. Kearney really lived up to my expectations. At the pizza place I signed the log book and read about how Kearny wants to be the friendliest trail town on the AZT. I called Val as I walked back to Ques place. I was absolutely delirious sounding on the phone but it was so good to talk to him. I hung up when I got to Ques expecting everyone to be in bed but instead Que herself was outside on the patio surrounded by all the hikers and talking about what her and her husband do to support AZT hikers and their future plans to travel the country in an RV and give trail magic out of it. Absolutely amazing. I felt at home for the first time on the whole trail. These are some of the moments I love the most about thru hiking. I went to bed at 10pm it was such a a long day for me. I slept on a very nice living room carpet 80s style shag but new feeling right next to Ques very sweet dog. I was so happy and I slept incredibly. Kearny was everything I needed.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
Des Hikes Thru 