Miles Hiked: 25.7
AZT Progress: 288.2
Kearney to Rain water collector
Passages: 14 – https://aztrail.org/explore/passages/passage-16-gila-river-canyons/
I woke up at 5am this morning feeling incredibly rested. I got my clothes in the laundry and started cleaning out my food bag as soon as the other hikers in the living room started moving around. I learned that people were getting back on trail leaving at 8am and I wanted to be ready to go. I got a shower, sorted through the hiker box, looked at the map and calculated what food I needed to get for the next resupply, and used my brand new fuel transfer tool to transfer fuel into a mini fuel can and get it completely filled. I haven’t had to purchase any fuel on this trail. I’ve been using half filled cans from hiker boxes the whole time and it’s been awesome. At 7:30am I walked to the IGA grocery store with Roo, kazoo, Wrong way, Nashville and Sauguro. A man literally stopped us on the way to take our pictures and asked us to sign his hiker book. At the IGA I bought some bagels, hummus, m&M’s, and some drink mixes for my resupply. They also gave out a free doughnut and coffee for hikers as well. A man named Gary drove all of us to trail and chatted to us the whole time. I heard a lot of stories about how nice he was when I was in town. Apparently he is the old owner of old time Pizza and Jodi his daughter who picked us up yesterday now owns it. He spends all day driving hikers around town and to the trail just because he loves to. When we all got to trail I realized something was terribly wrong. I forgot my trekking poles. I felt so scared without them and hoped no one would take them from where I left them outside the IGA. I was distracted when my pack got thrown into the back of Gary’s truck. He very graciously drove to back to town and then right to the trail again even though I offered to wait until he needed to make another trip for more hikers. When I got out of the car he gave me a hug it was so sweet.
I felt absolutely rejuvenated once I was back on trail. It was 9:30am after all the driving around and talking to Gary at the Grocery store for so long before we left. I could tell it was going to be at hot day. There was a pep in my step despite my pack being absolutely loaded down with four liters of water and a full resupply. I was carrying water 26 miles today to the next rain water collector. I was very excited to get some good water there. The only other water I would see on trail today would be the Gila River which is reportedly very murky and dirty water and recommended to avoid if possible. On top of that all the water access points involve getting around a barbed wire fence. No thanks. For the first 17 miles today the trail went over rolling hills and in and out of washes along the Gila River. There were many saguaros and I thought these were some of the tallest ones I’ve seen. I got a glimpse of the very brown and muddy Gila River next to the railroad tracks the trail had been paralleling most of the day from the top of a small hill. I took a break at noon in a little rock nook that was the only shade I’d seen all day. The hiker named Sagaro caught up to me as I was leaving and we shared some miles together. It was so nice and made the time fly by. We finally caught Roo, Kazoo and Wrong way taking a break in an awesome shade spot. It was nice to see so many people on trail who were all planning to hike a big long day just like me. This is the first time I’ve ran into anyone hiking remotely close to my pace it was great. Everyone blasted off and I hiked the rest of the day alone. I drank all four of my liters of water by the end of the day. I had to be slightly careful to not drink it too fast because it was so hot but I never got dehydrated. I ended up seeing three different rattle snakes today and they all scared me so bad. They would aggressively rattle and coil up ready to strike the second I was them and I would run backwards as fast as I could heart pounding. They blend in so well with their surroundings it’s almost impossible to see them until they rattle at you. I’ve never seen so many in one day. The trail reached it’s lowest point of the whole 1800 miles near the Gila River at 1,646 feet. Right after this point the big climb of the day began. I strategically took a break here.
The trail got even prettier once it started to climb. It entered an amazing canyon like area. I got closer to the top of the climb around golden hour and I watched one of the prettiest sunsets I’ve ever seen as I hiked the last few miles. I stopped and took a ton of pictures. I couldn’t believe how long it lasted and it just kept getting better and better. I wished I could have camped on one of the many camp spots on the ridge but I really needed water. The last two miles I had to use my headlamp in the dark. I really don’t enjoy night hiking on this trail but I felt better known there would likely be people at camp when I got there. The sun now sets about 15 minutes later than when I started as well. I saw some nighthawks sitting in the middle of the trail again. They are such cool birds. I got to rain water collector at 7:45pm and set up camp in the last spot left. I didn’t talk to the people much because everyone was going to bed but it was so nice to be around other people. The stars were incredible and I could hear people snoring which made me feel comfortable. I even cowboy camped tonight. Today was a really good day that I needed so bad.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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