Miles Hiked: 30.3
AZT Progress: 404.4
I woke up with ice on my sleeping bag this morning. It was so cold last night I could barely sleep. My knee was a little stiff and swollen still but no where near as bad as I thought it might be. I packed up my things in five minutes shivering the whole time. I didn’t get warm until I was about a mile down the trail that continued on the dirt road. The trail eventually descended down into a small canyon and towards highway 87. There were great water sources all morning and right before the highway I passed a lot of very skiddish cows. Learning of a shin deep creek crossing ahead, I decided to take a small alternative route around the creek to avoid getting my feet wet. The alternate serves as a junction for hikers to walk to Bushnell Tanks trailhead on the side of the highway where you can hitch to Payson for a resupply. I didn’t plan to go to Payson and my feet still got wet on the hard to follow alternative route with it’s own water crossings. I was annoyed I wasted my time and wished I had just stayed on the AZT. Since I was alreay so deep into getting side tracked off the trail, I walked to the trailhead to see if there were still any sodas left according to comments on Far Out. Luckily there were some Dr. Peppers and Cokes still sitting at the trailhead so I sat down to enjoy one while I filtered some water and dried out my soaking wet sleeping bag in the sun. The soda at least made my added on extra mile worth it.
Back on trail with soaking wet feet I hiked through the highway 87 underpass. The trail continued through more mesquite farmlands and I stopped to grab water and have lunch around 15 miles into the day. I said hi to a man walking southbound and he unprovoked told me that “the last 15 miles have sucked!”. Oh boy I thought, I wonder what’s ahead or how grumpy this guy actually was. The trail ascended towards the Mazatazal Wilderness and the underfoot turned to loose rocky shale and now all the vegetation was dense manzanita bushes or sharp spiky cattsclaw lined the trail. At first I really didn’t like this part but as soon as the trail got higher in elevation the views were awesome. I felt very exposed to the weather and very remote. The Mazatazals are one of the oldest and largest wilderness areas in the state. The trail was often overgrown in parts and I went through a tunnel of vegetation. I passed the halfway marker of the trail around golden hour and I continued hiking until the very last light and I set up camp in the dark on a ridge in a little spot tucked away between manzanita bushes and a cactus. I made a hot beverage of high protein breakfast essentials and protein powder. I shivered as I tried to fall asleep. Another very cold night on trail.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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