Miles Hiked: 19.7
AZT progress: 456.3
Even though I was the last to get to camp last night, I was still packed up and hiking before any of the other hikers were awake. This is a pretty common experience for me. I often enjoy hiking all day long from before sunrise to just after sunset. It’s easy to add an extra ten miles everyday this way. The trail immediately climbed up to the top of a mesa today and it was very rocky. I felt like I had to do mental gymnastics and pay very attention to my footing so I didn’t trip on all the lava rock. My body felt really sore and tired. I only had 20 miles to town. It feels like the last section has been the hardest section of the whole trail. Many people broke up the long food carry by doing a logistically difficult and annoying resupply (in my opinion) from the sunflower/ bushnell tanks trail head. I would much rather just carry my food straight through. I know that this section is the longest food carry of the whole trail if you don’t break it up at 112 miles however most of my carries after this one will be around 100 miles as well. I took a breakfast break at a trough of water and filtered some water to drink as well as had peanut butter and ramen noodles for a breakfast meal. I only had two protein pucks and a serving of protein powder left for food otherwise. I’ve been rationing my food the past two days to make sure I could make it to Pine. I think the cold weather has made me hungrier than usual and I ate almost all of my extra snacks the first two days.
The lava rocks felt never ending today and the trail dropped down off the mesa to a creek before climbing back up again. I could see the mogollon rim I will be climbing up tomorrow far in the distance. I made it to Pine at 2:30pm. I walked straight to the brewery that my friends send my packages to. It was only 0.3 miles off trail. I sat down with a bunch of hikers I didn’t know and ordered a flight of six different beers as well as a salad and brisket sandwich. It was here that I finally met a girl named “Late Start” that I have been hearing about for a while. I found out the brewery didn’t have my box and it might be at the post office so I hurriedly are my food and drank my beers so I could run a mile down the street before the post office closed. Upon arrival at the post office I learned that they had one of my packages but the other one must be back at the brewery. How frustrating. It’s not the first time I’ve literally ran miles around a town to track down a package. This is why I often opt to just resupply myself. I was really looking forward to this resupply sent by some friends I have in Bozeman as well as my rain jacket and alpha direct hoodie that I asked my fiancé to give them. I dropped my things in the tiny cabin I rented in the center of town before running back to the brewery. I ordered another beer as well as desert and picked up my box while hanging out with the crew that was still there. My friends sent me the best resupply ever with the sweetest notes. It felt like the pick me up I really needed after a tough section. After finishing my desert I walked back to the cabin and layed down for the rest of the day. I did most of my town chores after 10pm at night.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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