Miles Hikes: 32
AZT Progress: 512.9
General Springs Cabin to Wild Horse Tank
I didn’t get moving until after 6am today. I think last night was the coldest night on the whole trail and I could hardly sleep. Plus my body was really sore from hiking non stop from 2pm to 10pm yesterday to get a full day from town after leaving really late. I think it’s been hard to recover since I just immediately lay in my sleeping bag after hiking because it’s so cold. It helps so much when I’m able to stretch before bed but my body temperature has been dropping too fast once I get to camp to do that. I opted to walk a forest service road for the first five miles of the day rather than the trail because according to Far Out comments the road was more snow free. The road went up and down small hills and followed power lines. I would occasionally have to walk on a big snow drift for a bit before getting back onto dirt tread. I was able to do a big glissade down one of the snow patches. It was a lot of fun. Once I met up with the trail again it was mostly dry. There was mud here and there but it wasn’t bad, mostly tacky. Ten miles into the day I passed Clear Creek which I believe is the last flowing water source that I will see for a while. I took off my shoes to cross it and the water was painfully cold. I actually hiked this section from Pine to Flagstaff four years ago in the fall and I remember this creek being completely dry. It’s wild to see it looking dramatically different with a strong current halfway up my shins.
The terrain the rest of the day was incredibly flat and wandered through a ponderosa pine forest. I absolutely loved the massive trees and the soft pine needle bed that it provided. I took a lunch break at a campground where I drank some coffee with two Czech ladies named Lena and Alena. They were so sweet and I was so happy for their company. They were the only people I saw all day. Shortly after that I crossed a paved road where a trail angel left some magic in one of the resupply boxes. I grabbed and orange and a tequila soda. It was a great pick me up especially after coffee with the other hikers. The water sources in this section now mostly consist of earthen “tanks”. These are often like very large mud puddles. They have all been full but it is usually hard to get to the water and you have to get your feet very muddy to do so. I’ve been trying to get water from any other source as my filter is already very slow and I like to avoid the mud. I saw a few elk and camped at wild horse Tank. I was hoping to walk farther today but I was just really tired and wanted to set up camp before dark. I actually pitched my tarp tonight which was nice.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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