Miles Hiked: 33.5
AZT progress: 619 miles
Today I woke up a bit groggy at 6am. I started packing up all of my things and I heard Tim yell that breakfast was ready. I walked out of the cabin in my sun hoodie and joined everyone at the breakfast table. I had a coffee while Tim cooked my pancakes and everyone else finished up theirs. Tim made the best pancakes. I chatted with everyone while we ate. Getting to sit at a breakfast table surrounded by trail community is one of my favorite things. Tim offered to take me to trail as soon as breakfast was over so I finished eating and went to continue packing. Tim, Melody, Martin and I were all in the car around 7:20 am. I was dropped off first at the Taco Bell where we took some pictures And I gave everyone hugs. I didn’t want to leave Tim and Meoldies so bad. I was so sad to say goodbye. Staying at Tim and Meoldies has been hands down my favorite part of the whole AZT so far. They felt like family and made me feel like I was home even though I am so very far from it.
The first 15 miles of my hike was so easy! The Flagstaff urban trail was way better than I remembered it being. After Taco Bell I continued down a street for about 1 mile before the trail became a very nice walking path through a beautiful ponderosa park with good views of the surrounding mountains. There were a few people out for runs, on a bike or walking their dogs. At Buffalo Park there was a memorial for Dale Shelwater the person who created the AZT. I was able to shave off possibly a mile of hiking today by looking at my map closely and taking some short cuts within the urban trails system. The place was a spiderweb of trails. I wondered if the people who come here all the time know them by heart or not just because there are so many trails. Flagstaff reminded me a lot of Bozeman and made me very thankful for where I live. After skirting the city on the urban trail, I rejoined the official AZT and started going around the snowy Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona at 12,500 feet. You can see the Grand Canyon from the top. As I approached the highpoint of the trail today where there is a trail junction to Humphreys Peak, around 9,000 feet, the trail became covered in snow. I post holed and slowly navigated for about 8 miles today. It was exhausting. I wasn’t expecting this much snow at all. There was no information about it in the comments or on Facebook. It felt like the snow just went on for so long because I didn’t know when it was going to end. To be fair, eight miles on snow is right where I start to think “this is a lot of snow”! I barely took any breaks in the snowy section because I didn’t want to sit down in the snow. I really don’t think that many AZT thru hikers have made it past Flagstaff just yet. I think I’m in one of the first groups of people to get north of Flagstaff and that is why I hadn’t heard much about the snow.
Finally the snow ended and I was Five miles from Kelly Tank. This a water cache that Tim, Melody, and their friend Michael run. I knew there would be water here because they stocked it yesterday. I filled up on four liters because the water situation looks very dry ahead. I walked another three miles because it was easy terrain and I was already warm from hiking. The temperature is supposed to drop below freezing tonight so I anticipate sleeping in a little bit tomorrow. More miles tonight wouldn’t hurt. I was feeling so fresh today after my zero. The only thing on my body that hurt when I got to camp was my lower back, but it did hurt pretty bad. I took a weird sideways step today and it just triggered this crazy back pain for me. I’m hoping it won’t be an issue. I set up my tarp just because I was camping completely alone and it makes me feel a little safer. I have felt very uncomfortable sleeping by myself outside recently. I don’t like it. For dinner I made a black bean soup thst had 34 grams of protein!! As well as 84% of daily dietary fiber. I was super happy about that. I added some sharp white cheddar cheese to make it fancy and drank a hot chocolate protein drink. Right before bed I actually wrote my big for once. Tonight I am using the silk sleeping bag liner for the first time. Apparently it adds 10 degrees of warmth. I really hope so because it’s already so cold tonight.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
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