Miles Hiked: 41.4
AZT progress: 660.4
I woke up to a blue sky this morning after the first night of good sleep I’ve had on trail for a while. I thought it was 7am but my clock said 5:15. It’s great to see the sun up so early! I slowly got ready. It surprisingly wasn’t too cold once I got out of my sleeping bag. I boiled water and made oatmeal while I got my whole camp packed up in my backpack. I enjoyed a hot breakfast for five minutes before starting to walk. The day continued on the dirt road I camped off of last night for another 15 miles today. I was surprised by how long the trail stayed a road for. It started to remind me of a days long dirt road walk I did while I was on the CDT in New Mexico.
Lucky for me because the trail was on a dirt road for so long, someone who was driving to set up trail magic near a trail head I had just passed stopped me and gave me a beer and an orange! Thanks Tracy! Although I really wish I had an excuse to sit down and hang out with people today, I was glad I got the trail magic while I was on the move so it didn’t interrupt my plans for a big day of hiking too much. Even though it was 10am I drank the beer. It was a hazy golden ale and I think probably one of my favorite beers I’ve ever had! Like a hazy IPA without the strong hop flavor. I saved the orange for a few more miles. After the trail left the dirt road it continued through wide open fields with some juniper trees sprinkled here and there. I passed an AZT sign designating the section as Babbit Ranch. I believe it is a private ranch that lets the trail go through it, I’m grateful it’s not on a road here! I stopped to make dinner around sunset. I continued to hike late into the night to get to Russel tank water source. Today the terrain was so flat that I really wanted to take advantage of it and hike a long day. I set up camp at 9:30 pm. The temperature dropped dramatically. Before falling asleep I made a hot cocoa with high protein breakfast essential packets. The fact that I can make something similar to hot chocolate with so much protein has been very motivating as far as getting my recovery nutrition in.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
Des Hikes Thru 