Des Hikes Thru

Miles Hiked: 34.6 AZT Progress: 547.5 I was freezing cold once again overnight at wild Horse Tank. I made coffee and crawled out of my tarp to get everything packed up. It was a cold morning and I hiked with all my warm layers on until about noon. I filled up water from a flowContinue reading "AZT Day 21: Snow Drifts"

Miles Hikes: 32 AZT Progress: 512.9General 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 aContinue reading "AZT Day 20- Ponderosa Pine Highway"

Miles Hiked: 24.5Total AZT Progress: 480.7Pine AZ to General Springs Cabin This morning I slept in until 7:30am since I accidentally stayed up way too late last night just not able to sleep and doing town chores in my room. The first thing I did was walk to the market to see if they hadContinue reading "AZT Day 19- Mogollon Rim"

Miles Hiked: 19.7 AZT progress: 456.3Even 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'sContinue reading "AZT Day 18- Pine AZ"

Miles Hiked: 32.3AZT progress: 436.6 I took a little extra time in camp this morning to make myself a hot beverage of chocolate breakfast essentials before starting my hike. I was absolutely freezing again last night and had a hard time getting any sleep at. By 6am I was on the trail continuing through theContinue reading "AZT Day 17- Solar Eclipse"

Miles Hiked: 30.3AZT Progress: 404.4I 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 shiveringContinue reading "AZT Day 16- Mazatazal Wilderness"

Miles Hiked: 28.4 AZT Progress: 374.1This morning I had a very relaxing morning at Becky's house getting ready to hit the trail. She made me and the other hiker she was dropping off a breakfast of egg sandwiches with coffee. I enjoyed mine with Becky, Scott, and Rosie sitting on the back porch overlooking Becky'sContinue reading "AZT Day 15- Four Peaks Wilderness"

Miles Hiked: 30.1AZT progress: 343.7Today's goal was to get to Roosevelt Lake before it started to precipitate predicted around 5pm as well as pick up my resupply box from my parents before the marina closed at 6pm. I started hiking at 5:10am continuing down the dirt road I camped off of last night. I hadContinue reading "AZT Day 14- Roosevelt Lake"

Miles Hiked: 28.3AZT Progress: 313.6 miles Rain water collector to Rogers Trough Trailhead RoadI wasn't able to fall asleep until 3am last night, I think because I was so cold. I woke up around 5:30 to the sunrise feeling incredibly exhausted but too tired to fall back asleep. I quietly packed up my things andContinue reading "AZT Day 13- Gila Monster Magic"

Miles Hiked: 25.7AZT Progress: 288.2 Kearney to Rain water collector Passages: 14 -  https://aztrail.org/explore/passages/passage-16-gila-river-canyons/ I woke up at 5am this morning feeling incredibly rested. I got my clothes in the laundry and started cleaning out my food bag as soon as the other hikers in the living room started moving around. I learned that peopleContinue reading "AZT Day 12: Kearny AZ and the Gila River Canyons"

Miles Hiked: 37AZT progress: 262Beehive Well to Kearney I hardly slept at all last night. I was already awake before my alarm went off at 4am hoping I could get a few more hours of sleep but it didn't happen. I got out of my soaking wet sleeping bag and tent packed up and hitContinue reading "AZT Day 11 – Kangaroo Mouse Fiesta"

Miles hiked: 8 Oracle Ridge to Oracle I only slept about two hours last night but woke up with the sunrise regardless. I thought about just going back to sleep but the thought of the incoming storm got me up and moving. All night long my tent flapped around like a parachute and the footContinue reading "AZT Day 9- Oracle"

Miles Hiked: 30AZT Progress: 191Molino Campground to Oracle Ridge mile 191 Passage 11: https://aztrail.org/explore/passages/passage-11-santa-catalina-mountains/Today felt just as incredibly long as it was. It started with my alarm going off at 4am. I was determined to hike up Mount Lemmon and make it to the general store in the resort village of Summerhaven before it closedContinue reading "AZT Day 8: Mount Lemmon"

Miles Hiked: 26.1AZT Progress: 161.4Grass Shack to Molino Basin CampgroundI got the best sleep I've had on the whole trail at Grass Shack campsite last night. I was the first person awake and left camp at 6:30am without talking to anyone. I started the last half of the massive climb up Mica Mountain. I'm soContinue reading "AZT Day 7: Mica Mountain"