Arizona Trail Hike: Mile 262 - 348

Hello from the Arizona Trail! In this section, I completed Passages 16-19 (partial). This was a tougher section than anticipated due to the footing and trail grade. Because of this, I uncharacteristically took both a nero AND a zero. I changed my mind on my end goal for this segment allowing for a slightly more relaxed pace.

The trail angels and other trail community continued to restore my faith in humanity. Between leaving Kearny, stopping in Superior, and taking time off in Tonto Basin - I felt spoiled this section. Thankful thankful thankful.

Arizona Trail Hike Summary

Statistics:

Days: 6
Full hiking days: 4
Zeroes: 1
Neroes: 1
Total Trail Miles Covered: 79.1
Total Elevation Gain: 15,413 ft
Total Elevation Loss: 14,876 ft

Highlights:

Trail Angels. Literal angels.
Timing of missing the storm!
Hiking with another thru-hiker.
Connecting with AT hikers that live in the area!

Lowlights:

Steep climbs. Am I in the Northeast?
Rattlesnakes. I know I am in the desert but cmonnnn.

Arizona Trail Hike: Detailed Version

Day 16: Mile 265.4 - 282.7

Trail Daily Miles: 17.3
Total Miles: 17.8
Elevation Gain: 2815 ft
Elevation Loss: 2382 ft
Weather: Sun, Hot, Wind
Overall Day Sentiment: Triple treating water takes up so much time

After a nearly perfect night of sleep (Garmin users, it was a body battery of 100 type of morning), I got ready to hit the trail. Jeff and Que were already gone as they start their day early. James picked me up promptly at 8:00am and we grabbed breakfast. Kearny is small enough that everybody knows everybody so James had a specific spot that he sits in the restaurant and everyone knew I was a hiker. There was such great support for my solo adventures over good food.

James drove me to the trailhead over the river rather than the trailhead on the opposite side that he picked me up. This saved a few miles which might be why my mileage is potentially off. The crossings near highways are always road walks so I don’t miss those miles.

Most of the day was spent walking along with Gila River. This is a massive river that runs not only through Arizona, but also in New Mexico… Perhaps I will see it later this year. The river is known for being cattle accessible and therefore it is best for you to double treat it. I ended up needing to pre-filter through a bandanna, regular filter, and then I did chemical water treatment as well. Getting water on this day ended up taking much longer than I thought.

With the late start after breakfast and the additional time it took to filter water, I was running a bit behind schedule where I wanted to aim for the day. Once you depart from the Gila river, you hike straight up into a canyon. I went up the climb for awhile, but then the sun was setting so I set up camp at a beautiful rock vista within this canyon.

While I was setting up my tent, I realized that the ground was harder than I expected, rendering tent stakes useless. Large rocks it is! There is a strange phenomenon in the desert where around sunset (and just after), the wind really picks up as its temperature changes as a sun goes down. A wind tunnel was created and the length of time it took me to pitch a tent that I have pitched over 150 times was… comical. At one point I needed to put my backpack inside my tent because it kept nearly flying away. I wish I had set up my camera to video this process because it was plain wild.

At the 30 minute mark, I admitted defeat and wasn’t able to put the rain fly on so I slept with just a mesh. But I got a wonderful view of stars. It ended up being so windy for several hours that I couldn’t cook dinner without either my stove light going out or me being fearful that it was going to tip over. I won’t be the one to set the desert on fire. Luckily, I packed out an avocado from town and I had fresh cheese so I had a tiny charcuterie board all by myself in my tent while the wind beat the side of the tent into my head.

Day 17: Mile 282.7 - 302.2

Trail Daily Miles: 19.5
Total Miles: 20.1
Elevation Gain: 3609 ft
Elevation Loss: 3478 ft
Weather: Sun, Hot
Overall Day Sentiment: Thankful for Trail Angels and other hikers

There was a significant climb for the first several miles of the day but I didn’t particularly care because I was already going to be landing in the town of Superior for the evening. A shower and more laundry awaited me after only one night out!

This was a canyon climb of my dreams. The grade was gradual and the views were epic. Time went by quickly as the this was one of my favorite hikes to do.

Nearly at the top of the climb there was a rainwater collector, which I have run into before and I’m thankful for every time. I had cell phone service at this precipice so I reached out to the Trail Angel in Superior, MJ, with a time to ideally pick me up at the trailhead.

The rest of the day came and went. I saw some other section hikers and some mountain bikers just out for a day ride. I had another rattlesnake encounter, this one directly on the trail. It started rattling when I was about 5 feet away, which alerted me to its presence. There is a photo down below in which is staring directly at me. I finally had to roll rocks and its direction, so it would move off of the trail.

Just as I was getting near the trailhead, an older couple stopped me and was chatting about what I was doing. Initially, they were excited and supportive about thru-hiking, but then the conversation evolved into how as a single woman I need to be carrying a gun. I hate this rhetoric that the world is a scary dangerous place especially when I’m out in the wilderness. The elements and animals are scary enough - stop making it scarier!

MJ, the Trail Angel, picked me up right away and whisked me away to her humble abode. I took a shower and began the laundry process quickly and it was heavenly to be back in a house after just one night out. Another hiker, Ira, arrived and he must’ve been a day behind me since the day I started.

After he showered, and we switched over some laundry we went out to dinner to a local spot. This local spot, though the food was good, the treatment of any out-of-towners was an interesting one. It wasn’t until the bar cleared out that we were even served, which took some time. It was nice to chat trail and talk about what we’ve experienced thus far. As it was Ira‘s first backpacking trip let alone thru-hike, to hit the 300 mile marker earlier in the day was pretty amazing and something to celebrate!

Day 18: Mile 304.0 - 314.1

Trail Daily Miles: 10.1
Total Miles: 10.3
Elevation Gain: 1729 ft
Elevation Loss: 879 ft
Weather: Sun, Warm
Overall Day Sentiment: Trail connections everywhere!

After another good night of sleep at the Trail Angel‘s house, MJ made Ira and I a wonderful breakfast. She had even made gluten-free muffins for me, which was such a thoughtful gift! I had several of them.

A few days prior at Jeff and Que’s house, they were chatting with some other trail friends who had done the Appalachian Trail last year. It turns out I had dinner with Juice and DieHard just before Hot Springs, North Carolina. They live in the area and wanted to meet up!

Juice and DieHard, scooped myself and Ira up and we went to a coffee shop to catch up. We shared many trail AT trail stories and they shared Arizona trail information from them as they had completed it a few years prior. They were some of the folks that dropped the idea in my head about how wonderful the Arizona Trail was.

There were some obstacles that the AT presented both of them that were fascinating to hear about specifically in relation to some serious health issues. Mindset, optimism, and a good doctor is going to make hiking long distances attainable for them again. But my goodness hearing about the obstacles makes me proud to know how internally strong someone can be. It also demonstrates how close the trail community actually is. Just sharing dinner with somebody along a thru-hike can create a connection longer term.

Ira and I finally got back on the trail early afternoon as I wanted to only do a half day. Similar to the Kearny situation, MJ dropped us off at the trailhead on the other side of the highway. Paved roadwalk? Nah.

I ran into a large Arizona Trail Association maintenance crew clearing up the trails and we gabbed for a while. I told them about my rattlesnake mating encounter and received nothing but giggles.

Around 10 miles in, Ira and I looked for campsites and found a very cozy one next to a water source. This would also set us up for a big climb in the morning, which is when I would like to climb when it is at its coolest. The trickle of the nearby water source flowing lulled me to another good night sleep.

Day 19: Mile 314.1 - 331.2

Trail Daily Miles: 17.1
Total Miles: 17.4
Elevation Gain: 4386 ft
Elevation Loss: 2976 ft
Weather: Sun, Hot
Overall Day Sentiment: Stupid Industrious Mouse!

The big climb for the morning was in fact a giant steep climb. It brought me back to AT days, which is not someplace that I would like to go, but I was thankful that I got the biggest climb of the day done straight away in the morning. There were some road walks for a bit, and then another much more gradual climb that was pleasant and reminded me of the PCT desert.

Ira and I ran into some day hikers from the Phoenix area, which made me realize how close to Phoenix we actually were. They were lovely and had some questions as they had never been on a backpacking trip before. But they knew the area well and were able to give some trail insight for us as too.

There was a blissful 3.6 miles of cruisey somewhat flat trail, and it was heavenly. Unfortunately, it was followed up by several more steep climbs to end my day. Ira and I had chosen this camp area because of its proximity to water. But the water was at a spring box which is a bit different than a lot of other water sources. It isn’t flowing, it is essentially a well from a spring. This particular spring box had a lot of algae in it so I need to clean my filter very thoroughly afterwards.

There was a perfect campsite area .1 mile ahead of the water so Ira and I picked our spots and tucked in. Just as the sun was setting on this ideal spot I hear a sound from a burrowing animal. I asked Ira if he heard the same thing and he did not. I finally look around and see a mouse popping up out of a hole that it was digging underneath my vestibule; between my rain fly and my mesh tent. There was a brief moment where the mouse and I just stared at each other and I thought oh no…

Getting out of my tent and looking at the above ground evidence of a below ground tunnel masterpiece that this singular (or group) of mouse/mice had concocted made me rethink my camping area. I put rocks on top of the holes but still could hear burrowing underneath so I felt that this was gonna be a bigger issue.

My tent is always on a footprint so I just dragged my tent by the footprint up a bit away from the underground tunnel/subway system. Unfortunately, I took a turn too tight and ripped about a 4 inch hole in the bottom of my tent that was exposed from where the footprint had crumpled.

Luckily, Ira had some duct tape and as I only had a few weeks left in the hike at this point, that was sufficient enough. I went to bed somewhat angry at the mice, but then I tried to tell myself that this is their house and I’m allowed into it and at this particular night … I was denied entry.

Day 20: Mile 331.2 - 346.3

Trail Daily Miles: 15.1
Total Miles: 15.7
Elevation Gain: 2874 ft
Elevation Loss: 5161 ft
Weather: Sun, Thunderstorm
Overall Day Sentiment: Over these rattlers.

I am sure glad I moved my tent from the affirmation, metropolitan mouse or real life Zootopia situation because all of the rocks that I put over the initial identified holes had all been dug around and new holes were created. These mice were industrious!

It was a town day and I could not wait to get into town. We had some steep steep descent and ascents throughout the morning. I’m talking New Hampshire on the Appalachian Trail steep for no apparent reason. At some point the trail had me wishing for a zip line across a canyon. There was a frustrating amount of time I walked through a wash, side to side, which is just a sand and rock zone that gets used in flood times. So it’s just kind of a mess and the trails the exact along this wash for miles and miles.

Near the wash and in a canyon there was a brief flat section of trail so we were cruising. And suddenly my pole taps a rattlesnake. The ground had been a light gravel color and the rattlesnake was also very light and blended in. A blondie like myself, if you will. He didn’t start rattling until I touched him with my trekking pole! I’m thankful for my quick reflexes and I jumped back into Ira. Because had I been a second or two slower? I definitely could be writing some of this from the hospital. This was my closest rattlesnake encounter that I have ever had.

Thankfully, after the wash, I was on more gravel roads leading into Roosevelt Lake. I ran into a group of six folks out for the day on side-by-side OHV’s and they had a multitude of questions about backpacking in the Arizona Trail. Some of them did not know that the Arizona trail was nearby and so I love engaging with local people and inform about so each of their area for them. Use and enjoy the trail!

The remaining miles of gravel roads (that are doubling as the AZT) were so steep. I don’t know how many downhill skiing or road rockslides I started. This is when I realized that I definitely need to think about a new pair of shoes because of how bald my shoes were heading down this road.

Eventually, I got down to Roosevelt Lake Marina, and picked up a package from there. The Trail Angel in the local area, Becky and Scott, picked both Ira and I up and headed back to their house. Some weather was slated to blow in that evening, so I was thankful to not be on a ridge on the top of the mountain.

Luckily, the trail angels had some indoor accommodations that we squeezed into in preparation for the weather. There was a wonderful hiker area, outdoor shower, accessible bathroom, all on a beautiful plot of land. Becky is a master gardener and this backyard was an oasis.

We went out for Mexican for dinner after other chores. As we were getting picked up by Scott, the rain and the thunderstorm began in sincerity. We watched so much lightning – across the sky and all I could think was, I was so thankful that the timing worked out to be with the trail angels.

As the storm raged on and we were under a roof, Ira and I could not believe our luck. Thankful for the little things.

Day 21: Mile 348

After a night of thunderstorms, I was not particularly motivated to get back out on the trail. The next section started with an epic climb, and I personally did not want to do that if it were all mud. Additionally, the wind continued to rage and the thought of being on a ridge line with substantial wind gusts was not motivating to me.

So while a beautiful peaceful spot, I’ve decided to take a zero. It did not take much convincing for Ira to also want to take a zero. So I relaxed, wrote in a beautiful place, chatted with friends and family, and just relaxed.

What a shift from the Appalachian Trail.