21.7 miles
35.3 AZT mile marker
There were some dark clouds growing in the west as I was approaching camp yesterday, but they disappeared after it got dark and I had a bright sky lit by the full moon. That overpowered the stars, but I will have more than a full lunar cycle to see them due to the length of this trip.
Since it’s fall and daylight is waning, I’ll get into the pattern of setting my alarm an hour before sunrise so I can hit the trail when it is bright enough and make the most of it. If I have extra time during the day I can take more breaks at the nice spots, or get to camp a little earlier. I hit the trail a leisurely hour after my alarm which is typical for me. I can do 30 minutes or less if I’m pushing including breakfast, but no need to do that most days.
I recovered well overnight and hit the trail not exactly knowing where I’d end up today. The trail continued through the mostly juniper forest and quickly came to a burn area from last year. They had recently reestablished the trail and it was generally pretty easy going on the mostly flat Kaibab Plateau. I went quickly at first while the sun was low to allow me to go slower later. There wasn’t much for views through the burnt forest, so I didn’t have much reason to stop.
I stopped at a water catchment after the first third of the day and took a break. I had been debating how to manage my water for today. This was the most sure source for the rest of the day, but recent water reports said there was more ahead at a cache and in a cattle trough, so I decided to take enough to get me through those sources with some buffer. Water is the most important thing to manage out here since there is so little of it. I’ve not yet seen a flowing stream, and I don’t expect to see one until the Grand Canyon.
It was getting warmer after my break and I started slowing down. I was now in mostly pine forest, buried without a possible view in sight. It was just a walk through the woods. Not the most exciting thing for the entire day.
I had to put on an audiobook to keep me trudging forward. I do like the rewards of hiking; the scenic spots, but there just weren’t any today so it came down to doing the miles.
I took a good break at a road crossing and saw my first people on the trail; 2 dayhikers. I took a little water from the cache there which is also where my food was stolen from last year. In a twist of fate, someone had left a bottle of alcohol fuel which was the one thing I had stolen that I couldn’t get replaced last year. The knife to the heart for me. At least there was water there now and a garbage can. I could have gotten away without the water, but since it was there and clean I took some.
As I was about to leave, the first thru-hiker I’ve seen showed up, Cameron. He was headed into town for food, so we went our own ways. I must have passed his camp in the morning without knowing it. It looks like there’s a couple more hikers a day or two ahead of me, and I can’t know behind except maybe spying on the water report, so I’m not sure how many others I will see out here. I was expecting more.
More forest walking for the rest of the day, but the one great change was some clumps of aspen showed up and they were at the height of changing colors and were bright yellow. The sun made them look even brighter, and it picked me up a bit.
I hiked to a point where I could make the next good water spot tomorrow for camp which would be nice. Water is really sparse up here, and it’s almost 20 miles tomorrow between good sources. I just pitched in the pines at a flat spot.
I decided to throw a bear line since there was mention of a bear sighting in spring. I made my first throw, but for the first time ever for me the line wrapped around the branch and knotted itself up. It was a brand new bear line too. I couldn’t pull it loose, even by sitting on the line. It was about 15 feet above me and I managed to grab the knot with a stick after a few tries and successfully got it down. I thought it was gone.
