26.4 miles
192.6 AZT mile marker
Slept pretty well but still woke up tired. So weird, not tired when I don’t sleep well, and tired when I do. Anyways, I started a little earlier this morning with the sun, not knowing exactly where the day would take me.
The trail started as 2-track walks for the first few hours of the day. Not the most exciting, but it quickly cut across the country and got me that much closer to the looming San Francisco peaks. I tried taking shorter stops every 3 hours or so today rather than a longer lunch break, and I think that worked out better. The breaks restored my energy.
The junipers gave way back to pines as I slowly climbed – so slow that it was hard to tell I was going up. Some of the rock was old lava, and I passed an ancient volcano, but it must have been very old because it was weathered and you couldn’t see much. The trail wound around some hills, thankfully staying in the pines since the day was heating up, and then started the shallowest, laziest switchbacks I’ve ever seen. I could have easily walked straight up the slope and not broken a sweat, but it was apparently necessary to make the climb imperceptible.
Part way through the switchbacks up San Francisco, I saw a school bus parked, and shortly I saw a ranger leading a large group of grade schoolers towards me. The ranger asked me if I was thru-hiking, and then told the kids that I was hiking from Utah to Mexico. The kids said WOAH and all waved to me as they went past. It was cute.
About this time, aspens again appeared mixed in the forest. They were bright yellow like around the Grand Canyon, and were just as beautiful in the thicker forest. I was finally able to put my audiobook down and enjoy the scenery. I need the entertainment for some of the less scenic portions of the trail.
I had lunch under some of the aspen and moved on, taking several breaks to enjoy the trees, especially when the snow covered peaks of the San Franciscos came into view. It was stunning with the combination of the aspen and white peaks. I got up to 9,000 feet, but thankfully the snow was nowhere near the trail.
I arrived at my notional stopping point, a small tank (retention pond), but it was just after 3 and way too early to stop. There was no water between there and Flagstaff, so I decided to just camel up and dry camp. That would make tomorrow into Flagstaff shorter too which is always nice for a town stop.
I took 5 liters and headed down the trail. It slowly started to descend which was nice. Camping at 9,000 feet would likely be cold. I decided to target a marathon day, my first of this trip since I was close to the mileage. That would also help me get lower.
I did slow down a little, but I made it just over the 26.2 miles at some power lines and quickly found a flatish spot to camp. It looks on the map like I will be by more and more roads as I approach town, and may not have many more options to camp. I’ll head into town tomorrow and maybe take a zero; I haven’t decided yet and will check the motels when I get signal tomorrow. Looks like some tougher weather is coming up with rain and low 20s temps a couple nights.
