10.6 miles
749.8 AZT mile marker
We planned a lazy start today. We are 50 miles from the end of the trail, and have to finish the trail and meet a shuttle driver 3 days from now, so we have to strategically finish the trail to meet the driver at the right time.
We decided to hit the trail again after lunch to get 2 meals in. Breakfast was at a coffee shop with some great biscuits and gravy and a mixed skillet. Then we resupplied and wrapped up everything at camp. Then back to town for lunch at the bakery where we also bought sandwiches for dinner tonight.
We didn’t drink the wine we were gifted, so I packed it out in a plastic bottle for dinner.
Rhino joined Kevin and I to finish up the trail as we could split the shuttle and all get back to town the easiest. We left the campsite around 1, and the sun was getting warm. We finished the AZT bypass we were on with the old trail by first walking a road for 3 miles before joining old trail at a trailhead.
The trail was up and down rolling hills, and the sun was really bearing down. It felt much warmer than it had been for a while and that slowed me a little. I powered through it though, and we made it back to the official AZT.
We passed through a lot of mesquite forest with rolling grasslands around mountains. It was scenic at times with rocky mountains and cliffs. A nice stroll.
We got to a solar well where we considered filling up on water, but there were reports of a flowing stream ahead, so we opted to press on. We shortly got to the stream, but it was littered with cow pies and signs of heavy cow use. It smelled bad so we continued to follow the intermittent stream without filling up.
We got to a point in the stream where there were fewer cow pies and filled up our water for the night, but when I tasted it, it still tasted like cow even after my filter. We carried the water because it was what we had. We passed through a gate which stopped the cows and came to the stream again and dumped our water and got water that tasted a bit less like cow. Probably should have just filled up at the well, but in any case we had water.
Shortly there after we found a spot to camp because the sun was going down. It’s not the flattest or best spot and is on a 4×4 track but it should be good enough. After setting up camp, we set to work on the red wine and paired it with white meat sandwiches and Skittles, which would I’m sure make a sommelier grimace. It worked for us though and we finished our fresh food and wine before wandering off to bed.
39 miles to Mexico!
