22.5 miles
320 AZT mile marker
It got a little colder than I expected last night, with some frost in the open fields. I was walking to Breaks tent to make sure she was up when I scared up a herd of large elk. They weren’t very far away, but I didn’t have my camera at the ready. After they disappeared, I could still hear them bugling.
I took off before Breaks with a nice brief uphill to get me warm. It was the normal uneventful pine forest to start, but that would soon change. After 5 miles, I dropped down into a shallow valley and crossed an actual flowing stream! I wasn’t aware that so much flowing water was allowed in Arizona outside of the Grand Canyon basin.
After traversing some more forest, the trail dropped down into another valley, and followed another flowing stream. So much water. The trail crisscrossed it several times while following it upstream. There were even other feeder streams going into it. I’m not sure where all this water came from. Needless to say, I never carried more than a liter today apart from the last stretch to my dry camp.
It was so nice to have a change in scenery and some character to the land rather than the flat forest it seems like I’ve been walking through forever. But I knew that the best was yet to come.
I came to the edge of the Colorado Plateau and I stepped off it.
In this area, the Colorado Plateau is bounded by the Mogollon Rim, which is a huge escarpment marking the edge of where the plateau was uplifted. It is steep and rocky cliffs much like the Grand Canyon or other canyons in southern Utah.
I headed down a steep trail leading from the plateau with all sorts of new scenes opening up in front of me. I can’t describe how grateful I was to have this dramatic change in landscape. I was constantly taking pictures, probably more than the last few days from Flagstaff combined.
The vegetation also changed. It was like a verdant desert landscape. Almost the entire ground was covered in different plants and grasses. Such a change from just hundreds of feet up.
I moved more slowly now, taking everything in and thoroughly enjoying it. I love dramatic landscapes, so this really spoke to me.
It got a lot warmer too, approaching hot (for me). However, there was the now ever-present water running along the trail for me to grab when I wanted it.
After the trail went down the steep part of the rim, it started to traverse on an ancient route. It wove in, out, and around, giving me ever-changing views of the rim and flora in different microclimates that I passed through. Still lots of water too, maybe every mile or so. Some sources weren’t even marked in my guide.
I went along the rim for a few hours when it began to get cold and windy. The wind was coming down from the colder plateau above me. I came to the last water source of the day and got water for camp, but it was another couple miles before I could find a spot to pitch. IT was super windy in camp, with the wind roaring through the trees above me, and still quite powerful at ground level. I’m not sure how I got my tent up so easily.
As it was nearing dark, Breaks rolled in. I wasn’t expecting to see her since I thought she was going to camp sooner, but always nice to have company. However, we pretty much just set up camp and dove into our tents for cover to avoid the wind. So powerful. I think it will be and ear plugs kind of night tonight.
It was such a great day and welcome change in scenery. If the trail had continued on the same, I might have quit it out of boredom. I’m hopeful that the landscape wil be more dynamic now, and I’m excited to enter some desert landscapes soon.
2 comments
I presume the water you’re finding is thanks to a “good monsoon season” this fall.
I’d be surprised if you don’t run into some snow down the trail. I was in a freak snow storm on Mt. Lemon on
April 26. (I hiked sobo in the fall until I ran out of time at Mt. Lemon, then nobo the following spring ending at Mt. Lemon.)
Yes, it was a good monsoon season at least here and I think I got lucky with that last year on the Hayduke too. I’ve heard there is some snow on Mt. Lemmon from a storm a few days ago, but not sure if it will stick around til I get there in a few days.