Arizona Trail: Pain and Ponderosa Pines

Hello friends, and welcome back! Coming to you live from the Flagstaff Public Library, I’ve had quite the eventful past 110 miles. Just a quick note, I bought some cheap batteries from the market in Pine, so my camera was dead for this entire stretch. Anyways, let’s get into the trail.

Into the snow we go! 

Peg Leg and I set off into the woods, leaving behind the comfort of Cia’s warm cabin to venture into the snow covered wilderness. As the sun rose high into the sky, the snow began melting, falling off of trees and occasionally landing on my head as I trudged through the snow and mud alongside the rim. We quickly ran into Heathen, our friend from Rosie’s place, and I was so stoked to see him! Often times you meet people on trail, and never run into them again. Seeing Heathen made me so happy, I thought I wasn’t going to get the chance to chat with him again! He had camped out in the snowstorm while we had been warm in town, but his tarp held up nicely, and he told us he had a fairly warm dry night. We bid farewell and headed up the trail, with plans on meeting Peg Leg’s mom and brother for dinner that evening at a trailhead. With mud sticking to my feet, and Menahan Street Band playing in my headphones, I hiked, happy, admiring the snow covered pines and bushes. In just a week, we have climbed out of the desert and into a completely different climate. I saw birds that I recognized from the Sky Islands in the southern section of trail, who thrive at the higher altitudes. I found myself loving the Ponderosa Pine trees. One of the highlights from my thru of the Centennial Trail in South Dakota was being in the Ponderosa forests, admiring the resilient trees, towering high over my head. Here, in northern Arizona, I felt a comforting feeling of the same trees welcoming me back to their home.

We quickly arrived at the Trailhead, meeting Ethan again, and Julie for the first time. Ethan cooked us chicken tacos for dinner, complete with onions, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, and cilantro. This was probably the best meal I’ve had yet in the backcountry, if you count it! 

April 20th on trail

We spent our 4/20 on trail just as any thru hiker should, trying not to stress about miles, and enjoy the forest for the beauty it provides. I quickly found myself at an interesting rock, attempting to climb, or traverse, around it. Peg Leg joined me and we proceeded to “project” the rock, spending nearly 3 hours there. Neither of us sent the project, and we left defeated. However, we were so happy to get to spend the best holiday doing something we loved, climbing.

We hung out with our friend, Skunk, for a while, before hiking into the evening. With the recent snow, and low risk of fire according to F.S. signs, we decided it would be a good night for a campfire, and we responsibly carried extra water to douse the fire after. We placed a flat stone on top of our campfire, and heated up our tortillas, making PBJ and cheese quesadillas as the stars came alive in the night sky. Stirring the ashes until it was cold to the touch, we fell asleep with our stomachs full and our hearts happy. In the west, wildfires can destroy a forest in the blink of an eye, so it’s important to follow proper precautions when having a campfire in the backcountry. 

Chocolate milk water

Rising early, in the cold morning, I woke up to frost on my quilt and set off hiking in all of my layers. Nearly out of water from the previous night, I found myself filtering water from a chocolate milk cow pond. The water didn’t taste bad, but the mud surrounding the pond found its way all over my backpack and my legs. I felt like PigPen from Charlie Brown, full of mud with nowhere to wash it off. 

With scarce water sources, I found myself drinking less than I should, and taking spur trails  to find cleaner water. It’s funny, with the recent snowfall I assumed water sources would be good. But instead all of the water ends up on the trail, and you hike through 2-4” of mud. As I walked, the mud tried to swallow my shoes on numerous occasions, and with one wrong step I found myself ankle deep in a squishy pit. The mud made it so hard to walk, and I found myself taking 2 steps forward, and nearly slipping back 1 step on the slippery surface. I decided to take a forest road, to give myself a break from the hellish mud pit that is the Arizona Trail. The road walk was beautiful, and I saw elk and mule deer. I built a snowman in the road using rocks for eyes and fallen limbs for arms, before joining back on the trail again.

I finished off the day, having hiked 34 miles, exhausted and in pain from the flat, muddy, trail. My hip flexors pulsed as I walked the last few miles into camp, and my hamstrings pulled at my legs, trying to tell me something was wrong. Stubborn, silly me. I ignored the feelings and gave myself a healthy dose of vitamin I. 
If you read my last blog post, you’d know that I left town with only 3.5 days of food. And with the long day today, and holiday celebrations the day prior, I was about out of food. This put me 32 miles from a spur to take me into Flagstaff, where Peg Leg and I were getting picked up by a friend, and I was nearly out of food. I had to make the decision to save my last Slim Jim and couple handfuls of peanuts for breakfast the next day, and I went to sleep with an empty stomach, dreading the push into town in the morning. 

The bottoms of my shoes during this stretch, caked with mud and pine needles.

No food challenge?

So, here I am, 31 miles from town, with a Slim Jim and a handful of peanuts as fuel. This is gonna suck. I set off, aiming to hike at 3-3.5mph to make it to town by dinner time. I was hungry, but making good time. Around 12 miles in, I searched in a log for a few handfuls of Cheetos, some instant potatoes, and an almost empty jar of peanuts butter that Peg Leg had stashed for me. I messaged her on the Garmin begging for food, and she provided! Unfortunately, having skipped dinner the night before, it didn’t do me much good. I inhaled the peanut butter and Cheetos, and quickly found myself eating the potatoes dry, and washing them down with water. I am an animal, I told myself. Why didn’t I pack more food? I should’ve spent more money. I was trying to be frugal and smart and now I’m starving. Silly little me, stumbling down the trail, considering eating every plant I saw. Slipping on the mud, today the trail seemed to be in worse condition than yesterday. I slipped, slid, and stumbled along, cursing the mud and whoever made it so damn muddy. I kicked rocks, trying to get the muck from off of my feet. With every step my hamstrings ached, hyperextending when I slid on the mud. My hip flexors working overtime to keep my legs intact. Everything hurt. And I was hungry. I found myself questioning what I was doing with my life. Why am I out here? This isn’t fun. I laughed out loud. Because I knew I loved being out here, and I signed up for this struggle. Is this type 3 fun? I wasn’t sure where this fit in. I tripped on a rock, not paying attention to where I was walking and fell face first onto the trail. Mud on my face, mud on my hands, mud everywhere. I got back up, and kept walking. What other options do I have? Hiking is fucking hard. My phone on 10%, everything else dead, I had no choice but to keep moving forward. I slipped again, this time my knee hyperextended, and I had to sit down. It felt as though I had pulled something. Maybe my hamstring. I’m not sure, but it fucking hurt. I kept tripping down the trail, and made it to a trailhead. From there, I had to make a hard decision. I decided to bail. I made my way down to the road, and messaged Peg Leg on the Garmin. I wasn’t going to make it. She had hiked over 40 miles the day before, so she was already almost to the pickup spot. Everything hurt. I was starving. I could feel my stomach eating itself, and I had reached my limit. I limped down to the freeway, and sought refuge under my little umbrella on the side of the road. I felt small, and weak. I had made it 24 miles by 1pm, and couldn’t go any further. Maybe I could have, but I had to make the right decision for me. It was either, get off trail here and get food in my body, or stumble the remaining 9 miles and possibly get evacuated. I could’ve kept going, I wanted to keep going. But my body was done. This trail had whooped my ass, and I needed to recover before getting back into it. 

Check out my instagram for trail updates, pictures, and more! And if you like what you’ve read, please consider subscribing. Peace, love, and walks in the mud <3 

-yardsale