AZT 14 – The Gila River

Daily Miles: 23

Total Miles: 280.5

Camp Elevation: 1,700 feet 

Lots of wind last night.  We were cowboy camped and the wind came on strong from about 10pm all through the night.  SweetPea was laying so that she blocked most of the wind from Beardoh.  Not such a great night’s sleep.

When we got up (around 5am) we had to be very careful as we packed up our stuff to make sure the wind didn’t blow our gear over the side of the mountain.

We headed out on the trail by 5:45 and were rewarded with a lovely sunrise.  The trail was lined with tons of purple and yellow flowers.  With the nice light and nice temperatures, it was a great time to be walking.

We got to our final food/water cache of this stretch around 8am.  We saw a biker packer who was finishing up a 100 mile, four day trip. 

We decided we would only take 1 1/2 liters leaving the cache, since the next water was in 11 miles.  The past few mornings have been fairly cool and pleasant, so we figured that would be fine.  Well, today it was quite hot beginning early in the day.  The intensity of the sun really sucked our energy do we were walking somewhat slower.  We really had to conserve our water, so by the time we finally got to our water source, we were all so thirsty.  We got water and treated it right away.  As soon as the water was ready to drink, we clinked bottles, said cheers, and drank a whole bottle of water.

We certainly felt better after getting water, but our energy levels just stayed low.  Luckily, we only had five more miles to go, and it was mostly flat.

We finally found a place to camp around 6:30.  We were all super beat from our long day of hot hiking.  We’re camped quite low tonight and not too far from a train track.  Hopefully we won’t hear trains rolling through all night.

Tomorrow we’re getting up even earlier.  After today’s hiking in the hot sun, we want to get as much of our uphill climbing done before it gets too hot.  We’re looking forward to a shower, warm bed, and the company of friends tomorrow.