AZT 22 – The Park

Daily miles 23
Total miles 426.5
Camp elevation 6000

Sitting in a  super still pine forest under a clear sky that is full of stars as we are writing this.   We are camped in an area known as the Park,  but we are not sure what that means.   We got here in the dark and we’re just happy to find a great spot to setup hammocks and Qballs tent.

 Started the day out with a climb up a couple thousand feet.   It was excellent walking,  the cool temps were great to climb in and the light was beautiful.

Much of the walking today was very overgrown.   45 individual cuts alone on just one of Beardoh’s legs that drew blood.  All three of us are cut up pretty bad,  SweetPea has a few that went deep.  At least 15 miles in thorns or overgrown stuff,  it was a bit brutal.   SweetPea regretted putting sunscreen on her legs because it burned so much.   We are unsure what is going on with the over growth.   This stuff is years old…. Sometimes over six feet tall,  pulling our bandanas and visors off our head,  and catching our faces.   The last 100 miles has had significant sections of overgrowth.   We dream of the days where we kicked a cactus once or twice a day,  that was much less painful.

We had an early dinner at 5 on a feature aptly named Rocky Ridge.  It gave great views and the light around that time is incredible.   Definitely in the magic hour for photos. 

Earlier in the day,  we could see the San Francisco peaks up around Flagstaff…. It’s a long ways away,  but the air was clear and we could make out snow on the top portion of the mountains.   We also saw the Mogollon Rim for the first time.   We will be up on that in a few days.   We are told that it is largely walking in pine forest,  so we have,  of course,  romanticized it quite a bit and look forward to it.

Saw no one on trail today.   There were some packs left at a trail Junction for a water source (off trail).   The size and style of the packs didn’t appear to be those of thru hikers….and we didn’t see the people. We haven’t seen a thru hiker since Oracle at this point.

Tomorrow,  we head to LF Ranch.   We have resupply boxes waiting for us there…. As well as chili and salad that we pre-ordered.   Very excited to get there and take a shower and eat some cooked food. We did extra miles today so that we’d hopefully arrive mid afternoon,  rather than at the end of the day.   Getting up at 5am again tomorrow.