MRT 9 – April 20 – Pine

Daily Miles: 14

Total Miles: 140

It was another chilly night and we all started the day in our down jackets. We were excited for town and the prospect of getting in for lunch. That certainly put some extra pep in our steps.

We started out on dirt forest roads and crossed a two-lane state highway. When we headed back into the woods, we soon arrived at a trailhead that was clearly signed, with a nice, new-ish sign. Most of the signs we see out here are very old, so this was notable.

The trail took us down a nicely built trail into Pine Canyon. There was even a creek flowing at the bottom which we hadn’t expected. We scared off some deer near the creek, but other than that, it was a quiet morning.

We tried to keep our breaks relatively short so we could get into town sooner. The trail for the rest of the day just kept getting better. It was obviously made with mountain bikers in mind…so more twists and turns than a hiking trail would need, but it was still easy walking.

We saw a few day hikers as we got closer to town and even saw a few guys out doing trail work. They have a mission of making that area a National Recreation area with the hopes of getting more federal funding. They certainly seem to be doing a great job of creating a large series of biking/hiking trails in the area.

We made it to town around 1:30pm and headed straight for That Brewery for lunch and to pick up

our resupply boxes. It was great to finally sit down and relax while eating some really good food.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at our AirBnB, doing laundry, taking showers and getting ourselves organized. We headed back out in the evening for dinner and groceries, and even got a ride back to our place with Shawn, the Director of the Arizona Trail! Pretty cool!