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| Hiking | 11.40 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 11.40 Miles | 10 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.34 mph |
| 2 Hrs Break | 25 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Again, sorry about the late post...
This is Day 2 of a two-day hike with my son. We were hiking north to south.
After a fitful night's sleep (the ground's hard for these 57 year old bones), we were up at dawn, eating, and heading out. I knew today would be a tough hike, so I wanted to get going as early as possible.
The first couple of miles follows a road, and that went well. Shortly after we crossed through a gate (and an ATV barrier), the going got tough. As far as I could tell, there was no trail. Just a series of rock cairns to follow. (I thought the AZT had been completed a couple of years ago!)
This section was tough. The ground is covered by large rocks, which makes hiking hard, and then there was the trail finding. It came down to walking to a cairn, and stopping and searching for the next one. Then, hiking to that one, stopping, and looking for the next one. A few times, the next one was hidden behind juniper tree or something.
Later, some parts of this segment has a really nice trail to follow. Those parts were really nice, and we appreciated the break in route finding.
As we got closer to the LF Ranch, the number of cow paths increased, which made it harder to make sure we were still on the AZT. I made the mistake of making the GPS track with as few waypoints as possible. This frequently led to my confusion as to which trail to follow.
Eventually, we made it off the plateau. Here, the route finding because extremely difficult. I made a mistake, and we followed the wrong trail, which took us through some hairy, time consuming bushwhacking. Thankfully, we were able to get back on the trail, and made it to the river. We stopped at the LF Ranch, hoping to meet Mary Ann, but she was gone, working with the Forest Service, as I recall. We sat in the chairs by the bunkhouse, rehydrated, and relaxed.
After 45 minutes, we finally gave up waiting for Mary Ann, and decided we'd have to hike the last four miles to the Doll Baby Trailhead.
By this time, the rocks on the trail were hurting my son's feet, and he discovered that if he went fast, it hurt less. So he took off, following the road, and I followed as fast as I could. I asked him when he reached the trailhead, to drop his pack, and come back for mine.
There are two hills between the LF Ranch and the Doll Baby trailhead - one 400 ft., and the other 800 ft. This made hiking out a challenge.
About a half mile from the end, I met another of my five sons. He shouldered my pack, and we finished the hike out together, finishing right at sunset. We all drank a celebratory A&W Root Beer, and headed home to Mesa.
A special thanks to my wife and other son for being trail angels and meeting us at the Doll Baby Trailhead.
Son, thanks for the hike. In spite of the challenges, I enjoyed the two days we spent together. Thank you.
AZT by the Numbers:
Miles Hiked: 158.5
Miles To Go: 641.5
Percent Complete: 19.87%
Segments Hiked: 8
Segments To Go: 34
Segments I've seen a rattlesnake: 0  |
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