Sunday, March 26, 2023
Miles: 32.7 miles
Elevation gain/loss: 4209′ gain, 4400′ loss
I was awake by 5:45am at the Airbnb, and met the host’s husband outside for a ride to trail at 6:30am. He ranted to me about Biden trying to ruin the country for the 5-minute drive to the trailhead. I was eager to start hiking again and was hiking up a storm by 6:35am.
It was a smoother day, with lots of rolling elevation changes on dirt roads. I saw an adorable baby bunny early in the day, and in the heat of the afternoon, I saw a Gila Monster! It was very slow moving, and though it did its best to get away from me quickly, I had plenty of time for photos.
There were a few longer ~10-15 mile stretches between water sources around this section. I took some lovely clear water from a large, overflowing water tank (my only water tank water of the trip, as it turned out), and enjoyed sitting on its edge in the shade for a break. Soon after arriving, Bugs and Moose showed up. They’re hiking the Grand Enchantment Trail and we hung out and chatted for an hour about our hiking adventures. They did the PNT last year, and have members of their tramily coming to join them at their next town stop. Soon after leaving, I met Robert and Elizabeth, two other GET hikers; we greeted each other and had a quick exchange of water sources in each direction.
I pushed on for a good while, making some miles. I carried enough water to not rely on the water cache (~15mi), which was a good plan. When I arrived at the cache, it was empty except for 3 gallons of private water, and someone had drunk an entire gallon of private, reserved water. Maggie, another AZT hiker, was camped out nearby and we chatted for a bit while I ate my ramen dinner. Then I pushed on for another 3-4 miles before setting up camp for the night at 7pm.
Transcending Mountains 