Saturday, October 14, 2023
Miles: 38.89
Elevation gain/loss: 2838’/3018′
I was up at 5 and out on trail by 5:25am. Early on, I twisted both of my ankles when I was hiking in the dark and in a rush to get to a spot suitible for digging a cat hole. This put me in a cranky mood, and made the day’s mileage drag a bit. It wasn’t very interesting terrain to me, I wanted something different, and I didn’t see many other people to help pass the time. I dug into podcasts and found they held my attention better than audiobooks, so I stuck with those for a while.
I did see another tarantula, as well as many more cows. For the first time on a trail (outside of the Grand Canyon), I ran into 4 equestrians, and quickly moved to the side of the trail to give them and their horses lots of space. I also saw multiple hunters throughout the day, on and around the AZT. Later in the evening, I heard dozens and dozens of elk calls. I pushed on past dark, and finally made camp at 7:40pm. As I was setting up my cowboy camp, I could hear elk calls and coyotes howling. Despite that, I had no trouble getting to sleep.
Transcending Mountains 