Miles 0-52 on the Arizona Trail
Mexico Border to Patagonia, AZ
My Arizona Trail adventure started out successfully. The lines at TSA and baggage drop were all normal again, my flights left and landed on time, and my checked bag with the gear I couldn’t carry on made it to Tucson! I walked from the airport to my hotel where I’d get picked up bright and early by the shuttle company. Unfortunately, the hotel was having water problems. Luckily I didn’t need a shower, but it would have been nice. After a large quantity of lamb vindaloo and garlic naan, it was time for bed. Tomorrow would be a hard day.
I was awake, packed, and downstairs for breakfast before my 6:30 shuttle. The shuttle arrived exactly on time and I loaded up my pack. Inside the van I found another hiker, Charm. She had good news for me. The AZT through the Grand Canyon would officially open May 15! I shouldn’t need my contingency plans. We also discussed the prescribed burn they announced a couple days before that would close the terminus the day after we started. Pretty good timing for our start. Also ties into how Charm got her name. She was the lucky charm for people hiking with her on the PCT. We were waiting on one more, but apparently he was at a different hotel so off we went. We picked up Venom down the road and made our way to Montezuma Pass. All three of us had hiked the PCT so much of the ride was talking about that trail. At the pass we unloaded, got bandanas, frozen Gatorade, and grabbed some photos before making the 2 mile trek to the start of the trail.
The trail down was pretty quick and easy. I walked down with Venom and we took pictures. He was faster on the way up and we walked on our own. Back at the pass I caught up with him and we had snacks then tackled the big climb. I made my way slowly up hiking by myself. It was pretty hot. Tucsan had record heat the past week and it was still the tail end of if. I struggled up that climb. It was hot, high elevation (climbing to 9000’), and I wasn’t in hiking shape yet. I stopped at almost every shaded spot to rest. I had a longer break about halfway up with Butterfly who was making a second attempt of the trail. Charm joined us a bit later and we had a nice rest. We hiked together for a while. Butterfly fell back and Charm pulled ahead. Back on my own, though I caught up a few times and we took a few breaks together. At the high point, she went off to summit the mountain and I kept on to water. I took a break at bathtub springs (the water flows into a bathtub) and filled up on water. Hiking on, I reached a nice spot to camp and laid out my gear for cowboy camping. Charm came up as I was making dinner and joined me for the night.
I was out of camp by 0600 the next morning after terrible sleep. I’m pretty sure it was because I slept at 8,000’. The views of the desert looking out towards Mexico were beautiful. The morning was a lot of dropping elevation and then flatter walking. A creek flowed intermittently along the trail and I stopped to fill up water and take a break. The weather was nice, not hot yet. I took two more breaks like that before stopping at a stream for lunch. Charm joined me and we relaxed in the shade. The afternoon was getting brutal. The hike was exposed and hot. My legs were breaking out in a bad rash that I assumed was heat rash. I learned from Venom later in town that it’s probably exercise induced vasculitis. It’s pretty painful to touch or have the sun on it. I survived though. Charm and I slowly worked out way up a climb to find a really nice area for cowboy camping. We set up, ate, and slept.
Out at 6 again. We had 21 miles to town. The hiking was very fast in the morning through nice trail and rolling hills. We could be in town by 1500. I took a break at a cow trough for water and a quick snack and then again at the next trough for more water and lunch. Charm joined as I was finishing up and we hiked out the remaining 7 miles together. Again, the afternoon was becoming brutal. We stopped in the shade to let our legs cool off. She also had the same rash as me. Not too long until we made it to the highway. We hopped the guardrail, walked a little down the road to where a car could pull off, and stuck out our thumbs. We weren’t at it long before a truck pulled over and took us the 4 miles into town. First stop for us, food. We ate burritos and soda. Delicious. We decided to check out the grocery stores to get ideas, but planned to buy resupply the next day. We grabbed chocolate milk and ice cream which we ate in the park. At the second store, we bought fruit and kombucha. I also got an avocado, cheese, and cracker as part of my resupply. We walked the 0.7 miles to TerraSol camp where we’d spend the rest of our evening. At the camp, we got showers, did laundry, and enjoyed the fire pit. Charm fixed her sleeping pad which had a hole. I was suspicious of mine. It also deflated during the night but I wasn’t sure if I had the valve closed all the way. We hung out with the other hikers, most of which did the PCT so again that’s all we talked about. Camp was comfy and sleep was decent with my earplugs in. But my pad did deflate.
The next morning I took my pad to the shower to find the hole. I spent a while before looking and marking possible holes. In the shower I found one area I marked was indeed the problem. I left it in my tent to dry while we biked to town to enjoy a fancy coffee at the Quail Covey. The atmosphere was nice and the chairs comfortable. We had a pastry each while sipping our lattes. Soon we were ready for more food and made our way to the Gathering Grounds for real breakfast. The food was good and we got cookies to go. Last town stop was the market again to buy any remaining resupply. I didn’t need much, just a couple ramens and some chips. On the bike back, I dropped a post card in the mail. Time to fix my sleeping pad and relax. We weren’t in a rush to get back out. I wanted to rest my legs with their rash and Charm is getting over being sick. So we had a leisurely morning until our ride back out at 1300.
