Miles 265-302 on the Arizona Trail
Kearny to Superior
This next stretch is a short one. Barely a day and a half. I left the trail angel’s house around 1130 after a relaxing morning in bed and was hiking a little before noon. I had about 15 miles to go. I planned to camp at the end of the Gila River stretch. Some people will walk the railroad tracks through here instead to avoid the ups and downs, but I’m glad I didn’t. The trail was beautiful following the lower edge of the mountains near the Gila river. There were tons of saguaro, prickly pear, and different cholla cacti all around, some of which were blooming still. I finally saw my first Gila monster in this stretch! It was the one animal I wanted to see most this trail, other than an ocelot, but the odds are basically no for that. It was decent sized and a peachy orange. I was able to get a photo before it ambled off to its home. The Gila monsters live in the dry deserts of North America and come out infrequently. They spend most of their time underground.
I listened to a book until I left cell service. I didn’t realize the book never fully downloaded so I turned on a different one. Later in the day around 1730, I tried to blow a snot rocket out of my nose, but unleashed a torrent of blood instead. The dry air was likely the main factor in my nose suddenly becoming a leaky faucet. It dripped rapidly onto the trail before I pulled out a napkin I had. I rarely have things like napkins with me so it was lucky I did. As I hiked on, I quickly bled through it and had to stop again to pull out the paper towel I happened to also have. I got it at the pizza place, but didn’t use it so it came with me. Also unusual that I had it as well. I shoved it up my nose and continued on. It actively bled for half an hour, soaking my paper towel. Luckily I didn’t have far until camp. I reached the last Gila River access where I planned to stay. I dropped my pack where I planned to set up camp then went to the river for some very silty and probably industrial waste polluted water. Back at camp I set up my tent, filtered water, ate, and relaxed. I should be in town around 1500 the next day. Only 22 miles to go.
The next morning I was up at 0510, packing up camp, and filtering more water. I was on trail by 0545. I quickly came across the lowest point on the AZT and took a photo. The morning was amazing. I had a 10 mile climb up into some lovely mountains. The grade was easy and fun hiking.
I stopped for water at the rain catch at the top of the climb and took a quick break to get enough water to get me to town. The trail down was equally easy and beautiful except a lot of the saguaro cacti were dead or dying. I found out later it was because of a large fire that went through a few years before. Shortly before town, I hit the 300 mile marker. Making progress!
I texted MJ, the trail angel in Superior to let her know I’d be at the trail head at 1430 instead, but was fine waiting until 3 like I had mentioned before. I hung out in the shade of the trailhead for a while before a car pulled up. MJ had sent a hiker, Boomer, with her car to come grab me. Back at the house, I got the tour and dropped off my pack. I got my own room since I had called ahead the day before. My first order of business was food. I went to a place down the street from the house. They had a taco/tamale Tuesday deal, so I got some pretty good tamales. Back at the house, I took a shower and washed my hiking clothes again with another hiker’s, Wild Child, clothes. I spent the evening reading while the other hikers and MJ went out for dinner. We all turned in early. I was asleep by 2030.
The next day was a lazy morning. MJ made us blueberry pancakes with eggs and sausage on the side. It was tasty. The three of us staying, Boomer, Wild Child, and I, went out to town so I could get my resupply. I also wanted to check out a cool looking coffee shop. Unfortunately it was closed unexpectedly. We walked to the other coffee shop that was supposed to be open and it too was closed. Oh well. The town is an old mining town that’s hanging in there. It sits under the shadow of Apache Leap, which the government unfortunately sold for mining recently. They plan to flatten the area with the type of mining that will be done there despite the area being an important spiritual site for the Apache tribes in the area. We went back to the house to relax more before heading to trail at 1300.
