AZT Day 2 – The hike

Last night I cowboy camped for the first time. It was actually really cool. Just me lying on my pillow in my sleeping bag on top of my mattress that was on top of the tarp lying on the ground. It was really nice. I don’t think I would have done it if I was 100% alone. There was another girl there. It was very nice to sleep outdoors. The only downside was that the moon surprised me in the middle of the night, but I had to turn around and then I was fine. I got a good 10 hours of sleep on my first night, which is really good considering I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before with all the traveling and everything.

I woke up to the sound of turkeys eating in the distance. They would probably gobble up 5-10 seconds a minute. It was really fun. The girl next to me said that if they wanted her to wake up, they could at least ask her politely. It was much quicker to pack without having to pack a tent, although it’s probably about the same amount of time considering I took my time.

Today was pretty easy terrain, mostly downhill and flat. I think I would enjoy it more if I wasn’t sore from all the climbing yesterday. My legs hurt. My back hurts. My shoulders hurt. My throat is still itchy, but I’m here and I’m enjoying it. I think I would enjoy it more if I wasn’t sore or sick.

It’s 8:50 and I’ve basically already done 5 miles since 6:30 and that’s what made me slow down at first for breakfast. See also: dghfd. I have one more mile until I reach what I hope is water. The comments on the far app say there is some water, so we’ll see.

I wish I had some sign so I could tell Preston I camped as a cowboy for the first time. He would be very proud of me. I joked that it would be so much fun if I camped as a cowboy all the time. I’m here considering that I had to pay extra money to bring my trekking poles. I forget I’m not on the Appalachian Trail from time to time. And then I see an agave plant or a cactus and I remember. Oh yeah, technically I’m in Arizona. I’m actually in the desert because so far it’s mostly forests in the mountains, so I’m excited to get to the desert part. The lack of water kind of sucks. I’m glad I rode a camel to the bath spring because I haven’t drunk much water since. There was a flow at Mudspring I think it was at mile 15.7 but I still have plenty of water so I didn’t fill up.

I got to mile 18.2 and heard the beautiful sound of water, but I wasn’t desperate enough to climb down all the rocks to reach it, so I kept going. It looks nice and clear and sounded very pretty as it flowed slowly through the rocks.

I crossed the Parker Canyon Lake trailhead and saw the huge lake in the distance and I won’t loot myself. Should I go right now? I and as I continue down the path away from the lake, I began to doubt my life choices in this heat once again.

I wanted to sit down, it had started to rain and it was hailing to the sky and the thunder started and turned into lightning and I was afraid it was probably the scariest 2 hours I have ever been on the trail. I was more scared than the time I looked at a bear. I didn’t want to get hit by lightning and I wasn’t feeling well and I just wanted to be home safe and sound where I could be warm and dry.

I don’t think about freezing in the desert until it rains, I’m soaked, and the wind picks up. My friend James would have died of cold. He would have been angry. I wish I was home with Preston.

I finally made it to Middle Creek after the rain stopped and I finally warmed up and had a chance to have lunch. I made it to Middle Creek Cow Pond where I was able to set up my tent after crying for 10 minutes because I couldn’t find my tent fillets before finally finding them. I quickly made my dinner, cleaned up camp, and went to bed exhausted after 16.8 miles.

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