AZT: From Pine to Flagstaff – The Walk

Day 28: 4.14

I woke up with a plan to grab coffee and a cinnamon roll at the only cafe in town open before 11; The internet said it was 6:30 a.m. I pack my bags, leave my AirBnB, and walk half a mile down the street only to discover the cafe is closed. Upon closer inspection, the internet says it is closed on Tuesdays and today is Tuesday. I am so sad and angry. There is literally nowhere else to get anything in this town, so I walk back to the trailhead. I see some moose on the side of the road and one looks right into my soul. Why is this morning so hard?

I’m in a forest again with real dirt on the ground. How exciting! It’s wet from the night’s storm and quickly builds up on my shoes. It’s like walking with weights on each leg and no scrape or bump seems to make it go away. Finally, the trail turns back into red sand soil and I leave the mud behind. Six miles into the day, I stop to make coffee and eat oatmeal.

I choose a spot where I can look back at the Mazatzal Desert and see the red rocks of the Mogollon Rim. Today it is the dividing line between two ecosystems as the trail skirts the bottom of the rim that is the bottom of the Colorado Plateau. Soon I will climb to the edge and be in flatter territory full of pine trees. But for today I will stay below the rim.

The plan is to hike about 22 miles and camp at the base of the big climb. I decide this mainly because it will be at least 5 degrees colder up there and it will be cold enough down here with lows in the 30s. I also don’t want to do a 1200′ climb at the end of the day. The “celebrity hikers” also plan to camp here so one of their friends who was injured can hang out, since there is a road and trail here. It’s a fun night to hang out with this group of social media influencers. I honestly don’t follow anyone online and I don’t know their stories like other people seem to know. I’m simply enjoying the company on a path that is often more isolating.

Day 29: 4.15

Since I stopped so early yesterday, I force myself to wake up at 4:03 am to start the climb. It’s only 2.2 miles and 1200′. There is a powerful stream running to my left and it is nice to be back in a «real» forest with real running water. As I go, the trail gets steeper and steeper, windier and windier, and colder and colder. It was 36*F when I left camp and 26* at the summit. The ground is covered in frost, the water fountains smoke when the sun rises, and I’m in my puffy pants and windbreaker all morning. I’m so glad I didn’t camp here last night.

I have to cross Clear Creek and I’m surprised to see that the water isn’t even flowing! There are pools to draw water from and it will probably be the last good water for a while. Everything else will be “cow tanks,” which are basically muddy, artificial ponds for cows. In 2024, this stream filled the entire stream bed and was up to my knees. I still can’t believe how different the water is this year with the low snowfall and dryness during the winter.

I have my eye on a campground as a lunch spot and we’re already 16 miles into the day. It is still closed for the season but has a picnic table and toilet. A real luxury! The terrain is very flat on the edge and the kilometers are covered more easily. I get water from a cow’s tank and it is quite cloudy but it filters clear. The next cow tank has a thick layer of algae around its perimeter. I find the clearest spot and filter some water just in case. I’m very conditioned to hot weather and desperately needing water at the beginning of the trail, but with the colder temperatures here, I’ve been sweating less and needing less water. There seems to be a green or yellow tint to the water even after filtering it. I end up not needing it and discard it later.

Famous hikers meet their friend on a forest service trail. She brings them pizza. The meeting point is only 45 kilometers from our last camp and I feel like I need to go further. I have decided to get to Flagstaff before Friday night since the temperature is only expected to be 20*F that night. It will be very uncomfortable for me if it is so cold. I headed away from the group a few more miles to make sure I could make it to Flagstaff before nightfall on Friday.

It is also a true test of one of the triggers for my panic attacks. In 2024, the cold nights made me cough and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I woke up every night in a panic. I hated it. I hated the cold and how my body responded to it. And I hated how my mind responded to that. One of the goals of this trip is to face my fears and overcome my anxiety. I have deliberately tried to change my thinking patterns to change my body’s autopilot response to a situation. It’s a work in progress, but I feel ready to face the fear of sleeping alone in the cold.

I choose a good spot to set up my tent, cook my best dinner, and turn in for the night. I’m a little nervous about the cold, but I wouldn’t say I have anxiety about it. Sleeping outside in 30*F should make you cautious for your own survival, but I know I have all the right equipment and all the right knowledge to be safe. I am capable and confident. I can do this.

And I do it. Without anxiety. No panic. I sleep through the night and wake up to the alarm at 4:13am, having given myself an extra ten minutes of sleep since I didn’t arrive at camp until after 6:30pm. My hard work has paid off and last night was tangible proof of that. I am very proud of who I am becoming.

Day 30: 4.16

I had the goal of setting a new mileage record, but I didn’t achieve it. The most miles I’ve ever walked in a day is 33 and today I only walked 32.5. Based on what I saw on the topo map, I was worried that if I went much further, my camping options wouldn’t be as good. It was 6:30 when I stopped, which has been my usual cutoff. I’m not worried about the mileage goal because it’s more ego than anything else. I know I’ll have a better chance of breaking 33 miles in a day.

I feel so fast and so strong here. I’ve been walking at 3 mph or faster all day with no problems. I mean, I still have some fluid in the normal areas of my blisters, but I poke them with a pin to drain them and have no real worries. My legs have changed shape: my quadriceps muscles are larger, some of the fat has melted away, and they are generally well defined. It’s not just about how my body looks, it’s about how my body feels. One of my reasons for getting back on the AZT was to return to the body I once knew: the one that had tree trunks for legs and could fly over mountains. Now I have that body again. I feel like myself again. My back seems to be completely healed, but I still have some trust issues. Something to continue working on in the future.

These AZT bones were here in 2024 with just a dot after the letters. Now, there’s an exclamation point. That difference hits home. My hike this year certainly requires an exclamation point!

I had a bit of a panic problem around 3:30 in the morning – I was trapped in my sleeping bag and didn’t know how to get my face out! I stirred and finally found the hole in my face, looked at my watch and saw that I could sleep for 30 more minutes before the alarm went off, and quickly fell asleep again. So it’s not a real panic attack, but just a little bit? Normal response to being trapped inside a sleeping bag in the dark?

Day 31: 4.17

Another wake up at 4:03 am and 27 miles to Flagstaff. Flagstaff is one of my favorite cities in Arizona and I’m thrilled to be getting there. I book a hotel room as the sun rises and discover there is a Pita Jungle near the trail. I was originally dreaming about the Taco Bell that is literally ON THE WAY, but I decide I need real vegetables. So, with those thoughts in my head, I run down the trail.

I meet some hikers who have a million questions for me. They are nice guys who live in Flagstaff and gave me more vegetarian food suggestions. I’m 15 miles in and since we talk for 10 minutes I decide I should sit down and have lunch. It’s a short lunch break, but I find it impossible to walk normally again for the first kilometer afterward. My feet hurt a lot. My left calf/ankle area also hurts, probably something related to the tendon. I push it away. The brain eventually turns off the pain signals when it realizes that I’m not going to hear them anyway. There’s nothing I can do right now except keep walking. I manage to cover 20 miles by noon. And then I arrive in Flagstaff at 3 in the afternoon. I realize I’ve only had 2 liters of water for 33 miles and an entire night of camping. Today water was almost non-existent.

I limp towards Pita Jungle, my legs are covered in dirt and I know I smell it. The waitress looks at me strangely and I explain that I’m walking the path. His expression changes immediately and we talk a little about the trail. I eat a lot of vegetables, falafel and hummus. There is lemon in my water, water that I didn’t have to filter from the cow pond. I leave so happy (and so so sore). I cross the street to Whole Foods to pick up more healthy foods and a kombucha and then take an Uber to my hotel. It’s only a mile away, but I don’t feel like walking.

The bed in my room is very comfortable and I turn the heating up to maximum. I had to force myself to leave such a comfortable place to go out into the wind and cold again. But I want to date Milkman. We go to a brewery and have a beer together. I got to know him a little better and I’m glad I left my warm room.

Day 32: 4.18

Today started with a plan for two breakfasts: one at the hotel and one at a place recommended by a local hiker I met along the way. I’ve been craving vegan biscuits and gravy since Superior.
I did a lot of city chores today. I tried to complete all the medical clearance paperwork at the local clinic for my upcoming travel nurse contract, but my agency screwed up the paperwork. I tried really hard to explain that I had one day in Flagstaff to do it since there are no major cities left. I hope it doesn’t jeopardize my job.

In the evening, I met up with Rooster, who I hadn’t seen since mile 160, and Lakes since mile 400. There was also a “Dark Sky” event and I was able to look through some telescopes at some stars, the moon, and Jupiter with 4 of its moons. Flagstaff is a fun town and I’m so happy to have found some hikers to connect with here.

Creatures I’ve seen in the last 4 days and 113.2 miles

38 people, 1 dog, 1 blue heron, 6 cows, 7 lizards, 10 moose, 3 squirrels and 8 deer. Now the forest is predominantly ponderosa pine. There have been some small nopales that are probably a different species considering the different shape of their fruit.

Water sources I have drunk from