Mud Stun – The Walk

How are you, my raindrops? This has been a wet and muddy stretch. We left Flagstaff in light rain and continued to experience intermittent rain and mud for a few days.

Day 7:

Yes, it’s raining! ☔️ I really want to get back on the road. Ok, city nights are the best, like the BEST, but I actually find that rain is better than lots of sun. After a restful night’s sleep in Flagstaff, we left early in the afternoon for a half day (12 miles).

We talked to Truckee and he said something about a muddy stretch we were going to walk. We walked about nine miles without much mud and I thought I must have been exaggerating. But not completely. I didn’t think it would be so muddy my ankles would hurt. But wow, can you say it?????

We made it and set up our tent just in time for the heaviest rain yet. 👏🏾

I had some ramen noodles for dinner and then two guys passing by our store bothered me a little. It’s okay now. They left and we didn’t need the pepper spray. lol 😝 (Pepper spray is actually in case of fast foxes).

Oh dear, team

Water bottles: I have a mini Nalgene, which is a half liter. I carry it in my front pocket to grab while we walk. Then I have three 1 liter water bottles, but I usually only use 2 at a time. I have a LifeWater and SmartWater bottle and a Cnoc Vesica. Of course, my Cnoc is purple.

I didn’t set myself any challenges today because we were walking out of town.

Day 8:

Mud, mud, mud, little pigs in the mud! 🐷 We walk through the mud in the morning. At first it was fun but then my ankles started to hurt.

Challenge of the day:

Not letting the mud get over my knees. ☄️

Well, back to what I was saying. I would scrape the mud off the soles of my shoes and LSL would go ahead and I would have to wait like ten times. This is not just any old clay. This mud has pine needles, grass, pine cones, rocks, and dry dirt mixed in. Basically, you have 5 pound weights on your feet. Good training for a marathon! But it’s really satisfying when everything comes out in a big balloon. It seemed like we had done twice as many miles this morning, because every three steps you had to kick to get a lot of mud off your shoes. Or you have to scrape if there is a good rock! Have fun when you go through this section. 😀

Today we did very few kilometers for lunch… but for lunch I had half a baguette with ghee, tuna and olives. The best! Whole Foods has these packs of olives called FreeStyle Snacks. They are a little heavy, but very good. My mom had a tuna wrap (with olives)…lots of olives. We also had olives on rice for dinner.

Oh my god, gear!

My bag of food and my bag of clothes. I have a HyperLight Mtn roll-up bag made of dyneema. My laundry bag is 10 liters. My food bag is also 10 liters, but it’s a slightly different style than my clothes bag! They are waterproof.

We saw moose!!! They had white gyots and the rest of the body was brown.

I completed the challenge of the day. Hurrah! No mud on my knees! 😀 ☑️😀

We found a good campsite off the trail, maybe 20 feet away. This is how I look after a muddy day.

Sweet dreams 💤 I love you.

Day 9:

I had a bagel with pb and Nutella for my breakfast! We walked out the door around 7:20am. Then, we set off. at 10 We had our morning snack. I had some nice snacks in the trees where we stopped!

We did about 12 miles for lunch (lunch is at 1:00 pm). We passed a couple of “tanks” or ponds. I finally decided on my challenge for the day:

Setting up the store (with my mom’s) help,) my sleeping bag, air mattress and pillow in 8 minutes. 🐦‍🔥

We saw a lot of cows and mushrooms on the way to camp. ⛺️ As the day progressed I got tired and needed music. By the way, Dance the Night from the movie Barbie is the song I listened to the fastest. So if you like pop music, add it to your hiking playlist!

It’s time for Oh Dear, Gear.

Navigation Tools: I have a compass that Trucks gave me for the JMT. I took some lessons on the JMT with Trucker. But for eachdaytime maps, we use FarOut, an app with many long walk maps. We have used it on all of our hikes and I love it because it has an elevation map and a bird’s eye view map. I definitely recommend it! You can get a subscription or purchase all maps individually so you don’t need the subscription. It’s up to you, we buy each of them as needed for a hike.

Alright…the timer is tick tock, tick tock and the tent is set up, my mat is out, the pillow is inflated and the sleeping bag is placed on my mattress, all in 6:55 minutes! ✔️Woooooo.

I had a new type of noodles for dinner. Excellent! I’m buying it again! My mother had a carrot and ginger dish with the same noodles. But I ate my noodles in soup and she didn’t. The noodles are purple rice noodles!

I love you and I will see you tomorrow. Or in my dreams. xxx 🥰

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