Month: March 2021

Friday Mar 26th, 2021, 0615-1700Stock pond to Kane Spring, mm 17216 miles This day held an incredible amount of stuff packed into relatively few miles. We finished the dirt road walk after less than a mile and were on a series of trails as well as 3 miles of cross country orienteering the rest of the day. We began with route finding up a canyon along a very faint trail. It crossed a creek quite a few times where it was easy to lose among the rocks. But we made pretty short work of it with our keen searching. At a saddle and stock pond, we picked up a much better trail into Holdout Canyon. The trail was so lovely[…]

Thursday Mar 25th, 2021, 0615-1920North Bypass Cement tank to stock pond off mm 8.3 of section 8, mm 15624.5 miles Just as I predicted, everything was super wet in the morning….my first time packing a wet tent this hike. But my site selection was still pretty good. I shortly found frost in the open field. At least being under the tree seemed to keep the temperature higher. I was a bit cold in the early morning, but not so cold that I couldn’t sleep. I set out first and was immediately confronted by a maze of fences. Just like a cow, I was funneled into a corral, wondering around trying to figure a way out. I climbed over several gates[…]

Wednesday Mar 24rd, 2021, 1045-1800Aravaipa Canyon Ranger Station West Entrance to North Bypass Alternate to cement tank East Branch Horse Camp Canyon.17 miles We were hoping that due to the inclement weather, there might be some last minute cancellations for Aravaipa permits the night before. No such luck. Permit fees are nonrefundable less than a few days in advance, so it seems that nobody bothers to go online to cancel their permits, they just don’t show up. In a last ditch effort, we decided to take Violet up on her offer to drive us to the ranger station, to see if we could talk to a live person the day of. It was still very cloudy in the morning and[…]

Saturday Mar 20th, 2021, 0630-1220Montana Mountain to Picketpost trailhead, then ride to Superior, mm 4816 miles I was excited for this day, as it was to be a reunion with one of my favorite Trail Angels, MJ, the maternal saint of Superior. I stayed with her in 2019, later appearing in a picture I took with her that made the final cut in the documentary Through The Great Southwest. This was a film produced by Darwin, a popular youtuber and thru-hiker, in support of the Arizona Trail Association. My friends and trail angels Anthony and Fiona, all the way from New Zealand, contacted me to say they had seen me in it…which was a surprise, since I didn’t know and[…]

Thu Mar 18th, 2021, 1230-1800First Water Trailhead, Superstition Mountains (Tonto National Forest) mile 0 to La Barge spring mm 1010 miles A half day of hiking was on order after a late and stressful night. We were all so sad for Laurel’s loss of her beloved horse Ceniso.  I took adorable Tumas the dog for a walk and checked on Rusty the horse early in the morning. He was still pacing and calling for his stablemate…poor guy. We had breakfast and did some last minute checks of gear. By 11 am, everyone was in sync and ready for a car ride. The drive through the Tonto National Forest was very scenic. We could see where the big fires of 2020[…]

I usually include a short synopsis about the pre-planning and travel stages before a hike. I won’t go into too many details for this one, though. Suffice it to say, there was a fair bit of planning, given the nature of this rough route. A lot of looking over maps, notes, and blogs, as well as making sure all that info was loaded into my new phone. I just switched phones less than 2 weeks before departing, which left me still trying to figure out the myriad of small details. I also switched from At&T to a Verizon network carrier (US Mobile), so I was hoping to enjoy better service on the trail. My backpacking gear remained much the same[…]