Twig Adventures

Monday Apr 25th, 2022, 0715-1800Coldest place in AZ to Fork Tank Drainage, EABO mm 373.3, Segment 6 mm 27.726 miles. It was a rough night…not my worst ever but definitely my coldest. I didn’t understand it. The temperature was not too bad as I was setting up camp but by the time I’d finished dinner, the steam on my pot lid had frozen. Uh oh. Somehow the cold had crept in and it was insidious. It would invade nearly every space overnight, including my sleeping bag. I cracked a hand warmer but it seemed to take forever to get sufficiently warm. On top of this, the air felt very damp. The moisture settled on everything, combined with my breaths. I kept[…]

Sunday Apr 24th, 2022, 0620-1820HWY 260 crossing to edge of Little Colorado River Canyon, EABO mm 347, Segment 6 mm 1.5.17 miles. It was again cold overnight but without as much condensation, so it didn’t feel as bad. I think my thermometer reached 22 degrees. Again, I had a hand warmer radiating a little heat all night…a nice little hack. Around 5 am, a truck rattle by on the nearby dirt road and stopped about 50 yards away. I got up to pee and heard a strange, artificial sound. At first I thought it was a coyote but then realized it was a fake turkey call. The guy in the truck had posted up nearby, trying to call in some gobblers.[…]

Saturday Apr 23rd, 2022, 0600-1840Country Club & Chipmunk to just N of HWY 260 crossing, EABO mm 336, Segment 5 mm 49.33 miles. The wind died completely overnight, which was a great relief, but it was still very cold. Frost lined my tent in the morning and the thermometer read 25 degrees. My chemical hand warmers did the trick, keeping my footsies warm all night. We were camped at around 7,200′ this night, one of our higher camps yet, but would end the day at over 9000′. More cold was in store. It was a beautiful morning, with sun filtering through the forest. Logging activity had removed a lot of the trees but most areas hadn’t been clear-cut, just thinned. It[…]

Friday Apr 22nd, 2022, 0830-1800Hwy 60 to Country Club & Chipmunk, EABO mm 304, Segment 5 mm 17.24 miles. There was a wind and dust advisory for this day, plus warnings about extreme fire danger. The Flagstaff fire was raging to the west and the overnight low was forecasted to be 29. So naturally, I left a safe, warm hotel room to set out for a night in the woods. I was definitely dragging my feet to leave town, though. There were 2 access points to this ‘metropolis’ along the route, the 2nd going right past a shopping center in Pinetop. Originally I’d hoped to walk the 7 miles between access points before stopping in town, negating the 3 mile side[…]

Wednesday Apr 20th, 2022, 0550-1900Cottonwood wash to Hwy 60, then Show Low, EABO mm 280.8, Segment 4 mm 71 5. 31 miles. I passed the halfway mark at only 11 days in, setting a blistering pace. I’d earned an overnight town stop, maybe even a zero. I was sure ready for one. Today’s landscape certainly didn’t leave me wanting for more right away. It was another hot, windy, exposed day in even more scorched lands. The morning started off nice, finishing our walk through the wash with tall pines and a lone elk sighting. But soon we were winding through a lot of scrub and some pretty relentless ups and downs through a number of ridges. We began the first of[…]

Tuesday Apr 19th 2022, 0610-1900Lower Black Canyon to Cottonwood wash, EABO mm 250, Segment 4 mm 41. 30 miles. Oh boy, what a day. There was more big hiking, Big Sun and Big Wind. The morning started off so very pleasant and peaceful. I wasn’t too cold overnight for the first time in a week. A few random wind gusts did take out my centerpole stake… nothing like your house crashing down on you in the middle of the night. So I had to get up to re-adjust. We had a chipper start in the morning. I made a comment about not seeing much sign of bears and minutes later, spotted fresh bear tracks in the sand. We came upon a[…]

Monday Apr 18th, 2022, 0610-1900Rim Top to Lower Black Canyon, EABO mm 220, Segment 4 mm 11. 22 miles. There was another town stop this day, except it wasn’t much of a town. We dropped off food resupply packages at a general store a few weeks ago, as we were passing by in the car. The store wasn’t even yet open for the season, but we were lucky to run into the manager. The Rim Resort sits right along the main highway and our route, so it was very convenient to leave food there, lessening how much we had to carry from Pine. It was another 75-80 miles to the next trail town, Show Low. We had 11 more miles to[…]

Sunday Apr 17th 2022, 0600-1900La Cianega to Rim Top, EABO mm 198, Segment 3 mm 59. 31 miles. There wasn’t too much to say about this day, other than it was more iconic Rim travel. I hiked the rest of the Highline Trail, then ascended Military Sinkhole trail for the final few miles to make it to the top of the Rim just in time for sunset. The day started off a little iffy for me in that I wasn’t feeling great. I felt a little congested, like I was getting a mild cold, and my back was hurting. I quickly snapped out of it, feeling much better after an hour of walking. A beautiful morning, with nothing but 360 views[…]