Twig Adventures

AZT Day 3: North Rim of the Grand Canyon

October 9th, 2019Mm 60.1 to North Rim Grand Canyon mm 76.2Distance in miles: 16.1 plus about 4 miles walking around, being a tourist0610-1130 I had a hard time warming my sleeping bag but once I did, I slept pretty well. I woke around 2:30 am feeling pretty hungry, so I ate the rest of my dinner, followed by a chocolate bar. I went back to sleep until my usual waking time. I don’t know what was wrong with me the night before but I seemed to be back to normal. I had a pleasant morning, beginning with meeting a few SOBOs. They were just packing and I stopped to chat. (This was where I first met 9Lives, who I would[…]

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AZT Day 2: Walking the Highlands of Arizona

October 8th, 2019Orderville Trailhead mm 27 to mm 60.1Distance in miles: 33.10545-1800 I got on the trail super early and walked by the light of my headlamp for a bit. Without Daylight Savings Time, I needed to take advantage of the daylight in the morning. Fine by me, since I usually like getting an early start. Except that this morning was very cold and I couldn’t seem to warm up as I walked. I started out wearing all my layers, including my puffy and mitts. I walked uphill in a small valley which was effectively trapping the cold air. The first rays of sun didn’t hit until 8 am and I suffered up to that point. Once they did, it[…]

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AZT Day 1: Another Start

October 7th, 2019Arizona Trail Northern Terminus mm 0 to Orderville Trailhead mm 27Distance in miles: 27 plus 1.5 walked on road to trailhead.0910-1830 I was up early to cram breakfast and coffee before trying to hitch a ride to the trailhead. Awesome omelettes were concocted using the leftover Caprese salad from the night before. I said goodbye to my wonderful trail angels and hosts and Richard dropped me off just outside of town. It was still dark and cold, so I had no luck for awhile. It’s hard to get a hitch to the middle of nowhere. After about an hour, a truck puled over. Two workers were on their way to Page and could give a ride to the[…]

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CDT to AZT Interim

October 1-6, 2019 For continuity sake, I’m providing a brief description of some of the events happening in between finishing the CDT and starting the Arizona Trail. I decided to hike the AZT so that I could say that I walked from Canada to Mexico for a second summer in a row. The timing worked out well and I didn’t have to retrace hundreds of miles of the CDT to get back to Mexico. I took 6 days off in between, spending about half that time trying to figure out how to get from Grants, NM to Kanab, Utah. Trail Angel Mac graciously invited me to stay with him for as long as I needed, so I spent 2 more[…]

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