GET – Twig Adventures

2022 Year In Review

I wanted to do recap of all my hiking in 2022, which is something I should’ve been doing since I started this blog in 2017. Maybe I’ll do some back-posts over the next winter season to cover years 2017-2021. I like collecting stats in one tidy place. Call it ego or whatever, really I just want to keep track of everything for personal reflections. 2022 was a pretty busy year! I thru-hiked one specialty route, the Mogollon Rim Trail (MRT, courtesy of Brett Tucker and Melissa Spencer) and also one official National Scenic Trail, the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT). These 2 thru-hikes were quite different from each other and afforded a very wide array of habitats, conditions, and experiences. They[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 26: Gila Hot Springs

May 14, 2022 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Wednesday May 4th, 2022, 0640-1000West Fork Gila to Gila Hot springs.11 miles. We had about 6 miles to go until the cliff dwellings, then another 5 miles of road walking to Doc Campbells and the hot springs in the morning. The trail went by fast, especially since I was running to keep warm. The relentless river crossings turned my feet into blocks of ice, so I had to do something to generate heat. We passed a camp where the occupants were dry, sitting in chairs, and sipping coffee. Ahhh, the regular backpacking life. We also passed our camp from the year before, where I spied toilet paper right where I’d cowboy camped…good thing I hadn’t counted on a repeat of[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 25: Gila River

May 12, 2022 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Tuesday May 3rd, 2022, 0640-1920Iron Creek to West Fork Gila, GET Seg 21 mm 11.527.5 miles. I wasn’t looking forward to the challenge of the first half of the day. We were walking unfamiliar territory for about 14 miles, a lot of which was in burn areas. This alternate now had its own alternates to avoid miles of washed out creek travel. The first few miles were fine, on maintained trail. Then we turned up a drainage towards Turkeyfeather Pass, which was chaos from the get-go. I thought there might be some remnant parts of the trail left to follow but I was wrong. Massive erosion and flooding from the surrounding burned areas had turned the drainage into a jumble[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 24: Mogollon For the End

May 11, 2022 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Monday May 2nd, 2022, 0630-1830Mineral Creek to Iron Creek Gila National Forest, EABO mm 520, GET Seg 20 ALT mm 11 27 miles. I didn’t sleep well, partly because I was too hot in my quilt and also because my mind was playing stupid tricks on me. I had to leave my feet out of the footbox for half the night, it was so warm. Crazy that I was freezing my butt off less than a week before. Then I dreamt that something was scraping at me inside my tent or that something kept walking by. The creek was so close and loud that it seemed to make noises that simulated other things. Perhaps it was also the sycamore whispering to[…]

MRT Day 23: Mineral Creek Repeat

May 10, 2022 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Sunday May 1st, 2022, 0540-1920Near Charlie Moore Mountain to Mineral Creek, EABO mm 493.5, GET Seg 20 mm 5.5 (6.5 miles to end Seg 7 plus 10 miles to Alma plus 5.5 miles to campsite)22 miles. My cowboy camp was fantastic. It wasn’t too cold, no bugs, no weird noises…just wonderful star gazing. It made packing up very easy as well. We left earlier than usual because we were loosing an hour by walking across the border into New Mexico (commence DST). The Alma cafe closed at 3 pm and we didn’t want to miss out on a hot meal (or 2). But we still had to walk 16 long miles to get there. The first 3 miles were pretty tough.[…]

GET Day 40: The Finish on top the Sandias

June 8, 2021 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail

Thursday Apr 29th, 2021, 1000-1600I 40/Tijeras to Sandia Peak Tram, Segment 38, mm 75715 miles I stuck this one out to the end and it was finally time to call it that…THE END. The past few weeks had certainly dragged on, first because of Norovirus and then so we could align our plans with good weather and a return ride. Jon, trail angel extraordinaire, was on his way from Phoenix to pick us up but wouldn’t be arriving until late afternoon. We had all day to walk the last 15 miles, which was a good thing since we had stayed up late with Blue and Twerk. We slept in a little, ate a small breakfast at Blue’s, then headed straight[…]

GET Day 39: Killing Time

May 18, 2021 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail

Wednesday Apr 28th, 2021, 0730-1100Manzanita Mountains to I 40, Tijeras, Segment 37, mm 7427 miles I woke with another migraine, but at least this time I took the right medicine. When my alarm went off, the pain was mostly gone. I also woke to something else, something that had been missing for too long…hunger. First thing I did was eat all my granola. It was a nice morning and we weren’t in a hurry, so I made coffee then tea while eating all the chocolate I had, along with other snacks. We continued down more bike trails but didn’t see anyone else. The day before, we only encountered 2 bikers on the trails. There must have been over 100 miles[…]

GET Day 38: Disjointed Wanderings

May 2, 2021 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail

Tuesday Apr 27th, 2021, 0600-1900Comanche Pass to Manzanita Mountains, Segment 37, mm 73523.5 miles I woke around 4 am with a pretty severe migraine. They hadn’t been too bad on this hike, so I wasn’t sure what triggered it. Perhaps too few calories and too much exertion. I took some of my medication but when my alarm went off, it felt like the migraine was worse. I realized that I must have taken a benadryl instead of the medicine I needed (both were mixed together in a small bag and oblong in shape, hard to differentiate in the dark). So not only was my head pounding, I felt groggy as well. I didn’t want to move but had no choice.[…]

GET Day 37: Manzano Mountains

May 2, 2021 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail

Monday Apr 26th, 2021, 0630-1800Rattlesnake Spring to Comanche Pass, Segment 35, mm 690.523.5 miles It was another relatively warm and calm night. I heard some sort of nightjar calling but wasn’t sure what kind. While I was forcing my dinner down the night before, a single mosquito got a bite in before I could even recognize what it was. It was maybe the 4th I’d seen all trip. Flies and gnats were also a non-issue. I guess the struggle to find water all the time came with some benefits. To start the day, we walked some more ATV roads to a graded forest service road, then up 4 miles to a somewhat abused and neglected campground. It had a great[…]

GET Day 36: UFO’s or weather balloons?

April 28, 2021 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail

Sunday Apr 25th, 2021, 0630-1930Grey Ridge cut to Rattlesnake Spring, Segment 34, mm 66825 miles The wind settled down nicely overnight but once again, my stomach did not. I woke around 1 am feeling the need to puke. I just couldn’t let that happen, so I tried some herbal remedies that helped settle my stomach and put me back to sleep. I still woke with a knot in my stomach and could only manage to choke down a banana for breakfast. I’d had no appetite whatsoever for days and my stomach was visibly distended, even though there was nothing in there. I just felt bloated. I couldn’t imagine how much longer this could last. I should have gotten better by[…]

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