Arizona Trail Part 3

This past 100 miles has been the hottest and driest. I have been doing 25+ mile days because I have been running out of water. I figured out early that the possibility of water caches being available at trailheads was pretty good. Arizona Trail members supply metal cache boxes with gallons of public water. I found three of them on this leg from Oracle to Superior Arizona. Without them it would have been quite miserable. I followed the Gila River for about a dozen miles or so. I could have sucked water from the river, but after looking to the East and seeing all the open pit copper mining it made me wonder if it was full of chemicals and heavy metals. Maybe it would be healthier to just hike thirsty for awhile. I don’t mind sharing water with cattle, or chewing a bit of algae, but I draw the line at glowing in the dark.

Many miles of this section were strictly sun bleached. The only shade available was to have a vulture sit on your face and peck your eyes out. Often while hiking long trails you end up doing miles that are nothing special, just linkage to the spectacular sections. The first 75 miles of this section were like that. It was all worth it when I left the Gila River and made a turn straight north. The last 25 miles snakes through one of the most beautiful canyons in Arizona. Few people visited this region before the trail was established. The guide book said it was perfect habitat for bighorn sheep, mountain lions and gila monsters. I never saw any one of them, but they all saw me, and that is all that matters. I did see my first rattlesnake. I had a couple encounters with large gopher snakes that gave me some practice in doing the “backward two-step trail trot.” On my last day, I was hiking hard because there was a large Hawaiian pizza in Superior, Arizona with my name on it.  Across the trail lay a medium sized Western Diamondback. He wasn’t coiled, just laying across the trail looking irritated that I would happen by just as he was preparing a meal for himself. I didn’t see that he had just killed a nice little pocket mouse and was most likely waiting for it to cook a bit before he devoured it. From my perspective the snake didn’t look all that menacing. But I bet he didn’t even have to bite the mouse. From the mouse’s perspective he must have had a coronary as soon as he ran into this long, cylindrical serpent with a viper head. I took a couple pictures before I poked him with my hiking pole. I wasn’t trying to pick a fight. I have heard most people that die from snake bite have been doing something stupid, like poking with a stick. I just wanted to move him along so I could pass. Instead he cocked back the front end of his body and head into a defensive posture, stuck out his tongue at me, rattled his tail and slowly started into retreat. His butt moved back as far as it could go, then the front end backed over it, still in the spring loaded defensive posture.   When his butt figured out it was out front it slithered back behind again. This went on several times until the snake was up in a tangle of cactus. Having read that a snake can strike the length of it’s body, I still decided to give him a wide berth. Safely past, I finally noticed the fresh kill and the reason he was so irritated with me. He was just anticipating his next meal as much as I was. 

When I get really thirsty on the trail I first start thinking about ice cold water, then ice cold beer, then exotic drinks like a Pina Colada. I have started each day on this section bloating myself with water as soon as I find a source, then filling all water bladders. With over a gallon, I still run out before nightfall. During the day the water I carry gets so hot, it’s like drinking bath water. 

I’m thinking I have beat the worst of the heat now. From Superior I head north to higher elevations. Within the week I should be on the Mogollon Rim into more pine forested areas of Arizona. Finding water will continue to be a problem as it has been such a dry year, but I should need less as the temps drop. 

I’m trying another pair of boots for the next 260 miles to Flagstaff. The Vasque Breeze boots I bought for this hike are not working out. I should have stayed with my habit of buying $20 Walmart boots and adding expensive inserts. To be fair to Vasque, the rocky trails just hammer the soles. I am going to try my heavier soled Keens. I also bought a low-top Walmart, $19.95 trail boot if the Keens do not work out. I have no blister problems, but after 25+ mile days my feet feel like they have gone nine rounds with Ali. 

Doesn’t this sound like fun? If you crave the solitude it’s all worth it. This is not a social trail. Thousands do the AT each year. Hundreds do the PCT. So far I have only run into three other thru-hikers. Two are moving much faster than I am and two much slower. I may never see any of them again. I am averaging one person per one hundred miles in some of the most isolated and beautiful wilderness left in Arizona. Sore feet seem a fair price to pay. I look bad and I smell bad, but I feel good. 

--Keep Smilin’