Hiking Dude Blog

I walked 63784 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 30 miles today.
Taking the higher trail, I passed through some stands of aspen. Once I got to Alfa Fia tank for water, the trail was a gradual downhill for the rest of the day - so I just kept walking. I made it to mile 620 which is nowhere.
Whoever laid out this section of trail really felt it was important to experience the forest. About 4 miles meandered all over similar to switchbacks, but with virtually no elevation change. Weird!
I've left my stove behind and will eat only cold food for the rest of the hike, except when I hit a restaurant. Just trying to lighten my pack - lots of candy bars, poptarts, and peanut butter and honey on crackers.

I was getting water from Alfa Fia tank at mile 603 north of Flagstaff. It's a beautiful pond with great water and possibly the only good water for about 50 miles.
As I reached out with my 1quart zip-loc to scoop up some h2o, PLUNK went my cellphone from my shirt pocket into the pond. It took me less than 3 seconds to get it out, but that was long enough. I dried it but could not power it off. I opened it and set it in the sun.
Still not able to turn it off and other buttons doing crazy things, I put it in a mesh pocket and kept hiking figuring all was lost. At night, the screen was a weird green color and nothing worked. But, this morning, it was black. I decided to wait until this afternoon to try it, plugged in my solar charger from Northern Star Council and gave it a shot. BAZINGA! It works. Whew! Now I can take pics and blog again.

I believe I'm at the high point of the AZ Trail here, at about 9400 feet on the side of the San Francisco Peaks. I took the Kachina Trail instead of the new AZ Trail route because it is higher, cooler, shorter, and more scenic. The reroute is for mountain bikers and I think alternate sections just for hikers should be continued.
If I already posted this, I apologize - you'll hear why in the next post.

Remember those mountains from yesterday? Well, I'm on the base of them skirting them to the west. They are the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff and include the high point of AZ and the high point of the AZ Trail.
I'm on the Kachina trail which is a more scenic alternate to the recent AZ Trail reroute for mountain bikes. The new trail is longer, lower, hotter, and no aspen. Easy choice for me to skip up the hill a ways and enjoy this trail.
So far, my heel blister is cooperating and I'm covering miles.

Ready to start hiking again at 6:30am on Saturday. Everything but my left heel feels great - it's still sore but getting better. I have high hopes that my replacement shoes will help out.
I probably won't have cell coverage after this morning so posts may be delayed.
Check out my current location on the map.
My ride is here - bye

If you click the picture, you can see a larger version. And, if you look real close, you might see some of the 50 elk that thundered across the trail ahead of me on the prairie south of Marshall Lake. That was a very cool thing to see.

I walked 64735 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 33 miles today.
Mormon Lake to Flagstaff is too far for 1 day. I set a new record for myself - about 35 miles in 10 hours. The flat terrain and cool temps made it possible but I don't plan on doing days this long again. It's too hard on joints, muscles, and feet for a guy my age. I pushed to reach Flag tonite so I can start hiking again on Sat.
There were some great sights today, including a herd of about 50 elk which I'll post tomorrow. This cliff was just coming through a canyon east of Flag.
I never did see another bike rider so I think the guy I saw has it pretty much won as long as he completes.
I'm now at a nice Scouter's home resting after a shower and a terrific dinner at another Scouter's place. Tomorrow is a zero day to get groceries and rest me aching feet. I've got a replacement pair of shoes which I hope help me along.

Just as I found my way into Flagstaff I was walking up off the local trail system onto a city street. A jeep pulled up and I thought maybe it was the folks I'm to stay with tonight.
I was wrong. It was David L. who goes to NAU in Flag. He saw my blog and map and came to do trail magic. Out of the blue, for no reason than to make a hiker feel good, he met me with cold water and snacks (and his 2 dogs). How cool is that?! Someone that gives trail magic is often called a trail angel.
It doesn't take much to make a tired, thirsty hiker happy. That cold water was awesome since I just had a couple swallows left.
Thanks, David!

Here's the last pic of the mountains before I reached Flagstaff. Still 10 miles away, but my next hiking day will bring me right to their base. This is actually the highest point in AZ but I'm not going to the top this trip.

Same mountains at 1:30 this afternoon. Just wait until this evening!