Miles 459-568 on the Arizona Trail

Pine to Flagstaff

This was my longest stretch so far. The next one will be even longer. This stretch was 114 miles and since I wasn’t trying to go quickly, I planned for 5 days (half day, 4 full days, half day) before reaching Flagstaff.

I left Pine and was back on trail by 1300. I was back in the cow grazing areas and immediately saw some cute baby cows. Seeing them makes me question not being at least vegetarian. The fate of all the baby cows I’ve seen on trail is definitely slaughter for meat.

I’d be climbing all afternoon and the next morning. Luckily the trail was back to a normal grade so the hiking was pretty easy. The area had fully transitioned to forest. I was out of the desert. The next day I’d be climbing the final part of the Mogollon Rim and would be on a plateau of about 7000’. The weather also changed to very comfortable temperatures. The afternoon was nice. The views of the rim were pretty.

I did walk through a burn scar which was less pretty, but it wasn’t fresh and I’d been through worse.

I was in and out of trees all afternoon, occasionally seeing cows and lots of flowers.

I enjoyed the walking, but I needed to find a place to camp. I was a little worried about the cold. It was supposed to be chilly, so I definitely needed to set my tent for added warmth. My quilt is only rated to 40 degrees, but I have a sleeping bag liner and more clothes I can put on to keep me comfortable. I stopped at a place with a great view, but it was windy and there was a pipe making a ton of noise.

I pushed on a little farther to a spot in the woods. Luckily the dead trees were just far enough that I would be okay from being squished in the night.

The night was chilly, mid 30s, but I was fine. I slept in a little and was on trail by 0630. The walking was nice and pretty easy. I took very few pictures this day for some reason.

I took an early lunch that lasted 2 hours. I didn’t need to rush, so may as well enjoy it. After lunch I had the final push up the rim. It was a little steeper but for such a short duration, it went by quickly. The hiking was flat and fast after lunch. This would be the theme for this entire section, progressively getting faster until Flagstaff. I stopped to get water, but didn’t linger. 

This section was full of roads (dirt forest roads), so I tried to find spots farther off trail than normal and at least a mile from the roads. I was in another burned area so there wasn’t a lot of great options. I wandered off trail after a short climb up from the puddle where I got water. I was trying to find a spot that didn’t have dead trees and many rocks. It took a little while, but eventually I found a spot with a nice pine duff floor that only required moving a few pine cones.

My alarm went off, but it was cold. During the night I put on all of my clothes, except what I hike in. The temperature reached 29 inside my tent meaning it was colder outside. I didn’t get out of bed until 0700. It was glorious. Once I did hike out, it was much the same, fast and flat. I came upon a campground with a dumpster. I tossed in my trash and left a dollar in the pay bin. You’re supposed to pay for use of services, but it didn’t specify how much and the $20 overnight fee seemed like a bit much for what I was doing.

I came across a water cache not too long after. I grabbed a liter of water that didn’t require filtering. Always nice. Some hiker had also left a protein bar and some potatoes. I grabbed the bar. I crossed mile 500, but didn’t see a mile marker. I didn’t bother making one. The hiking felt like I was in a park, lots of grassy areas surrounded by pines. I was also in cow tank land. No more streams. I’d have to start using the tanks (muddy manmade ponds) for water after lunch. I took an early lunch for 2 hours again. Just relaxing and reading. After lunch I got water. This water was incredibly silty cow tank water. It definitely clogged my filter and I had to make-shift backflush it. I broke the coupler that makes the job easy. Since it got below freezing and I didn’t have my filter in a safe place, I was unsure if it had frozen. I added aquatabs as well as filtering to all the water for the rest of this section until I could buy a new one. Yay, bleach flavored water. 

Soon it was time to call it a day. Again, the area was previously burned. Looked like a tree graveyard. I wandered up slope and off trail until I found a place that wouldn’t require moving too many rocks. The whole area was covered in rocks so the main goal was to find anything with the fewest rocks and no dead trees. I moved the rocks out of the way and set up camp. My evening routine was the same as always, dinner, journal, set up inside for sleep, read, sleep.

I had finally just turned my alarm off altogether since it didn’t matter. I mainly had it on to start hiking before the heat. The weather was now perfect for hiking. I laid in bed reading and left camp around 0710. The hiking was so easy. If I wasn’t trying to go slow, it would be easy to hike 30+ miles each day. I was hitting 23 or so miles with sleeping in, multiple long breaks, and early camps.

Late morning I began hiking on an old rail road. The company that built it went out of business so logging companies acquired it and were logging in the area to meet the demands of WW2. I took another long lunch break alongside it in the sun. It was chilly when not moving. Immediately after, I crossed a big highway where I saw Greg and Adrian again. They were skipping the rest of the section and headed to Flagstaff. I chatted briefly with them and continued on, stopping to attempt to take a photo of a goose family with a bunch of goslings.

I stopped at the next cow tank for water right after. I had cell service so I got to talk to my husband for a little bit before I lost it again. Around 1830, I headed off trail to find a spot to set up for the night. Again, it was very rocky, but I found a spot that required the least moving of rocks. The evening routine went like usual with the addition on a nice sunset. 

It was nice not needing to worry about making any distance. I woke up around 6 but stayed in bed reading until almost 8. I popped out of my tent to find a herd of mule deer not far off. They all ran when I started packing my tent. Eventually I left camp. Despite being in pine forest at a pretty high elevation, I would occasionally be reminded of the desert I left. Cacti were still around and I would smile whenever I saw one. 

I walked along the railroad off and on much of the morning. Again, easy and super fast. I was in a good mood and the day was nice.

I stopped for lunch shortly before the next highway crossing. I laid in the sun reading for a while. I started to get cold so I packed up. I had good cell service so I spent almost two hours talking to my husband while I walked on. He got me a hotel room booked for a double zero in Flagstaff and added on the hotel ghost tour. We hung up as I was walking back from the last water I’d stop at before town. It was another cow tank, but in the middle of a dried up lake. It was a long walk out to it and back and the approach for the water was super muddy. Luckily someone put some metal fence post like things and a wood board I could inch out on to get to the water without stepping into ankle deep mud. In the photo, the tree line is where I dropped my pack by the trail before walking out.

While I was filtering water, I chatted with a day hiker who was excited to meet a thru hiker. She wanted to do a thru hike too. After the stop, the area opened up a bit and I could see Humphreys peak clearly and looming over. I plan to summit it during the next stretch.

I crossed a road where there was a water cache. I already got some from the lake so I didn’t need anymore, but they had also left soda! I grabbed the Shasta twist to have with dinner at camp. This was my third trail magic of the trail.

Hiking on, I passed an area where tons of people were car camping on national forest land. Not an official campground, but a lot of people anyway despite that. I hiked on to put some distance between me and all of them and eventually came to a place where I could find a nice spot off trail. I wandered a bit until I found a spot with the least amount of rocks to move and no dead trees (you might be thinking you read this already, you’d be right). I got a nice spot and moved the rocks to set up. I enjoyed my soda with dinner and the rest of the evening was routine with another good sunset.

Town day! I woke up early and didn’t linger this time. My batteries were all very low so I didn’t want to risk spending hours in bed. Battery bank was dead, phone was at 35%, watch was at 10%, and garmin was at 30%. I was packed and on trail by 0530. It was good I got out early before business hours. I was soon walking through an active logging area. The logging was literally taking place on the trail. I lost the trail to a stack of downed trees and the trail was often crisscrossed with tracks from the heavy machinery. FarOut comments mentioned the flying debris and having to flag down the drivers to turn off equipment so they could safely pass. Luckily it wasn’t clear cutting, but still makes me think about ways I could be less wasteful so fewer trees are cut down. They’re pretty vital to life on this planet. 

In this area I also saw a pair of shaggy elk. They were running from me, but weren’t doing a good job of it. They were running along the trail in the same direction as me so I could watch them for some time.

After the logging area, I reached Sandy’s canyon. It was obvious I was nearing town. The trails were all wider and more worn.

I chatted with another hiker who was ending his hike in Flagstaff. I also talked to a pair of bike packers headed to Albuquerque. It wasn’t long before I hit the urban trails in the town area. Being close to town always feels the most unsafe. People always ask if I’m scared on trail, but I’m always most wary or scared when I’m close to roads and towns. This area was no exception, especially when a guy shouted, walked down from behind some bushes, and was walking behind me on the sidewalk. I definitely had my pepper spray and phone ready to go as I walked quickly to the businesses just ahead. The guy eventually turned off, but I was on edge until I got to the safer feeling downtown.

On the way to town I came across a train engine. It was one of the ones used on the railroad I was walking along. I thought it was cool to tie it together.

Darwin’s shop, Evolved supply co, was a couple doors down from my hotel so I popped in and had a nice chat with him before heading to see if I could check in early. It was 1000, so unlikely, but I’ve had good luck in the past. The room I was to be in still needed cleaning so it’d be another hour. The woman checking me in was amazing. So friendly and helpful with getting me set up. She helped me figure out laundry and told me of a place for breakfast.

I headed over to Brandy’s Cafe, the same place the bike packers suggested, for breakfast of an oat pancake and a mocha. It was good. I didn’t like the oat pancake as much as I hoped but it was more a me not them problem.

I stopped at the outfitter next to the hotel. I needed a new filter after possibly killing mine. They had a cute little area in the middle for hikers with a focus on cottage companies and had a hiker box I grabbed a fuel can out of. I headed back to the hotel after buying some post cards and wrote them out while I waited.

It wasn’t long before I could head up. The awesome Bailey gave me her favorite room and told me it was only a little haunted. I finally showered. It’s so nice to be clean again.

I spent the afternoon reading and buying stamps. I grabbed nachos from the grill at the hotel for dinner and wandered around the downtown. There were some art displays set up so I checked those out. Eventually I was ready to relax and went back to my room.

The next morning I started my day with a new cafe. I tried Flagstaff Baking co. It was really cute. I got, I’m sure you can guess, a mocha. I also ordered a bowl of granola and milk. I wasn’t too hungry so this would be enough. They forgot about my bowl, but were super kind when I asked about it and gave me a giant chocolate chip cookie as an apology.

During breakfast, I looked at my next stretch so I could plan how much food to buy. I walked down to Whole Foods since it wasn’t too far from where I ate. I probably shouldn’t go to fancy stores for resupply. I spent more than I needed to but it’ll probably be a little better than just ramen.

I ate my cookie on the walk back to the hotel. I dropped off my food and headed back out. I still needed a couple more items. I got some walking tamales and a backpacker meal at the outfitter then checked out the Natural Grocers. Cous cous was on sale, so I grabbed a few boxes. They also had walking tamales for cheaper, so that was sad I didn’t go there first. I grabbed another which ended up being my lunch. Back in my room, I repackaged the food and made sure I was good to go.

I hung out reading until it was time for my ghost tour! I enjoy ghost tours since they are usually macabre history tours. This one was more of ghost hunting though. There were three of us on the tour, one believer, and two skeptics. I’m a skeptic, but I still enjoy pretending. We wandered the hotel with devices to find ghosts and a little box they’re supposed to talk through. The tour didn’t make me a believer, but I still had fun.

After my tour I went out for Thai food. I love Thai food. I didn’t get my usual green curry or Panang curry, but instead asked the server for a good other option. Sometimes it’s fun to try new things. I got the khao soi which was kind of like ramen in curry, in other words tasty, and a Thai ice tea.

On my third day in Flagstaff (2nd zero day), I had a lazier morning. I hung out in bed until I got too hungry and headed across the street to Steep, a tea lounge. I got a matcha and breakfast sandwich and settled in to catch up on blogging. I spend a couple hours there before heading out into the world. 

I walked aimlessly around after dropping off my post cards in the mail box at the post office. I started to head to the outfitter again to buy another battery bank so I didn’t have to worry about spending too much time reading or listening to books on this next 6 day stretch. On the way, I noticed a bunch of tents so I went to check it out. It was a massive farmers market. I wandered the aisles a few times each before stopping at a tamale stand to get one and a horchata for lunch.

I also stopped at the Canyon Crack stand. I bought some on GGG before so I got a couple more. The guy thought it was fun to see a customer this was designed for and also mentioned he has a shuttle at the end of the trail from the terminus to Paige and you can fly from Paige to Phoenix for not too much. So I have an option for the end of the trail. After the market, I did go buy that battery bank and plugged it in back at my room to charge. While it charged I soaked in the tub and read some more. I decided that pasta sounded good for dinner so I went out to acquire some. I got a delicious pasta dish with spicy chili oil, garlic, honey sauce and a large slice of tiramisu.

Post dinner, it was back to the room to relax, journal, and read.

The next morning, I headed out to try Marcy’s coffeehouse. I got a mocha, chocolate croissant, and a muffin. All of it was good. I read while enjoying my food the. Headed back to the room to pack up before hitting the trail. Back on trail late morning after a final stop in Darwin’s shop. On to the penultimate stretch and the Grand Canyon.