Day 294-295

Day 294-295: travel

After I finished the AT I got a ride straight to the airport thanks to @bodybyballsack and in true hikertrash fashion I spent the night at the airport rather than paying for a hotel room for a few hours. I ended up not being able to sleep at all at the airport, which led to me being up for 40 hours straight.

Flew into Phoenix and got a greyhound to flagstaff. I think my biggest weakness as a human is figuring out, and having the patience for, public transportation. Instead of waiting for the train from the airport to the greyhound station, I walked 2 miles to the greyhound station. Same thing I did when I flew there in March. Never change

After not sleeping and flying, I was starving and as I rolled up to the sandwich bar at the greyhound station, they closed. Vibe check. This might’ve been the most tired and hungry I’ve been all year….and I wasn’t even in trail. The bus stopped at a McDonald’s and I downed 6 double cheeseburgers in the 10 minute break.

Shoutout to my buddy Kendall from OSU for helping me run some errands around flagstaff. Made sure to pick up a new Sawyer before I’ll be drinking some “interesting” water again. Can’t be worse than New Mexico tho.

On the way to my hotel I saw a marker for the Arizona trail on the sidewalk. Already got a few miles on it under my belt. Got back to my hotel and was hanging out for a max of 30 minutes before I noticed 3 mice running around. I can’t escape them. Ended up getting a room change. The new worker said that the old one was out of order for a few days. So it was pretty cool that they decided to put me in that one first.

Figuring out a ride from flagstaff to the northern terminus was a pain. Every shuttle and taxi company either didn’t pick up the phone/respond or shamed me for not booking a week in advance. Finally got a ride set up with So Many Roads, an AZT trail angel.

Got a haircut and a shave and I feel like a new man. I’ve had a pretty good timing this year of getting clean up every 90 days approximately, just before it gets too out of hand. Hopefully it’ll be easier to get hitches now.

Finally watched the Many Saints of Newark and MADONE! What a movie