Day 305

Day 305 (AZT 10): 28 miles

This was a weird day. It was boring until it wasn’t. The morning was more of the same, just hiking in a forest. But after a bit I got to the Mogollon rim, the first taste of a view I’ve had since the Grand Canyon. The rest of the day was much more enjoyable with peeks of a view at times.

But the terrain also changed. It was much more rocky which really slowed me down which will come into play later. I’ve been playing leapfrog with an AZT biker the past few days and he said for a lot of the day today he was just walking alongside his bike cause it was too rocky to ride. The trail was also overgrown at times today so it was fun getting my legs scratched by sharp leaves and other prickly plants. Although it was overgrown I did come across “the ultimate trail machine” aka a mini bulldozer which looked like it’d be fun to operate.

Because I was moving slower I ended up getting down to the road to go into Pine, AZ later then I expected. It was after dark so getting a hitch would be impossible. I walked a half mile down the road to a bar to figure out what I was gonna do. I got there, ordered some food, and got my stuff charging. Then I left all my stuff there and started to run to the grocery store about a mile away. I nearly forgot my wallet. That would’ve really pissed me off when I got there.

Running down a highway at night with every car turning on their brights to see what the hell was going on was an interesting time. It was another one of those moments where I just think “what the hell am I doing?” It was also dumb in addition to the fact that I was running along a highway at night. After a while my there was a twinge in my foot and it started to hurt. This has happened a number of times this year when I start to run and pound my feet hard. It’s a good reminder that I’ve got weak feet and I gotta take it easy. So I power walked the rest of the way. As I was ready to walk out from the store and walk back a mile, I swapped my pride and just straight up asked the people behind me in line for a ride. They were super nice and did, and even turned out to be from Ohio. Small world.

Shoutout to “That Brewery and Pub.” They were super helpful and accommodating and even let me camp in their beach volleyball courts. It’ll be good to properly sleep at a bar instead of pass out at one.

Song of the day: bitch don’t kill my vibe-Kendrick Lamar