Day 306

Day 306 (AZT 11): 19 miles + 8 bonus miles

There were dogs nearby last night that barked all night. Their stamina really was impressive but I still wanted to go Old Yeller on their ass. I packed up my stuff and walked out to the parking lot of the bar to get back onto the road and walk back to the trail. Out of the corner of my eye I see something move and then notice that there are 6 elk on the road. I stood there watching them for a minute and a few got off the road. I was still standing there and there was a Cheetos truck coming from the opposite direction that showed no signs of slowing down. I waved him down to make him slow down so he wouldn’t hit any of the elk. What an odd start to the day.

I passed 2 water sources in the morning casue I thought I’d have enough to make it 11 miles to a later one. I ended up taking a wrong turn on a dirt road for a few miles. I pulled out my map and the road wasn’t on there but looking at its general direction I thought it might reconnect with the trail later on. I decided to make an adventure and go uncharted. Mistake.

After about 2 hours the dirt road ended at a dry cow pond. There was a dry creek bed nearby on the map so I thought I might ride that back to the trail. I looked for a bit for a way to get down to it but it was steep cliff and I couldn’t find a safe way down. I then decided maybe I’ll bushwack to a spot closer and further up the trail to save me time from backtracking. I did this for about 30 minutes before I got so fed up getting cut and poked with desert plants that I bit the bullet and turned around to go back to where I got off the official trail. This was the most angry and loud I’ve been in while. If I wasn’t so stubborn and would’ve accepted defeat sooner I would’ve saved a lot of time.

After wasting 4-5 hours doing that I knew my water situation would be running tight since it was pretty warm today and all exposed. I ended up getting pretty dehydrated, probably the worst since going into crater lake on the PCT. Late in the day I felt dizzy and my leg muscles were starting to tighten up.

I got to the water source around 7 and downed a couple liters. There was a little algae on the cow tank but I couldn’t have cared any less.

I did a few more miles to camp by a spring. I’m going to sleep to the sound of water and frogs, unusual in Arizona.

Song of the day: all lit up-buckcherry