I was thrilled the following morning when it wasn’t too cold out. It made it easier to get out of my sleeping bag and get going.

From the campground, the trail dropped down into a little ravine. As I dropped the temperature dropped with me. It became downright cold and I thought about pulling my spare socks out to use his gloves on my hands. There were some small snow patches to cross and the wind was biting. I had to keep walking at a good pace to keep warm.

I have a water bottle that I can drink out of while I hike. Over 30 years ago I rigged up a soda bottle with a hose and a bite valve so I don’t have to stop to get a drink. Some people reach behind them and pull their bottle out of their pack while they’re walking but my shoulders just don’t want to do that. Because I want to keep the hose from getting moldy, I only use that bottle for plain water. I carry two other small plastic pint bottles that I used to mix up my electrolyte drink and my morning protein shake. I hadn’t taken time that morning to drink the protein shake so I had that pint bottle in my pants pocket where it usually rides quite nicely. But on this day it was to teach me a lesson.

There were a number of logs across the trail that I had to pick my leg up as high as my crotch in order to get over them. At one of these, I had stepped over the log with one foot and was pulling up the leg that had the water bottle in the pocket. The water bottle got caught on my hipbone and kept my leg from being able to clear the log. But my weight was already leaning forward, and even though my leg was caught on the rest of my body was going over it. I was amazed and thankful that as I went forward I was able to do some hopping and jumping and keep upright. I really thought for a few seconds I was going to fall flat on my face over that log. From here on out I’ll be careful if I have a water bottle in my pocket and make sure to take it out before I have to take large steps. I love how I’m still learning new things about hiking.

I was sorry to leave the beauty of the Grand Canyon behind although I was really glad I had stayed as long as I did. When I closed my eyes, I could still see images of that incredible place. But now that it was in my rearview mirror, my next stop would be the Utah border and the end of the Arizona Trail. Part of me was really eager to get there, but I didn’t want to succumb to ending fever. As much as I was looking forward to reaching the monument at the end, I wanted to stay in the present and enjoy what each day would bring me.

There was quite a bit of climbing that day. I was feeling the altitude as I once again reached over 9000 feet of elevation and passed the highest point on the Arizona Trail. I was grateful that the grade was fairly easy, and while not as spectacular as the Grand Canyon, some of the forest I went through was really lovely. I reminded myself not to compare where I was with where I had just been. That would have set me up for disappointment. I wanted to appreciate everything in the moment for what it was.

The first part of the trail that day was quite dry, but then I encountered a number of water sources. About 18 miles from where I had started that morning there was some lovely water coming out of a pipe. It would’ve been a great place to stop for the night had it not been in an open field with wind whipping through it. It was still fairly early in the afternoon and although I was dragging a bit, I was sure I could make it three more miles to the next water source.

When I arrived at Dog Lake I put my pack down and climbed the wooden fence around the water. Luckily, I had grabbed a pole because I needed it to balance on some shaky logs in order to get far enough away from the muddy edge to scoop some decent water. Still, when I had my water bag filled, I noticed there were a number of small live critters swimming around in it. I was sorry they would lose their life in my water bag, but I didn’t think dipping again would change matters.

I strapped that 6 pounds of water to my back and walked over two more miles before I found a lovely spot to camp under Ponderosa Pines and out of the wind.

I was so hungry by the time I got to camp that I changed the order I usually do things. Rather than setting my tent up first, I started my stove and got the water boiling for my dinner. The water was already filtered because I filtered it as I was walking. It filters by gravity so I just let it do the job as I hiked that last mile.

Once I got the tent up I lost no time diving into it. I quickly downed my dinner and fell into a much-needed sleep. I had hiked over 23 miles that day.