Category: Uncategorized
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Heading into Mormon Lake
A few days out of Pine I got a text from Chaps, the woman whose company I had enjoyed hiking and meeting with on and off for over a month. She told me she was taking a number of days off in Flagstaff and had a hotel room there with a friend of hers. She…
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Leaving Pine
AsI was contemplating leaving Pine, trail angel Becky from Tonto Basin near the Roosevelt Marina texted me and told me she would be up at Pine and would like to take me out to lunch, so after packing up and saying goodbye to Kate, I went off with Becky for a delicious lunch of three…
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 Getting into Pine
The final 16 1/2 miles into Pine were definitely easier. I started walking by about 530 AM and reached Pine by 3 PM. This easier walking gave me time to contemplate a number of things. I was still seeing a number of snakes on an almost daily basis and while some were not rattlesnakes, some…
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Finding level ground
One day in this stretch I had to cross the Verde river. Some people had reported that it was well up over their knees, but by using the knowledge I have from whitewater kayaking, I was able to find a place where I could tell the water was much shallower. I decided to leave my…
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The climbs out of Payson
After picking up my food box which Becky left for me, I had another big climb where water was going to be scarce. I was thrilled partway up to run into a hiker named Chaps, whom I’ve crossed paths with a number of times. She was really sweet and walked with me for a short…
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Roosevelt Lake to the Sunflower Trailhead near Payson
I left Roosevelt Lake later than I wanted to for no reason except I was enjoying my time there. It was after nine before I started the steep, long climb out of the marina. Luckily Becky had offered to break up my seven day food carry so I only had to carry food for just…
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Double Zeroing in Pine
I’m going to do the same thing I did at Roosevelt Lake, which is to post about where I am today and see if it helps me get inspired to polish up some of the back blogs so I can post them. A few weeks back I was blessed that a young woman named Kremlin…
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Gila to Roosevelt Lake
As I mentioned before, the stretch from the Gila to Roosevelt Lake was tough. It had some of the steepest ups and downs of the trail to date, as well as some long water carries. Often the trail was full of large, sharp, loose rocks. And even when the terrain leveled out a bit, it…
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OK with Being Useless
Another thought I had hiking this last section was that I’m useless. I expect many of you will hear that and say “oh no, that’s not true.” But in the end, feeling useless turned out to be a gift. Let me explain. As I was hiking along, a young guy went past me and within…
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MY HOLY SHIT DAY
A number of people have been asking me about my holy shit day so here it is. I left Kearney early in the morning and followed along the Gila river for a number of miles, although most of the time I was too far up the mountain to be able to reach the river. I…
The Mary Badass 