11/4/21 15 miles At 3:30 a.m. there are loud voices, passing through camp. Gathering water, chatting, then gone. I'm confused, and then very awake. We'll learn later that there's an AZT bike race happening right now, and those were some of the racers. I can NOT imagine biking this trail, much less in the dark. … Continue reading Arizona trail day 21: Payson

11/3/21 22 miles In the morning Matthew tells me that something was wandering around in the woods in the middle of the night, screaming. I slept right through it, which I'm grateful for. The sound wasn't quite right for a mountain lion- he thinks it was a fox. The noises foxes can make are truly … Continue reading Arizona trail day 20: bummersville

11/2/21 22 miles There is a single mosquito that keeps regenerating after I kill it, so for the first time this trip I hang my bug net in my tarp. Also, it's warm tonite! Too warm to sleep in layers. My body feels confused, I toss and turn all night. In the morning tho I'm … Continue reading Arizona trail day 19: hot n steep

11/1/21 12 miles I wake up just before 4 am in the room full of sleeping hikers on air mattresses, and can't fall back asleep. Why... oh well, might as well make use of the time. I sneak out of the room and into the upstairs of the house, where a long leather couch faces … Continue reading Arizona Trail day 18: Mazatzal wilderness

10/31/21 13 miles My legs are tired this morning. Now that the trail is rocky and up and down it's time to get strong in... an entirely new way. I'm excited! Tired this morning though. And sweaty- it's hot already. I turn off my brain, put in my heaphones, let things get wacky. Matthew and … Continue reading Arizona trail day 17: Pine

10/30/21 24 miles Some small animal comes snuffling around my tent as I'm drifting off and knocks over my water bottle, spooking me; now I'm wide awake, listening for small sounds, everything outside seeming bigger than it actually is. At last I drift off, altho I'm a little chilled- this is the first night I've … Continue reading Arizona trail day 16: off the rim

10/29/21 26 miles The days are starting to blur together. Total ponderosa immersion therapy. I didn't know I'd be spending so much time in this ecosystem that I love, and I'm into it. This area has the largest stretch of ponderosa forest in the world and the AZT, it turns out, cuts right through it. … Continue reading Ariona Trail day 15: ponderosa immersion therapy

10/28/21 24 miles Yellow light through the bare limbs of the oaks, golden oak leaves on the trail, soft trail! Matthew counts the rings on a ponderosa. Seventy. Are these second growth? Third growth? I try to imagine this forest as it once was. Before long, in terms of geological time, we'll (mostly) be gone … Continue reading Arizona Trail day 14: mormon lake

10/27/21 30 miles I wake at four a.m. for literally no reason and lay in the dark, not uncomfortable, imagining pleasant scenarios until it's time to get up. At 6:45 we're closing the door of Drew and Millissa's house softly behind us, the sun slowly rising over the glittering, frosty world. "We've got to get … Continue reading Arizona trail day 13: there is water after all

10/26/21 Zero miles I sleep on a foam pad on the ground next to some glass french doors in the upstairs of Drew's house; around midnight I wake suddenly because the doors have blown open, rain is being thrown in on the wind and lightning is cracking, the storm feels as though it is right … Continue reading Arizona trail day 12: indoor storm