Days 5-8, Patagonia to Colossal Cave, 79 Miles.

Day 5: Patagonia AZ to Anaconda Spring, 19 Miles.

Got a late start today at 7:45. Waking up in a hotel already feels strange, frantic as I quickly pack back up and check that nothing is left behind. I set out, the Arizona sun already beginning to blaze over the next 5 miles of roadwalking that lay ahead of me. Thankfully, in March it’s heat is still dulled. 

Walking along the flat, hard packed terrain and beer cans of the highway departing rural Patagonia leaves one to dwell on similar roads outside 10,000 other rural towns of America. 

5 miles down the trail snakes away from the road along sharp ridges suited well to this trail’s alternative usage for mountain biking. 

I begin to see what I expect will be a theme for this stretch, cows. Cows and their pasture as far as the eye can see.

Day 6: Anaconda Spring to Kentucky House, 21 Miles. 

Woke up to a very chilly morning, frost surrounding my tent. This was my favorite campsites thus far, set under an old cottonwood by a running creek. It is always bittersweet to leave such beautiful spaces behind you, but you never know what lies ahead, mostly.

I knew some what was coming today: Mt. Wrightson, a 4,000 ft climb and rapid descent notable on this section of trail. My watch wakes me up just before sunrise and 5:30 and I set out around 6, fully packed. 

I follow the two track dirt road that serves as the Arizona Trail and have to backtrack at one point due to following a side path that more resembles an actual trail! 

After backtracking, and just before big climb I stumble across a fellow thru hiker i seen since my start, a woman about my age that goes by the trail name Muscles. 

Pleased to have the company, we hold great conversation about whatever comes to one’s mind as they make the major life decision to hike 800 miles. 

This was a very nice change of pace for me, in both a literal, I had to go faster than usual to keep up way, and figurative, nice to have the company kind of way. 

Eventually we make it to the Kentucky House, a property built in the 19th century during the gold rush, now preserved and providing lodging through the National Service, 19 miles behind us by that evening I am determined to break 20 miles and set out for 2 more miles before camping alongside the trail once more.

Day 7: Kentucky House to The Lake, 20 Miles. 

5:30 again, and we’re off at 5:45. 

I see my first true Arizona desert sunrise made beautiful by the dust kicked up in the atmosphere reflecting the sun’s rays. 

The trail seems flat today, but my gps watch tells me that I managed to gain 4,000 ft and lose 4,400. No wonder my feet ache by day’s end under each loose rock. 

Some rocks can help you in your stride, others to block you and some strive for nothing less than to make your ankles bend in ways they are not designed to. I applaud the ambition, but can’t favor the execution.

I feel very good again today, but yesterday’s ache after such large mileage lingers on me. I take breaks throughout the day and especially take time to let my feet rest. After all, today they have carried me 100 miles in a week.

I am camping tonight in a cowfield, and sleep soundly, despite some unearthly sounds made by the resident bovines.

Day 8: The Lake to La Posta Quemada Ranch, 19 Miles. 

The last few days of high mileage have caught up with me in two contrasting ways. One the one hand, my calves are now taking going downhill in stride, on the other, my feet are now making the face of that Edvard Munch painting. 

Taking frequent foot breaks, I am grateful for the flat terrain today, despite its rather dystopian appearance with twisted metal found in distribution with animal skeletons bleached by the sun alongside dense clusters of thornscrub and cactus.

I try to make it to my next stop the gift shop in Colossal Cave Mountain Park to pick up my next food resupply package, but know rather soon that there is little chance to make it 21 miles by 4 PM on those feet. Fortunately, I make it to a trailhead and manage to immediately contact a very friendly uber driver who gets me there and back in less than an hour!  

Deeply appreciative and renewed as well as loaded up with 5 more days of food, I set out into the classic Arizona desert below 4,000 ft. The land of Saguaros, Cactus Wrens, and Cholla, of rattlesnakes and my first National Park on this trail. 

Thus far, this trail has been very kind to me, and I have only met very friendly people. 120 Miles in, 680 to go, I feel affirmed for what lies ahead.

Next update when I reach Summerhaven in few days.

Total Miles: 119.