Day 11 on the Arizona Trail

Mileage: 11.7 miles

Weather: cold, rain, 30mph wind

We started the morning packing in high winds. The trail was very similar to yesterday as far the terrain. We were able to get a little better views today at least but not many.

We stopped and had lunch about mile 5. We needed the warm food and hot chocolate. It was cold, windy, and cloudy. It looked like it could rain at any moment.

We pressed on the trail and within half a mile the rain started. We put our rain jackets on and pack covers and headed for a better spot. We were still another 5 miles from the next water supply, which we needed. The rain kept starting and stopping.

We finally arrived at Russel Tank, which was a lake. There was as a privy there with a little covered area. We set under the covered area to get out of the rain for a minute and decide what we were going to do next. The wind was still very strong so we moved into the privy to get out of the cold and wind. We even had candy bars in privy. Yes, we did that!

We decided to call it a day and set up camp. We found a spot in the few trees around and made camp. It was only about 1:30pm. We laid in the tent and rested. Family Mule immediately fell a sleep. I talked with the kids since we could get a bar of cell service.

Around 5pm Family Mule went and filtered water and then made dinner. After we enjoyed our meal we called it a night and went to sleep. All night the wind beat on the tent and we tossed and turned. Family Mule put extra stakes in it to help keep it secure with the wind and rain.