Day 12 on the Arizona Trail

Mileage: 16.5 miles

Weather: sunny most the day, night was 26 degrees and a few snow flurries

The morning started out cold. We were packed and ready to hike within about 15 minutes! Not bad! We are getting quicker (could also be the fact the faster I move the warmer I get).

The terrain was pretty flat and not much change of scenery from the past couple days. Honestly, this section has been boring and it seems I am looking at the same thing over and over and over while walking zig zags through the field. We were just walking along and then suddenly six elk come quickly across the path right in front of us. Then the seventh elk with a full rack comes slowly to the path, stops, and stares at us. We snapped a few pictures and he went about his business chasing the other elk.

Around mile 15, I started getting pains in the right side of my calf. I figured it was from the bottoms of my feet hurting so much. By mile 16, I knew it was time to rest the feet and give it a break before it got worse. It was only about 3:45 but we went ahead and called it a day.

We found a place to camp not too far off the trail. The wind was pretty strong all day and now we could see the dark clouds rolling in. We set up camp and made dinner. About the time we settled in the tent and started having dinner the rain/sleet started coming down and the wind started to blow harder. The temperature dropped pretty quickly. We finished up dinner and tried to get some sleep. The night was very cold! Actual temperature was 26 degrees but the wind made it feel even colder. I didn’t stay very warm except the side that was pressed against Family Mule. I kept tossing and turning and tucking in the sleeping bag around me. It could have been me being cold because Family Mule on the hand was sleeping without pants, in a t-shirt, and half a bag unzipped. He always runs hot!