Day 16 on the Arizona Trail

Mileage: 13.5 miles

Weather: 46 degrees, cloudy, wind at 13-19mph, nighttime was 19 (feels like 8 degrees). Snow

The morning started packing out of the lodge and saying goodbye to Maple and Shufflin. We took a taxi to the same spot we left the trail on 417 Forest Road. This driver was similar to our last one. She told us about the history of the area and her experiences. Very friendly. Apex Taxi Service has worked out well for us lately!

We began our hike! Of course we are starting back on the dirt road walk. It’s hard on the feet and boring mos the time. The scenery at least was changing slightly today. Most of the time we did see Mt.Humphrey, just different angles.

About 3 miles in, I had a blister on my heal. I know not to wear new shoes on a long hike without a break in period but I needed the shoes. We stopped and I put a bandaid over the blister to stop anymore rubbing, then added a second pair of thicker socks. This seemed to help.

We came across an abandoned truck! Of course Family Mule had to jump in and check it out. We had a little snack while we were sitting there.

The trail does go into the words around mile 10, which made for a softer walk. We were both happy about that. Family Mules shoes are working out great so far. His feet hurt from the road walk but he was doing well!

The trail was busy with vehicles (mainly hunters)! We passed 14 vehicles and 2 hunters walking. We didn’t like the fact of so many hunters out here on the same trail we were hiking and camping. We now were glad Family Mule’s shoes are so bright! We saw two tarantulas crossing the trail today. They weren’t as big as the first one we saw.

The temperature started dropping quickly, the wind was picking up, and snow flurries were starting. We decided to go ahead and set up camp since we had a good spot with a beautiful view. It doesn’t take long for camp to be set up at this point! The mountains looked beautiful. Then within about 20 minutes the snow started coming down quick and we couldn’t even see the mountains! We layered up our clothes and got in the sleeping bag. After about an hour we decided we better get some dinner made. The cold caused a bit of issue with keeping the fuel going to cook dinner. We put the canister in the sleeping bag and warmed it up and it worked! We had our spaghetti and called it a night!