Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Not much of today went as planned. For starters, I had to spend 30 minutes on the phone trying to resolve a billing snafu with Verizon. I wasn’t ready to check out of my hotel room until 9:45 a.m.
When I got to the lobby, I ordered an Uber to take me back to the trail. At first, the app said a driver would arrive in a few minutes. Soon after that, it said it was looking for a driver.
| Weather | Light clouds, then clearing, with temperatures from the low-50s to near 90 |
| Trail Conditions | About 2000 feet of climbing on a footpath that is often rugged with erosion; a few short sections that were very steep |
| Today's Miles | 9.2 miles |
| Trip Miles | 405.7 miles |
I didn't have to wait long before I could tell no drivers were in the area. I went back inside the hotel lobby and asked the desk clerk if there was a local driver who could take me to the trailhead. She gave me two business cards.
The first driver I called was Dave, and he told me he had driven hikers to the trailhead before. He said it would take 45 minutes before he could pick me up. Reluctantly, I agreed to wait.
When Dave arrived, I learned he was 86 years old. Let’s just say his driving was inconsistent. Sometimes, he drove 10-15 miles under the speed limit. Sometimes, he was 10-15 miles over the speed limit. His attention to the road wandered the whole way.
Grateful to arrive safely, I was finally ready to begin hiking at 11:45 a.m.
I had to follow the same, poorly marked route I used yesterday to reach the highway. That experience helped. I didn’t need to stop this time to reorient myself and figure out where to go.
The temperature was already getting hot. It would eventually rise to the 90s. I checked the forecast before leaving the hotel, and was glad to see that cooler air would arrive in five days.
There wasn’t much shade on the trail. I knew a long, continuous climb was ahead, but the trail stayed low along Sycamore Creek for the first 2.3 miles.
The trail immediately started to go up after leaving the creek. Most of the day's remaining mileage was spent climbing. The first half-mile was extremely steep.
Despite arriving at the trailhead late this morning, I still hoped to complete at least 12 miles. According to the FarOut app, I could find a campsite at that distance.
As soon as I hit this climb, I knew I would need to dial back my expectations.
There was one notable characteristic of the trail today that I hadn’t counted on. It was my first brush with Senegalia greggii, though "brush" is an imprecise word choice. The shrub is also known as catclaw acacia, cat’s claw, or wait-a-minute bush, and all of these are fitting names.
Cat’s claw bushes grow to five feet or more, with spreading branches. Each branch is covered in two-inch hooked thorns. They look much like a cat’s claw, and I can say with undeniable certainty that they felt like a cat’s claw when they snagged my clothing and pierced my skin. As soon as that happened, several spots of blood oozed onto my shirt sleeve.
The name "wait-a-minute bush" also fits because you have to wait a minute to extract all of the thorns from your body.
Three miles into my hike, I passed several junk cars lying in a ditch next to the trail. Until that moment, I assumed I was hiking only on Tonto National Forest land today. I didn’t realize the trail passed two ranches, LF Ranch and Doll Baby Ranch. The ranch owners have cattle allotments that permit them to graze livestock on Forest Service land.
For several years, hikers were welcome to hike off-trail to LF Ranch. They could pay a small fee to get a meal and an overnight stay.
The ranch owner stopped offering that service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Less than 30 minutes later, I unknowingly followed a cow path that veered from the trail. A short distance farther, I accidentally woke up one of the ranch residents who had been taking an afternoon nap. We were both startled by the encounter.
The cow and I stared at each other for a moment, then I apologized and found my way back to the trail. A mountain biker passed me soon after that, so I warned him about the cattle ahead.
The 2,000-foot climb was especially hot and tiring on the steep sections. Though they were short, there were several. The only redeeming factor for the steep sections could be felt late in the day. That's when the mountainside provided a few patches of shade, which had been in short supply all day.
The trail was heading to the top of a high spine of the southern Mazatzal foothills. I was still making my way up to the ridge at 4:45 p.m. With less than an hour of sunlight remaining, I knew I’d have to look for a campsite after the trail joined a dirt road along the ridge.
I reached the highest point of the climb 20 minutes later, but I had to walk a few more minutes before the trail joined the road. The terrain remained rough and sloped on the ridge. The only flat spots were on the road, and they didn’t seem suitable for camping. I didn’t want to risk being run over in the night by an ATV or mountain bike.
I got my first view of Theodore Roosevelt Lake from the top, though it was only a glimpse. The reservoir stretches more than 22 miles long and is about two miles wide, but there wasn't much of it to see from where I stood.
At the moment, the lake was less than ten miles away. In trail miles, I needed to walk more than 30 miles before getting to the water's edge.
There was a big dip in the middle of the route along the ridge. The terrain was still too rugged for a suitable campsite, so I kept walking. I was exhausted by now.
At last, a couple of minutes after the sun had set, I found a place to cowboy camp. The road was wider than usual at a turn. I thought there wouldn't be much risk here of getting run over.
The wisdom of my decision was soon revealed when a mountain biker came by while I was setting up. Another bike rider went by at 8:30 p.m., and I’m sure I surprised him when I said hello in the darkness.
I watched from my campsite as the last rays of sunlight faded behind the Mazatzal Mountains. I could see where I had walked the last couple of days. The most prominent of those peaks was Saddle Mountain, which I passed yesterday on my way to Payson.
I wished I had been able to complete more miles today. A late start, a long climb, and a miserably hot day were not the right conditions for that. Fortunately, I only lost a little blood.
Another good thing is I’m not trying to keep to a schedule right now. I don’t have to walk at an urgent pace. Nevertheless, I’d like to reach Roosevelt Lake in the next two days. My feet have been ready for new shoes for several days, and a new pair is waiting for me there.
See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails, she makes me wait
And I wait, without you
With or without you
With or without you
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