Hiking Dude Blog

Remember those mountains from yesterday? Well, I'm on the base of them skirting them to the west. They are the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff and include the high point of AZ and the high point of the AZ Trail.
I'm on the Kachina trail which is a more scenic alternate to the recent AZ Trail reroute for mountain bikes. The new trail is longer, lower, hotter, and no aspen. Easy choice for me to skip up the hill a ways and enjoy this trail.
So far, my heel blister is cooperating and I'm covering miles.

Ready to start hiking again at 6:30am on Saturday. Everything but my left heel feels great - it's still sore but getting better. I have high hopes that my replacement shoes will help out.
I probably won't have cell coverage after this morning so posts may be delayed.
Check out my current location on the map.
My ride is here - bye

If you click the picture, you can see a larger version. And, if you look real close, you might see some of the 50 elk that thundered across the trail ahead of me on the prairie south of Marshall Lake. That was a very cool thing to see.

I walked 64735 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 33 miles today.
Mormon Lake to Flagstaff is too far for 1 day. I set a new record for myself - about 35 miles in 10 hours. The flat terrain and cool temps made it possible but I don't plan on doing days this long again. It's too hard on joints, muscles, and feet for a guy my age. I pushed to reach Flag tonite so I can start hiking again on Sat.
There were some great sights today, including a herd of about 50 elk which I'll post tomorrow. This cliff was just coming through a canyon east of Flag.
I never did see another bike rider so I think the guy I saw has it pretty much won as long as he completes.
I'm now at a nice Scouter's home resting after a shower and a terrific dinner at another Scouter's place. Tomorrow is a zero day to get groceries and rest me aching feet. I've got a replacement pair of shoes which I hope help me along.

Just as I found my way into Flagstaff I was walking up off the local trail system onto a city street. A jeep pulled up and I thought maybe it was the folks I'm to stay with tonight.
I was wrong. It was David L. who goes to NAU in Flag. He saw my blog and map and came to do trail magic. Out of the blue, for no reason than to make a hiker feel good, he met me with cold water and snacks (and his 2 dogs). How cool is that?! Someone that gives trail magic is often called a trail angel.
It doesn't take much to make a tired, thirsty hiker happy. That cold water was awesome since I just had a couple swallows left.
Thanks, David!

Here's the last pic of the mountains before I reached Flagstaff. Still 10 miles away, but my next hiking day will bring me right to their base. This is actually the highest point in AZ but I'm not going to the top this trip.

Same mountains at 1:30 this afternoon. Just wait until this evening!

Kurt S. just passed me on the trail riding north. Scared the beejeebers out of me! He is the lead rider in a race that started Friday at the southern end of the AZ Trail. He expects to finish in 2, maybe 3, days. 9 days to cover what is taking me 7 weeks. :-)
Ride On, Kurt!

I'm following an old railroad grade toward Flagstaff for the next few miles. Logging of huge pine trees has been a key industry in these parts. Just a glorious day this morning with birds, breeze, and a good trail.

The view out the door of my room in Mormon Lake. Notice they still have snow from 5 days ago. I hiked through a lot of soft ground but only a couple patches of snow.
As soon as the office opens and I can check out, I'm on my way to Marshall Lake where there will hopefully be a bit of water left at the end of this day. Then it's a short Friday into Flagstaff. I've been told there's 10 days of completely clear weather forecast so I'm excited to reach Utah.