AZT 2019 Day 31: Campsite near tank (mile 531.3) to campsite north of Marshall Lake (mile 558.9)

27.6 miles

It was a cold morning and my sleeping bag was just too comfortable. I had to work hard to convince myself to get up after the sun rose, since I needed to put in a lot of miles today.

The last forecast (for Flagstaff) I checked had a week long storm system starting today, with the worst of it hitting about midday tomorrow.  My goal was to get as close as I could to the nearest trail exit to Flagstaff, then exit the trail during the first part of the day tomorrow.

When I convinced myself to pack up the tent, I got a reminder of how cold it was. The stock tank I had camped near was smoking from the temperature difference.

Smoking stock tank.

As I started down the trail, it was hard to believe that it was going to rain in a few hours. The sun was shining through the pines and the sky was blue.

Morning light on the Ponderosa pines.

As I worked my way down the trail, the sky eventually darkened and light rain fell as I reached Double Springs Campground.  I relieved myself of dome built up trash, and continued walking through on/off light rain.

Bridge leading to Double Springs Campground. 

The sun actually came out as I hit an old railroad bed. It had belonged to the Flagstaff Logging Company during the 20s. I've hiked old railroad beds before, but the cool thing about this one was that the railroad ties had been left in place. They were disintegrated and missing in places, but there were stretches were you could see what they used to be.

Old railroad bed.

As I was walking the railroad bed, I stopped for lunch and checked the radar. I was getting much more sun than I anticipated. I was surprised to see that almost all of the greater Flagstaff area was supposed to get storms, with the exception of the small area I was hiking. What luck!

When the trail left the railroad, it climbed to the top of Horse Mesa. After the climb, it was a flat expanse. Miles and miles of flat forest road surrounded by juniper. It was also a sunny island surrounded by thunderclouds.

Walking the mesa.

At one point, I stopped to check the radar again. Now it looked like I might get hit with rain after all, in the evening and right before I usually set up my tent. Great.

As the day got later, the clouds grew darker. Then, straight ahead of me, the dark clouds thundered loudly. I kept an eye on those clouds, and figured if the storm reached me, I would just quickly set up my tent and call it a night. However, as I looked around it became obvious that there was nowhere to camp. It was all rocks.

Ominous clouds.

The trail was headed to the left of the thundering clouds, so I hurried along and it took me to a breathtaking overlook from the edge of the mesa. From here I could see another set of dark clouds heading my way.

View from the mesa looking south.

View from the mesa looking north.

I passed by Lowell Observatory and, to my surprise, the trail was headed towards bright sky. The clouds that had been thundering and dropping rain had passed.

Lowell Observatory. 

The trail had been zig zagging in just the right way that I missed the evening storm. It skirted the edge of the second one I had seen.

I set my tent up on a bed of pine needles past Marshall Lake. It was earlier in the day than I usually set up camp. However, there had been so few campsites, that I wanted to grab it.

Campsite for the night.