AZT 2019 Day 38: Campsite near Chapel Mountain (mile 633.5) to campsite in Kaibab National Forest (mile 663.5)

30.0 miles

Yesterday's road walking was mentally excruciating. It was so monotonous. I didn't quite understand how walking through such beautiful land could be so boring.

When I made camp, I decided that I would give myself an extra challenge for today. I was going to attempt a 30 mile day. I had come within a couple miles several times already, so I knew it wouldn't be too hard to achieve it, just that it would probably be either painful or exhausting. I got up right around sunrise and went for it.

The beginning of the day way just like how yesterday ended: uneventful and monotonous. Sunrise was beautiful, as was the scenery, but the highlight that broke up the monotony was two southbound AZT hikers headed for Flagstaff.

Sunrise on the trail.

Looking back at the San Francisco Peaks/Humphreys Peak.

We chatted and exchanged trail information, with the southbounders ccomplaining about drinking “swamp water.” However, they said that the next source I would encounter had great water. I asked them if it was “the one with the bulls.”

I had previously been scouting out water sources and the comments for Lockwood Tank were interesting.  There was a large metal tank with a sketchy ladder. Water was in the tank, but you had to get creative in how you retrieved the water as it was below arms length. There was also a small metal tank and trough, but less people used those since that is where the bulls were.

The tank was in a bull enclosure. As if getting good water wasn't a big enough challenge. From the comments in the app, it seemed like the number of bulls there at any time varied. I was hoping to get lucky and see none. The southbounders said there was one big, unhappy bull when they were there, and they kept as close to the fence as possible.

I made my way further down the road walk until I came to the spur to Lockwood Tank. I was definitely nervous. I walked down the roads, carefully watching my surroundings until I found the tanks. There were bulls and cows in the area, but they looked like they were in an adjacent pen. I opened the gate and, sure enough, all the cattle were in the adjoining pen. They had all come over to look at me, but there was a fence in between us.

Safely separated from the cattle. 

The metal tank with clear water and the difficult to access trough.

I decided, since there were no bulls in the area, to get water from the small metal tank, since it was clean and easily accessible. The cattle lost interest in me and went about their business. I filled up my water supply, then went to take a picture of the animals.

My camera, which had been working earlier in the day, was not recognizing the memory card. It had this problem before with the SD adapters for microSD cards, but had been working lately. I kept popping it in and out, trying to get it to register, but with no luck. Eventually, I had to keep hiking and take pictures with my cell phone instead, a much lower resolution.

Soon after leaving the ranch, the trail left the road and became a footpath. Time went by much quicker. I was walking a forest area mainly dominated by junipers, but with other vegetation and rocks to keep the mind interested. It rained lightly on and off. I saw a pair of elk and managed to get video of them. I have been occassionally seeing elk on the trail, but they usually disappear before I can get my camera out.

Back on a footpath. 

Later in the day, I headed to my next water source, Russel Tank. There were two of them. The one that was to the south seasonally had decent water in a trough. The northern one was a muddy pond.

As I approached the southern tank, the pines came back to dominate the landscape. At one point I saw a large animal bounding down the hill. It was another elk. It hit the road I was walking like it meant to run down it. It stopped when it saw me. It stared for a few seconds, then bounded back up the hill.

Luckily, the southern Russell Tank had water. I filtered enough for the rest of the day, then headed the couple miles up trail to the mud pond Russel Tank. I didn't stop at the tank itself, but went to its trailhead, which actually had trash cans and a pit toilet. I was very happy to rid myself of some trash weight (and smell).

Russell Tank.

Not long after Russell Tank, I crossed a road that was 25 miles from where I started this morning. I only had 5 miles to reach my goal, but my legs were already feeling close to done.

In the last 5 miles, the topography changed from flat to rolling. The trail constantly went up and down and my already tired legs just had to take it.

Eventually, I hit 30 miles, just as the sun was setting. I found a flat spot to set my tent up and went to bed exhausted, but also kind of proud that I managed to do a 30 mile day.