Day 14 This turned out to be my last day on the trail for the season. It was a hard decision to make, but ultimately the trip was poorly timed and I went way over budget on the trip as a whole. It was a decision I came to after thinking about it quite a bit the previous few days …

Day 13 I got an early start, leaving camp by 7:15am. It was still nice and cool out so it made for great conditions on the climb up to Manning Camp near the top of Mica Mountain. The other plus was that I was beating the gnats out and could actually enjoy my hike for a bit without being pestered …

Day 12 This day was a day filled with mixed emotions and experiences. I started off acknowledging a lot of the worry that had been following me onto the trail, and made an intent to release them. While feeling lighter and better about the day early on, I came out of the small desert mountains beyond the ranch, where the …

Day 11 It was a bittersweet and subsequently uneventful day. After having a great few days with Giggles, we realized that her leg was too injured to continue on the trail and that I would finish on my own. The trail didn’t change much in terms of diversity so my mind was stuck on her and whether the loneliness away …

Day 10 After a night of coyotes howling and passing through our camp, we woke up to a great sunrise and surprisingly pleasant temperatures. We all wanted to get a head start on the day so we were ready to go fairly quick. We were only a few dozen yards from the start of Passage 7 so after a short …

Day 9 I woke up surprisingly not too chilly. Apparently the forest of oak trees that lined the creek that we were near had helped shelter us from some condensation, since for the first morning my tent was completely dry. Bill Murray and Sheriff Woody were off early to make a much better pace than we were. While Twix, Salsa, …

Day 8 As Twix, Salsa, Olive Oyl and I were packing up to head out for the morning, Sheriff Woody and Bill Murray (don’t get too excited – both just trail names) strolled by and waited for us to finish up so we could all head out together. Awaiting us was a steep 2000 foot climb toward the base of …

Day 7 (continued) After saying goodbye to Giggles, I spent most of the day running errands and getting in some blogging at the local library. I developed a fond admiration for the small town of Patagonia. It has a real sense of community and seemed to genuinely care about the nature around it. I would have liked to have stayed …

Day 5 Most sites along the AZT are rocky. It’s highly recommended that hikers bring a light foam pad to put under their air pads to avoid springing a leak. We didn’t do that. As a result, my pad sprung a leak the night before, and while I still slept ok, it could have been much better. Outside the tent, …

Day 3 We woke up to frost all over the tent. Tatiana checked the thermometer and inside the tent it was 20 degrees F, with the wind still howling outside. I checked it a short time after the sun had finally risen and began lighting our tent and it had already jumped to 35 degrees F, a good sign indeed. …

Day 1 Our currently anonymous friend drove us to Coronado National Memorial to fill up on water and get us on our way up the Arizona Trail. The first two miles head south to the Mexico/U.S. border, so realizing that immediately leaving would put him in Tucson during rush hour, he agreed to come with us for the first two …

Why Kate’s Real Food will be so welcomed on our Arizona Trail thru-hike