March 27, 2022
- Start: Pine Trailhead (Mile 450.3)
- End: Chase Creek (Mile 466.4)
- Distance: 16.1 miles + 1.2 bonus miles (when I missed my turn)
Last night, we caught a hitch from THAT Brewery to Payson, arriving at the same hotel that Volt and I had left just four days earlier. But instead of our old trio (Mad Max, Volt, and me) staying together, it seemed we had formed a new trio with me, Volt, and Elliot.
The hotel rates were a bit more expensive for our encore visit – thanks to our lack of reservations and the fact that it was a Saturday night. So the three of us decided to share a room to save on expenses before turning our focus to town chores like showers and laundry.
MAD MAX UPDATE
We returned right back at the hotel’s breakfast buffet bright and early this morning. And we were loading up on pancakes and making our plan for the day when Volt got a text from Mad Max explaining why he didn’t meet us in Pine yesterday.
Mad Max’s friends came to pick him up from Payson on Wednesday just as Volt and I were hiking into the Mazatazals. He was hanging out with them in Prescott when he caught the local weather forecast. A storm was heading this way, and the news said it was supposed to drop some snow at the higher elevations after the weekend.
And so, rather than wait to meet up with us when we got to Pine on Saturday, Mad Max returned to the trail a full day early and arranged to have his friends drop him off about 35-40 miles further north. He said he was currently up nearly at Mormon Lake (~70 miles north of Pine) and hoping to make it to Flagstaff before the storm arrived.
Volt and I sent joking texts back to Mad Max, calling him a “yellow-blazing S.O.B.” for skipping so many miles, but we didn’t mean it. We wished him luck and then set out to resupply at the local Walmart in Payson. We needed fuel for our stoves, and the camping section at Walmart seemed to be our best (and only) option until Flagstaff.
As we stuffed fuel and provisions into our packs, I glanced at Elliot’s food resupply. I knew he’d hiked many trails in the past – including the Te Araroa in New Zealand, the Jordan Trail, the Israel National Trail, and parts of the PCT. He also told us he wasn’t carrying a stove on the AZT, so I was quite curious to see what types of food he was carrying
Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I looked at Elliot’s food cache. He didn’t have the typical lightweight, high-calorie hiker foods like oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes, or beef jerky. Instead, he bought the heaviest smorgasbord of backpacking food I’ve seen anyone carry on trail!
This crazy Canadian was busy shoving a bunch of heavy canned goods (e.g., Chef Boyardee ravioli and beef stew) into his pack. Then, he topped his food bag with fresh produce like mushrooms, spinach, plus an entire bag of clementine oranges. It was like no other resupply I’ve ever seen!! But he was a seasoned hiker with more miles on his legs than me, so I figured, “To each his own.”
BEST TRAIL MAGIC EVER
After all three of us were packed, it was time for us to get back to the trailhead. I still had some cardboard from my resupply box and wrote “PINE” in thick black Sharpie ink. Maybe the sign would work better than three eager-looking hikers standing on the side of the road hoping for the best.
But mostly, I hoped our hitch north on Highway 87 (toward Pine) would be easier than our hitch south (toward Sunflower) four days ago. It was a Sunday, so who knew what the road traffic would be like this morning?
We walked toward the edge of the Walmart parking lot, where a line of traffic was turning left toward Pine and I flashed my sign at the cars. I doubted any of them would give us a ride, but it was worth a try as we made our way toward the edge of town.
To my surprise, a guy in a nice-looking black pickup truck rolled down his window and yelled over to us, “Hop in!” He even let the stop light cycle through from green to red to give us enough time to clamor in the truck’s bed while the line of cars behind him had to wait.
As we rode back to the trailhead, the driver and his wife shouted questions back to Eliot (who was sitting closest to the rear window.) “What trail were we hiking?” they asked. “Where did we start? How many weeks did it take us to hike there from the Mexico border? Did we all start together? How did we meet?”
We shouted our answers back over the roar of the wind as our patrons drove us back to the Pine trailhead, 15 miles to the north. And once we arrived and lugged our packed and trekking poles out of the truck’s bed, they asked if they could take a photo of us.
We were more than willing to comply with the simple request. This had been the easiest hitch ever! We thanked them for their kindness, and I started to offer the driver some cash for his gas. But before I had the words completely out, the guy pulled out his wallet and handed us $60 in cash, telling us to get a good meal and a beer in our next town. It was on them!
Holy crap!!! Did he just give us money?? These two folks had more generosity in their hearts than anyone could ask for. This was, by far, the absolute BEST trail magic the universe has ever sent my way.
WRONG TURN
It was just after 10:30 am when we finally got hiking again. Elliot took off down the trail first, followed by me, and then Volt, with each of us spreading out to give the others their own room and space.
The Pine Trailhead served more than just the Arizona Trail too. It was the starting point for the Highline Trail (a 55-mile National Recreation Trail) and shorter trails like the Dononhue Trail, Oak Spring Trail, Pine Canyon Trail, and Pine Loop Trail. Thus, there was a network of paths here, with some overlapping with the AZT and others intersecting it.
Diamond-shaped blazes marked the Highline Trail, and I admired the scenery as the trail climbed above Pine and provided panoramic views of our surroundings.
Unfortunately, this was my downfall. Barely a mile into the day, I missed my turn and ended up hiking on one of the other trails by accident. I felt a sinking in my gut when I realized I was unexpectedly circling back toward Pine, and I instantly knew where I went wrong.
I’d passed a junction earlier on the trail where two girls were stopped with their dog. I remember glancing over at them, and seeing the AZT marker. However, I mistakenly thought the arrow pointed ahead (to the defined path), not across the creek toward a fainter, rockier trail. As a result, I walked in the wrong direction for more than 10 minutes before realizing my error.
I kicked myself for getting so distracted, then turned around to backtrack to the fated junction where I knew I’d gone wrong. This was not how I wanted to start the morning! I needed to get my head back in the game.
Once back on track, I started fretting about being behind Volt. The two of us grabbed sandwiches from the Subway inside Walmart when we’d resupplied this morning, and we’d planned on stopping to eat them together at lunch. The last thing Volt said to me when I departed the trailhead was that I should pick a good spot to stop around noon and then he’d join me once he caught up.
There was only one problem with that plan now. I was no longer ahead of Volt. Missing that last turn meant I was now probably a solid 20-25 minutes behind him. He’d start looking for me beside the trail around lunchtime, but I wouldn’t be there!
I picked up my pace to close the gap, but it wasn’t until I nearly got to Red Rock Spring (four uphill miles later) that I finally saw his backpack ahead of me on the trail. I hollered his name twice before he turned around, surprised to see me behind him.
We stopped to grab water at the spring and I finally pulled out my sandwich to eat lunch. I was famished from trying to hike so fast, and was I eagerly looking forward gobbling down my tuna salad sub with extra pickles and lettuce.
As I opened the Subway bag, though, I was dismayed to discover it was now nothing more than a soggy mess. Apparently, in hustling to catch up to Volt, I’d jostled the moist tuna sub far too much, and now it looked (and smelled) like hot trash in a plastic bag.
With tuna salad “juice” all over my hands, I attempted to eat this monstrosity while also vowing never to pack that sandwich option out of town again!
HIGHLINE TRAIL
After lunch, we hit a section of the trail that turned out to be just as buggy as the Mazatzals had been. We were running right along the Mogollon Rim through brush-covered hills, but small gnats and flies seemed to constantly swarm my face and neck whenever I stopped for any reason.
Despite this annoyance, I was glad the AZT followed the same route as the Highline Trail. The views of the rim’s edge loomed ahead, and the trail’s tread felt so smooth and nice compared to much of what I’d been hiking on the past few days.
This well-defined and graded trail was mostly a natural consequence of a path that’s existed for more than 150 years. Early settlers traveled back and forth between their homesteads and the town of Pine on this same route as early as 1870.
Two of its more famous users were popular author Zane Grey – who built a cabin on the Mogollon Rim in the 1920s – and Anderson “Babe” Haught – the noted bear and lion hunter who served as Grey’s guide when he went on game hunting expeditions.
The Highline trail also seemed to have plenty of water flowing nearby, which was wonderful news. My pack already felt super heavy with so much extra food, plus all the additional items I was carrying from my resupply box. A pair of waterproof socks for the snow. Some warmer gloves. My micro spikes for any icy days on the trail.
Only time would tell whether I needed these additional items. Yet I suspected the higher elevations above the Mogollon Rim would increase that likelihood – especially with a storm supposed to hit the area tomorrow evening.
PONDEROSA
Once at the Webber Creek trailhead, I signed the trail register and continued heading east. Ponderosa pines now began appearing beside the trail more regularly, and I couldn’t help stopping to smell their bark.
A forest ranger friend from back home in Oregon once told me that the bark from the older Ponderosa pines is supposed to have a slightly sweet smell reminiscent of butterscotch or vanilla cookies. So I picked a tall, thick tree and buried my note into the flaky cracks in its bark to see if it was true. Sure enough, I did smell something sweet!
Other than the addition of these tall trees, the rest of the afternoon was more of the same. The only significant change seemed to be the angles and proximity of the cliffs as I continued east and into the Tonto National Forest. Over time, the scenic red escarpment of the Mogollon Rim came into sharper relief and it seemed to tower above me.
I caught up with Elliot around 4 pm while he was sitting in the shade and eating from one of his cans. He called me over to look at a photo on his phone because he’d spotted a baby reptile that looked like a tiny striped snake with legs. I think it might have been a skink, but I wasn’t 100% sure.
Everyone seemed to be getting so many great desert wildlife photos out here on the AZT. I spotted the javelina. Volt got some nice pictures of a gila monster back near Superior. And Max Max had several videos of rattlesnakes. This was definitely one unique trail.
No Fishing
As the afternoon heat disappeared and the day turned toward dusk, I started to look for somewhere flat to camp. I’d originally hoped to make it all the way to the East Verde River this evening, but that didn’t look likely. We’d gotten a late start to the day and my wrong turn set me back way too much.
There was no way I could hike a 21-mile day, so I settled on looking for somewhere closer to camp for the night. I told myself I would call it a day at the next water source. Unfortunately, that promise was soon broken. Nothing remotely flat was near the water source, and the pool of standing water had a layer of green slime covering it. Needless to say, I kept walking.
It was 6:40 pm and the sun was setting when I reached Chase Creek – a wide gushing stream with clear, cool water. Ahead of me, a small sign stood on the near side of the creek warning anglers that it was currently closed to fishing because it was a Gila trout recovery stream.
I stopped to survey the creek’s near side, spotting several flat spots nearby, but I worried it might get too cold camping this close to this much water, especially since the enormous pine trees seemed to black out the remaining bits of light.
I left my pack and carefully made my way across the rushing water on large boulders, trying not to get my shoes wet. Before I committed to this spot by the water, I wanted to scout the opposite bank to see what it held.
Unfortunately, the far side of the creek was no better. The area along the trail appeared damaged by some forestry operation that left the ground uneven and muddy for at least a quarter mile. Downed trees sat everywhere, and it looked like an apocalypse had laid waste to the terrain. It definitely wasn’t worth the effort to camp on this side of the creek.
I returned to where I left my pack about the same time that Elliot arrived and I shared the news about the chaos on the other side. This side was definitely the better option, in my opinion. We’d just have to deal with the cold, moist air in the morning. But at least we’d have plenty of water here.
When Volt joined us, we filled the entire flat spot with our tents squished close together. Then we ate dinner while recounting the amazing story about the couple who gave us a ride to the trail this morning and gave us $60 to enjoy a meal on them!!
Did that really happen?? If felt like some weird, wonderful dream. It was trail magic at its absolutely finest.
Highlights
- Crossing paths with that couple on the edge of the Walmart parking lot had to be the best trail magic ever! I still cannot believe our luck!
- The trail tread on the AZT/Highline Trail was so nice today. And hiking in new shoes made it even better.
- The views of the Mogollon Rim were fantastic today. We’ll hike up and over it tomorrow, but I’m glad we got a nice stretch of trail along and below it.
Challenges
- Taking a wrong turn and walking an extra 1.2 non-AZT miles was a real bummer. Volt and I seem to be missing a lot of critical junctions this last week!
- I will never again pack a tuna salad sub out of town to eat on the trail. That soggy debacle was among the grossest (and messiest) lunches ever.
- Sadly, I had to buy a large (8 oz.) fuel canister at Walmart instead of the smaller one that fits nicely inside my pot. But beggars can’t be choosers. At least I won’t be running out of fuel before Flagstaff.