How far can you go before the world comes back? I left the East Verde River just before sunset, climbing into the Mazatals with wet clothes cooling on my skin. Three thousand feet of elevation ahead, stretched together in fading light. A disco remix in my bone conduction headphones gave my legs a rhythm that […]
Why does stopping feel wrong before it feels right? I planned to keep moving. That was the default. Miles meant progress. Progress meant I was doing it correctly. But I reached the East Verde River at sunset and didn’t feel like earning anything else that day. I cowboy camped between two fallen logs, more as […]
The town came alive below me as the sun sank behind the ridge. I’d followed the Pine–Strawberry Trail out of town without much thought, just climbing until the noise softened and the air cooled. Halfway up Strawberry Mountain, I found an alligator juniper and leaned back into its bark, patterned and solid, like it had […]
I wasn’t thinking about the trail anymore. Somewhere around mile ten, walking into the Mogollon Rim Ranger Station for a dollar ice cream and three sodas, my body kept moving forward, but my mind had already left. It was fixed on something warmer. Tastier. Alive in a different way. Empanadas. PIEbar. Thirty miles off trail […]
I filtered water and brushed my teeth along the river below Double Springs, the current moving steady over rocks like it had somewhere else to be. The days stretched out in that easy range, seventeen to twenty-two miles, the kind of terrain that lets your body fall into a rhythm without asking too many questions. […]
I said goodbye to family and the homestead, catching the Greyhound west for In-N-Out and a little trail therapy. A burger and a run through the mountains was exactly what I needed. From In-N-Out in Flagstaff to In-N-Out in Oro Valley, 400 miles one way on the Arizona Trail, then yo-yo back. An In-N-Out Yo-Yo. […]
Pusch Ridge looms majestically over Tucson and the sprawling desert as a defining feature of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Its lower slopes are adorned with iconic saguaro cacti, while its higher elevations are shrouded in the deep green of Douglas-fir trees. It was the ideal sanctuary to bask in nature’s beauty while waiting for my […]
Craving a change of pace and a refreshing half gallon of milk, I knew it was time to switch gears. My body was pleading for respite from the relentless miles, a sign that hitchhiking was the only way to catch my train out of Tucson. But first I had to get out of the mountains […]
The heat during the day was getting oppressive. I’d take long breaks, next to a water source if possible, but always in the shade. I’d hike through as much of the night as I dared, some of the footing through the Mazatzal Wilderness is sketchy even in daylight. With the moon casting its ethereal glow […]
The plan had been to hike 30 mile days through the Mazatzal Wilderness in order to catch my train in Tucson. But something had changed in Sedona. Though my body got the message to slow down, my conscious mind was a little behind the learning curve. I didn’t understand why we were taking breaks, why […]