Day 1
Miles today: 8.8 miles Southbound
Campsite: 35.1518437,-111.56900583
Elevation: 6853ft
Water availability: Fisher Guzzler Trick Tank: Full with algae on top.

Passage 31 at Interstate 40 TH going Southbound.

Finally back on the Arizona Trail baby!! Woohoo. Here’s how the first southbound day went…

Took a pee smelling bus to Flagstaff and Uber’ed to the trail near Walnut Canyon National Monument. It was a gorgeous day for a hike, sunny, breezy and thankfully not a 100degrees.whew!

Terrain for this passage was quite similar to the Colorado Trail. Large pines and tall grass surrounded me for most of the day. No desert hiking yet. Despite being sunny, the shade from the tree was nice, it wasn’t crazy shaded but enough to be able to cool things off a bit.

Being in Arizona, water is an issue. I made my first refill at a wildlife tank named Fisher Guzzler and it was full. There was a bit of algae but nothing that wasn’t able to move out of my way with my trekking pole. I used my MSR filter, might as well since I am carrying it extra. The water came out perfectly clear and tasted great… Actually even better than the city water we have in Mesa. Odd. I carried 4 Liters of water with me in case and will continue to make sure I have enough, but it sure does bring my pack weights up. 😦

Today was a short day as I started at 3pm and didn’t want to set up camp in the dark. I was grateful for a beautiful sunset. It doesn’t get better than this. Happy trails!