Arizona Trail Section hike – Day 3 – Sure is a lot of miles…

Day 3
Miles today: 17.4
Campsite: Mormon Lake Rv park : 34.91233609,-111.46815723
Elevation: 6994ft
Water availability: low. The only reliable source I found on this section is the small creek at Double Springs Campground. They shut off the spigot but thankful the creek was flowing.

It was a hot day today… Mind you it was only in the low 80s but when the sun is shining on you while hike, it feels much hotter than that.

The hike went alright. I started the day at 615am and hiked slow all day. I barely had a liter of water left and didn’t want to drink it all right away. I went for 13 miles to Double Springs Campground and saw a water spigot right away, I was relived. Water, finally. When i turned the knob nothing happened. Are you ‘fucking’ kidding me? So I went ahead and hiked farther up the trail, and saw another spigot, nothing happened there either. I sat at a picnic table and thought about what I should do… Heh, keep walking I guess. So I did. Right outside of the campground there was a nice creek flowing. Thank goodness! Water was a bit cloudy so filtered a few liters and drank those up right away. Gulp!

The rest of the day was quiet, I have yet seen anyone on this trail. I heard a bunch of elks screeching or whatever they do and realized that’s exactly what I heard my first night on the trail. I was relieved.

I took a side trail that directed me to Mormon Lake. A small tourist area for RVers and cowboys. I was looking forward to eat an entire pizza but sadly the pizzeria was closed today. I paid for a tent site, $16, and went on to take a shower and do some laundry. The tent sites are next to a road, which surprisingly gets a lot of traffic at night. Everyone seems to own a diesel truck here so be prepared to get those fumes in your tent when you’re trying to sleep… I’d suggest to go out back to the trail to camp for free. I ate at the steakhouse instead but it was nothing impressive for the price, I sure wish I had a pizza instead.