day 9:
this day was probably the toughest and most dangerous. i knew already this was gonna be a key section and im not gonna lie, i was worried.
there is zero services for 30 miles in any direction, it was completely open for the sun to obliterate us all day, and it was ALL CLIMBING. after we get out of the desert were supposed to climb another mountain, except this time its 9000+ ft.
fuck.
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today has a definite lack of pictures, it was 100something° in the sun and i was at tempo pretty much all day. we were rocketed out of vacationland and swiftly entered survival mode.
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we climbed out of the valley away from the last fresh water source we would see until the end of the day. from there the only way was up. way up. we did nothing but climb for 15 miles.
the worst part is these primitive roads switchback every half mile, you think youre getting a break but it just gets steeper every time, and they fuck with your head because they dont look steep but youre climbing up 8% for miles.
huge angular primordial slabs of rock cover the road, surrounded by loose sharp chunks of lime and sandstone, sprinkled with cow shit. youre fighting for traction and control all the while trying not to die of heat stroke while you suck the lifegiving dick of your camelbak hose for the last few droplets of piss-warm liquid.
45 mins in and we were already dying. i havent looked down at my garmin to see a 2 digit number in the temperature field since this morning. i felt my cranium swelling in my helmet and the sweat coming out of every pore was drying as quickly as it came out, leaving salt crust on anything that touched skin.
we stopped under a tree for shade for half an hour before we convinced ourselves to keep going. i didnt want to get stuck out here to camp tonight so i just dug in and dialed it up to 6mph.
the only things that live out here just want you to die violently. poison, barbs, thorns, sharp rocks, sheer cliffs, mountain lions, and water troughs for livestock that tempt you with their shit-laden giardia filled muck.
7 eternities later and my legs cant scream anymore, i have to take a break by walking up a hill. all i can think of is the desert in that movie pitch black with vin diesel, its ten million degrees with 50 suns boiling you from the inside, and all the animals just want to tear you apart.
i finally avert my eyes off the trail on an old mining operation. looks like they were mining yellow rocks to make the goldenrod yellow crayola crayons.
i check my camelbak and i have about a liter, fuck.
this is bad. i need water soon or im gonna die out here. i can literally feel myself shriveling like a giant pink raisin. i check my maps and theres two blue
things coming up, gotta get there ASAP for water, hopefully theyre not dried up.
an hour later and i get to the first one. nothing. a dried up wash with a trough filled with what can only be 200 gallons of cow diarrhea. i see a square foot of shade under a bush that probably has a rattlesnake in it, so i fall off my bike and curl up under it and suck in my last gel. my stomach is kicking and punching like i have an 8 month old baby in it. i need food. i need water. goddamn it.
i get up back on the bike and im starting to feel a little dizzy, shit is getting serious. i put on my speaker and blast metal into the canyons to keep me moving at a blistering 5.3mph.
yeah the Great Western Trail, its great. WHERES THE FUCKING WATER!? IM DYING OUT HERE. i wish i had a gun so i could shoot more holes in this prick of a sign.
3.9 miles to another tank, i gotta make that shit or im fucked. BMTH - Throne comes on, hammertime. im flying along at 6.7 mph as i turn around a bend and i see a guy hanging off his pickup inspecting something on the ground. he sees me and he gets a huge grin on his face.
"wow thats wild! hows it goin man?"
"hey...do you know the next spot with water...?"
"shit idunno, not for a while, why, are you out?"
"i have a little but not much, i think theres something coming up in about a mile but i havent been having much luck"
"well i could give you some of mine if you need it"
"holy shit that would be amazing"
he comes around and gets a gallon out of the backseat, my eyes pop out of my head like i saw my first pair of boobs. i expect him to give me maybe a liter and he fills the whole bladder up to the brim, FUCKYES!!!
dude came from tuscon to check on elk activity for the hunting season
next september. dudes dedicated. they love shooting those big fuckers here in northern AZ. weve seen elk shit and tracks from day one but havent seen or heard any. hiker mike from day 3 in anderson mesa said he saw them far off in the valley but thats it.
this trail angel saved our fucking lives. Dan, you are the man!!!!
i chug down probably half of it before i even clip in and hammer down the road with more metal and cold water fueling my engine.
we climb to 6000ft and like everywhere else in this state that means you cross the invisible border to the treeline. suddenly were rolling on red soft dirt covered in pine needles, with ponderosa pines towering overhead. the shade is incredible, the sweet mountain pine air is incredible. there is more water ahead, fuckyes.
i finally get to the tank and im blocked by a huge NO TRESSPASSING sign on a cattle gate. here you can get away with hopping a fence, but in a carry state like AZ you dont even touch that fence.
fuck.
i can see it from here and its more liquid shit anyway.
fuck.
i go back to the road and sit under a huge pine tree. i pass out for an hour and a half having crazy fever dreams about bean burritos and root beer.
we realize here that were not making it back to Flagstaff in time, and Williams Mountain another 3000ft up isnt happening. Theres a road that goes into the town of Williams and even if theres hills our progress will be faster on pavement. we could make it into town by nightfall, get food and water and figure out the rest.
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finally, an elk's bugle call marks our departure
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we drill the road home and thankfully its mostly downhill all the way into town. i get to the intersection and were on Rt66, aparently a bustling tourist town with trains of harleys brapping down the road and sick classic pickup trucks that people actually use for work and actually take care of.
i look to my right, a motel. YES!
i look to my left, authentic mexican burrito shack. YES!
we pull into the motel and get our second key thats actually a key, we open the door and the AC is
BLASTING. YES!
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idunno about you guys but i dont ever remember getting hotel room keys that werent dumb swipecards, even as a child.
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fastest shower of my life and
@wyakinflow went to circle k for a gallon of water, powerade, fresh fruit, and beers. one of those beers was a root beer. fucking YES!
powerade: slammed.
rootbeer: slammed.
fruit: annihilated with primal caveman ferocity.
go nextdoor to franciscos authentic mexican, bean burrito with guac. homeade nachos and salsa, and A LARGE HORCHATA HOLY SHIT.
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ive been daydreaming about horchata for days.
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i dont even remember eating, i just remember tastes. everything was the best taste of my life. horchata was ice cold and sweet as hell, tons of cinnamon. jesus christ this is paradise.
oh and theres a coffee shop across from the motel with homeade cinnamon rolls?
all the stars have aligned. trail magic.