Miles Hiked 191.9
Elevation 7,644
Miles Hiked Today 22.0
Well, this was a pleasant surprise. No rain last night and my tent is actually dry. The sun was shining; although it was cool bordering on cold, and the wind was very strong. (News reports a few days later reported wind gusts as high as 49 MPH where I was hiking.) I really needed to make some miles today, so I got up early. I started hiking at 6 AM.
The day started on a flat trail, but that changed quickly. There was a total elevation gain for the day of over 2,700 feet. Once I reached the summit, there were brief walks in the open. The wind kept pushing me around and it reminded me of hiking in Colorado last year.
I ran into Scott a couple of times during the day, and we even hiked together for awhile. It was nice to talk with someone even briefly after hiking alone for the last week.
Snow was forecast for Tuesday; although I didn’t know when on Tuesday. One thing was for sure. I did not want to be 9,000 feet up on that mountain when it started. I hiked fast and was going down by mid afternoon.
Talking with Scott, he thought I should try to at least reach the junction with the urban trail into Flagstaff. That was a lot further than I wanted to go. Instead I setup camp 3 1/2 miles short of the junction. I cleared the pine cones from a nice pine needle spot of ground and setup my tent. I knew it would be cold tonight, so I was wearing my down jacket when I climbed into my sleeping bag.
