Azt Map Miles 320.7
Miles Hiked 310.9
Elevation 5,430
Miles Hiked Today 17.3
I packed up my tent about 6:30 AM and began hiking. It had been a cold night and it was still pretty chilly. About 45 minutes later, I came up to Moon Juice and his campsite. He and Dawn had camped just a little ahead of me.
Hiking started out fairly easy like the preceeding days. There was a beautiful walk along a running creek. Unlike other parts of the forest, this section was thick with trees and vegetation. I even crossed a bridge. I really enjoyed hiking this short section of trail.
Then things changed dramatically. Suddenly, I was going up and down steep ascents and descents – one after another. There were loose rocks and stones in the trail and it was like walking on ball bearings at times. Yes, I fell head first twice and almost slid down a gravel laden trail at one point – to the side as in “over the side.” Scary!
MJ and Dawn were going to camp at Webber Creek, so that was my target. I figured I would make it by 6 PM. Nope! Didn’t happen. Even though my navigation app showed I was on the trail, it showed I only did .2 mile in 45 minutes. I was moving at a rate of at least 2 MPH and a previous check showed I was 2 miles from Webber Creek. I don’t know how, but I got into some kind of trail loop.
So, now it’s 6 PM and I’m still about an hour away. By 6:30 I broke out my headlamp and used it as my only source of light. The trail was going down with loose rocks and stones on most of it. This had disaster written all over it.
Surprisingly, I made it to MJ and Dawn’s campsite at 7 PM with no further incidents. I was out of water, so MJ offered me some, and while I put up my tent, he even went down to the creek to filter water for me. What a great guy!
It was a long day to be sure. I ate dinner and then climbed into my sleeping bag for the night.
