Arg!!

Well, I WAS going to do an amazing post tonight, featuring many great pictures and even a video (oooh...ahhh), but last night I pushed some strange combination of buttons on my phone and it went back to original factory settings. I lost all my pictures from the trail and earlier this year. Ugh. Bummer. This post will just have to be boring! Sorry!

I'm in Payson, which isn't even on the trail, though it is a gateway community. I arrived in Pine at the trailhead around 3:45pm, and made it to my resupply location, THAT Brewery and Pub, by 4pm, but when they checked for my two packages, they weren't there. To make matters worse, all accommodations were booked up because it was the weekend. I was finally able to find a place to crash with a trail angel in Payson. I had to zero out the weekend, though, so I can check on my packages at the post office Monday morning. If they haven't arrived, it'll be a Wal-Mart resupply until I get to my next place in Flagstaff, 6 days away.

My hiking has gone well, though the wind and cold has been too intense. I've been painfully cold at night, but I think I've remedied that as I head into the high country next.

The Mazatzals were both more established and more difficult than I expected, but water was a little more frequent, and I was able to stay one night at a lovely family farm near the East Verde River.

I saw my first snake on the trail. Got pictures and even video of this Arizona Black Rattlesnake. He was so cool. I was going at a pretty good clip when I saw him about a foot in front of me (good cammo in the leaves), but since we both surprised each other, he hardly reacted until I started trying to go widely around him. Then he slithered up a fallen tree, coiled up, and shook his tail in fair warning. I just gave him a wider berth...after getting some awesome video...and went on my way.

I'm still enjoying this process of covering ground one step at a time, but I am struggling to stay in the moment. I miss the girls, my mom and partner, and my Wild Man...and even my work! Maybe it's difficult on me, approaching each day not knowing if I'll get into trouble. Early on, that was a big part of the appeal, the unknown. But I also feel a great sense of appreciation for securities (whether real or imagined) that help keep my life outside the realm of survival. I think survival is supposed to be a temporary state of being, and if I knew this was my new lifestyle, many things would be different. As it is, I feel a great drive to push onward and finish this trail quickly without compromising a quality experience.

...like wresting away my trekking poles from pack mice all night, and finding they had eaten my straps clean off. Ahh. This is the life. 😂