Hard Miles

The first 50 miles south of Pine were the hardest miles so far on the AZT. The picture above doesn’t do justice to how hard the trail was: rocky, steep, hot, and dry. It didn’t help that I was carrying six days of food and up three liters of water at a time. It was hard on my feet, legs, and for the first time I wondered, why am I doing this? 

There were bushes, I think called Catclaw, that caught my clothes and scratched up my legs. 

The highlight of day three was meeting a another AZT hiker named Baby Jesus. We met at a  spring getting, you guessed it…water. I waited, but he didn’t ask me for water or offer me living water, so I decided I needed to start the conversation. I asked him how he got his trail name. He told me he was 19 when he started hiking so he was a baby, and he had a really big beard, so…Jesus. I thought to myself, I didn’t start hiking until I was an adult and I like bookkeeping, so maybe my trail name should be…Judas. We talked a few minutes about other trails we’ve hiked and then he was gone. I think that’s the closest I’m going to get to having a personal woman at the well experience. 

Thanks for following along.

Butterfingers