Monday, October 9th

It’s about 16 miles from camp to where I plan to leave the trail in Flagstaff and spend two nights in town. Matt is meeting his partner in Flagstaff and he is already packed up and gone. She is meeting him at the Buffalo Park trailhead and he is excited to see her! It’s 6:30 am before I get moving and I’m not sure what I expected, but as is often the case when I’m walking into town, the trail seemed much more difficult than I hoped. Rough, poorly marked at many junctions, dry, rocky and so much uphill! It was 13+ miles to the first water and I only had a liter that was gone in 5. When I finally got to the water source, the water gods also blessed me with water from the heavens! It poured the final 3 miles into town and at one point I took shelter at a gas station to make my online motel reservation, grab a soda, and walk the final mile to the motel. It will be nice to have a day of rest before I leave Flagstaff.

While I am Flagstaff, I have my normal town chores, but I hope to catch a movie and possibly cache some water about 12 miles out of town so I don't have to carry so much water. . My pack will already be heavy with 6 days of food for the 112 miles to Pine, AZ. I also plan to spend a couple of hours at the library updating my blog for you my dear readers. 

First trail stop sign! I'm guessing it more for cyclists, but I still obeyed the rules,

came to a complete stop, and looked both directions before crossing the street!

My first meal in Flagstaff. I assure you I'm not going hungry on this hike!

Thanks for following along!

Butterfingers