Saturday, October 7th

I spent most of today in the Babbitt Ranch passage of the AZT. Mostly flat, often rocky, half trail and half dirt roads, and very dry. Water was scarce and required caring 3+ liters between water sources. There was however, plenty of water falling from the sky. It started raining in the afternoon and it rained in spurts until early morning. Thankfully there was a break in the rain while I set up my tent, brushed my teeth, and crawled into my tent. 

Water!

More water...from the angels!

Morning Sun

Afternoon Rain

The metal box in the photo is a water cache maintained by volunteers in dry section of the trail. Some water is cached for specific hikers and has their name on the bottle, but most is public water and I’m thankful to the trail angels who provide this water. Hiker are told not to depend on water caches and I don’t, but they definitely lighten the load in dry sector the trail. Most water caches are at trailheads that are accessible by car, but some require the trail angels to pack it in!  

The other water photo is a wildlife water tank. The tin roof looking device is to collect rain water, direct it into tanks under the "roof'" and the open trough is where the animals and hiker drink. Hikers filter the water first and my filter system can be seen hanging from the fence around the roof.  

Thanks for following along. 

Butterfingers