Arizona Trail/Patagonia to Walker Pass Trail

 

Day 6:

13.1 Miles

We leave the hotel by 9 am and go to the post office to get rid of some gear. In the  weather forecast it appears we will only have one more night of cold weather, so we are ditching our extra layer.   For me that was an 8 oz. polar fleece, I might regret this... but I still have a silk undershirt, longsleeve medium weight wool shirt, an amazing 10 oz. Arc'teryx down jacket with a hood, warm tights and down booties. This whole ensemble is my pajamas!   I've sometimes been known to wear my rain gear over all of this inside my 10 degree down bag as well.  Haha.  Mark just has tights and a polypropylene long sleeve plus a Patagonia nano puff jacket.  For the last leg he also had some silk leggings and shirt that he never needed to wear.  He does not sleep cold. 

 

Today's road walk is mellow.  Easy on our bodies.  The last mile or so is a bit steep before we stop at the Walker Pass Trailhead.   Lovely pool of water here above a dam and the little creek beside us sings quite happily.  Nice place to camp if you can ignore all the TP.  

We saw a few hunters driving the roads today glassing for javelinas.  We haven't seen any of the little pigs yet, but we hope to.   

There is lots  of water along this section of roadwalk. We only carried a little bit which makes our packs a bit lighter, although we have enough food for 5 days.  About 18 pounds total for both of us.  We better get to eating! 

It's starting to sprinkle.  We've had  clouds all afternoon and they kept the temperature in the 60's.  Our small fire is heating us some water for tea right now as the sky is darkening.  

 

Today's takeaway: A lonely road is just fine for a trail.  We walk side by side and can keep our eyes enjoying the scenery as we don't have to worry about footing.