Jeff did A LOT of research on the best hiking gear to get us ready for some backpacking adventures. We took a bunch of trips to REI to touch, feel and try on. He even got into a sleeping bag to see if it was long enough for him. We talked to the REI guys and got advice as well. Then the ordering began! Jeff has an Amazon barcode scanner so we could see if the things we wanted at REI would be cheaper on Amazon. Then the ordering began! I felt like Matilda ~ staying at home to get the packages. Every day was like Christmas! Now we have all this cool gear....time to plan a trip! Only right now it's cold in the mountains and HOT here in the desert! Jeff knows that I DO NOT like to be cold and I don't do well in the heat. So we picked a middle ground. The high desert. The low was supposed to be 50 (although it got a little colder than that it was still no problem). We also wanted to incorporate a part of the Arizona Trail (AZT). The 800 mile AZT is what we are working up to do. Another problem is being dropped off and picked up. We didn't want to bother our children with driving hours to drop and pick us up and I didn't want to be waiting around for a ride. So we are finding loops to do. Jeff found the Barnhardt Trail. We'd passed that trail sign hundreds of times on our way to Payson. We thought for sure that we would see nobody!
We got to the parking lot around 10am and it was packed! I had no idea this was a trail for day hikers. The trailhead starts just beyond that yellow sign. We saw people but not as many people as cars in the parking lot? Before we headed out I ate a peanut butter snickers. Mmmm! I'm so glad I did. It really did keep me going!
 |
| Things not to do: Wear hoop earrings. What was I thinking? They weren't a problem until the 2nd day when the brush was super thick and one of the branches caught my earring and about ripped it out of my head! Did I take them off? Nope! Ha! (But I won't wear them again!) |
We got our packs on and we were heading across the parking lot to the trail when my phone rang. Jeff was like, "Really!" Then I looked and saw it was Tina! I showed Jeff and we freaked out! It's usually never good to start out on a journey then have Tina call! Turns out she just wanted to see if we were available to go to dinner. Darn and phew! We got lucky! We thought we were going to have to turn around and go home before we even started. Hilarious! Although, dinner was very tempting! Ha ha!
Here we go. Little did we know it was all up hill from here! I think it's best not to know what to expect because then you always have the hope that "IT WILL" get better ~ even though it won't and it doesn't. Advice I would give to myself in hindsight right now ~ GET OUT YOUR POLES!
That was an excellent demonstration of how to use your poles! Ha!
We didn't start the trail off using our poles. We weren't even sure we were going to use them. We always laughed at the snowbirds out on the trails using them (with no packs on). We were like, "We will never be like those old people!" But Jeff did his research and everyone said they were great and he ordered us only the best and BOY'O'BOY they were life savers! It's not easy keeping your balance with a 30+ pound pack on your back going up hill. We hiked maybe a mile? when Jeff suggested we get our poles out. Jeff and I would not have finished this hike without serious injury to ourselves without using our poles! We felt like we were skiing on the trail. They helped with balance and momentum. We couldn't stop talking about how much we loved them the ENTIRE trip!
Let's talk about water. We packed A LOT of it (3 liters in our water bladders and 1 liter each in our Nalgene bottles. 5 total liters = 11lbs!). Because we grew up in Arizona, we know if you are going to hike in the desert you need lots of water or... YOU WILL DIE! We had no idea that the trail had tons of little trickling springs from the snow melting. I think we still would have packed all the water we did (even though it was heavy). I like the comfort of knowing I HAVE water and will take the discomfort of the several pounds it adds. "Hoping" there is water to filter up ahead ~
Makes me nervous. Hindsight: I finished the hike with just a tiny bit of water left in my bladder. Jeff exhausted his bladder the first day and was using his water bottles and filtered water the rest of the trip. We used some of my water bottles for cooking. Jeff says he thinks we should switch to Smart Water bottles instead of the heavy Nalgene bottles. Ounces = Lbs.
There was a lady behind the spring (Jeff tried not to get her in the picture) . We thinks she might have been a crazy person. She was older and had long gray/blond straight hippy hair. She was snapping branches off of plants and throwing them in the water. She was quite focused and looked very determined. It was definitely odd.
Look at those switch backs! We climbed all that way! And that was before we got to the AZT (Arizona Trail)!!!
What I would tell myself right now in hindsight: Hysterical laughter "You haven't even climbed the hardest part AND you're on a nicely maintained trail."
We lost all the day hikers a mile or so before we got to the AZT. Then we ran into an ultra light hiker going the other way. He said he was "hoping" there was water ahead. All he had was a Smart Water bottle! Not SMART in the AZ deseret but definitely a lot less heavier to carry.
Hindsight advice: Make sure you get your backpack totally fitted. I couldn't find a happy spot for my hip straps and my hips were suffering instensly.
We stopped and made lunch right on the trail. It was about 2:00 pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast! I aired my feet out and it was glorious! Lunch was sooo good! We were ravenous and a hot meal was just what we needed! We had our Mountain House freeze dried food. I had beef stroganoff and Jeff had teriyaki chicken and rice. While we were sitting right on the trail cooking lunch up, someone came around the corner! I think we were all a little startled to see each other. He was actually hiking the AZT! His name was Will and he was hiking the section from Picket Post to Pine. He started the trail on Tuesday and it was Saturday when we saw him. I think he was so glad to have someone to talk to! He stopped and talked with us for awhile. He told us that he hiked the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and it changed his life so much so that he moved from Chicago to Montana! Now he is section hiking the AZT. He said he'd only seen 10 people (including us) on the hike so far. We told him where we were heading and he said, "Hmm, I didn't see a marker for that trail?" (Oh great!) He asked me if I hiked in my flip flops. (I don't think he could see my shoes anywhere). I asked him how impressed with me would he be if I said YES! We all laughed. Then he was off again. It was so cool to actually see a real life through hiker! We're easily entertained!
Advice I would give myself right now in hindsight: rehydrated food DOES give you gas! Beware! We had heard this advice before but we already had the food so we decided to use it.
There were tons of burnt trees that were beautiful black and white! I could have taken a million pictures of them!
We named my Dad as our "Trail Angel". He would have absolutely loved being out here. I KNOW his spirit was enjoying this with us!
Moving on, or I should say "moving up". It was pretty much a gradual incline of switch backs for the 11 miles we hiked. We didn't get any pictures of the trail that looked like only mountain goats used because it was too hot and we were exhausted only thinking of putting one foot in front of the other. I thought I had a runny nose but it was actually sweat dripping down my face! We came to a sign (which was really just a symbol for the AZT). It seemed like a junction in the trail and we weren't sure if this was where we turned off to make our loop. One trail went up and the other trail went down. I did NOT want to go up! It was getting late in the day, the sun was starting to go down, the temperature was dropping and this was the ONLY flat area to camp. So we made camp. I can't believe how cold I immediately got. Probably from all the sweat. I put on my Arc'Teryk 800 down fill count jacket (that Jeff's research said was the best). I was instantly wrapped in a warm cloud of awesomeness. We were lucky to find a "grassy" patch in the shale and rocky area we were in so that's where we sent up our tent. The only problem was that is was on a slight incline and our sleeping bags slid down from time to time. But we were definitely comfortable. Jeff's research once again paid off in spades! Our air mattress, sleeping bag and blow up pillows were probably just as comfy as sleeping in our own bed! After a long hard day it was heaven! Jeff and I shared a dinner since it was 6pm and we had a late lunch. Then we shared a dessert of raspberry crumble. It was warm gooey raspberries with crushed oreo cookie crumble on top! We don't even like raspberries but it was rewarding after a hard days hike. We changed into our "night" clothes, got into our sleeping bags and it was 6:30. Hmmm, our phones are dead, it's dark and cold outside- now what? We weren't sleepy. Tired and exhausted yes but not sleepy. So, we talked about how awesome our poles were! LOL! We were also very warm. I had a night dress on, a long sleeve over it and my puffy jacket. Jeff had a shirt and underwear. A couple of times I got cold and he told me to take off my puffy because I was probably getting to warm. That didn't make sense but I did it and I was actually warmer! I think I was getting sweaty and it was making me cold. Jeff had a little battery powered light that he hung up in the tent. We turned it off and tried to go to sleep around 8pm. We heard a deep growl? I thought it was maybe Jeff's tummy growling but he said it wasn't him. Then something scurried off. We were super freaked out the entire time. What's that noise? Did you hear that? Every time, it was nothing. But we weren't used to the night noises. The moon had come out and it was full AND bright! Extremely bright and it got VERY quiet. We're used to sleeping with a fan for some "white noise". So that made it even harder to get to sleep. My body was aching. My knees were burning and my hips we're screaming, swollen and bruised. Oh and my feet were "barking" as Jeff says. I couldn't sleep on my side because of my hips and that sucked. Around 1:00am I woke Jeff up because I had to go to the bathroom. He said, "You need me to go with you?" I said, "No! I just need the poop shovel." He was like, "Who poops at 1 o'clock in the morning?" I said, "Peoples who eat dehydrated food!" I felt so much better after that! We're going to have to re-think our dehydrated meal plan! We also had to put chapstick on in the middle of the night. Always keep your chapstick handy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every time I closed my eyes I think I was in the land between not quite awake and not totally asleep. I kept seeing my little brother Ryker as a 3 or 4 year old little boy hiding behind a door and peeking out at me. He was giggling like he was playing a game with me. This happened several times. Then I heard my Dad say, "Let's go!" I saw Ryker run over to him and they walked away holding hands. This happened to me all night long. Theresa Caputo would definitely say this was my Dad's way of validating to me that he and Ryker are together and having their own adventures.
Jeff said being out here in nature with no distractions - I was able to be open to receive this message. What a beautiful message it was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We weren't able to take a picture of our camp site because both our phones ran out of charge. We got up around 7am and packed up camp. We ate trail mix for breakfast and decided to take our chance with the trail going down hill. The entire trip we had been following the footprints of a man and a horse. After we were on the trail a very short time, we saw the horse shoe print! We knew we were on the right path! That horse was our "Spirit Animal" or our "Trail Guide". There were
several parts of this trail that were hard to follow. It was not well traveled or maintained. We would look around and say, "There it is!" The horse shoe print always kept us on the right path! The man was pretty great too! He would stack rocks to mark the trail. We headed down to the first creek we came across and Jeff tried out his water filter for the first time! The water was very clear and it was running water but we're better safe than sorry kind of peoples. Plus, Jeff had fun doing it!
After a few hours of hiking, I was getting a little shaky and hungry and took a tumble! I ripped my new KUHL pants! Thank GOD I was wearing pants or I would have been a bloody mess! Jeff was wishing he was wearing pants because the trail was overgrown and we had to squeeze by a lot of very poky bushes! We found this little cove off the trail and set up for lunch. Jeff was so sweet the entire tip. He always asked me how I was doing and he always picked up my pack and helped me put it on. And if I fell or sat down with my pack on, he helped me get up. He said he knows how to take care of his princess. He sure does! He wuvs me! Best husband and friend e v e r!
Talking about clothes: I learned that you can wear the same clothes the next day (new undies though!). I left my clothes out over night to air out, even though they didn't smell. Worked like a charm!
Shoes: Jeff got us some great Solomon shoes and some Green orthotic inserts. We hadn't put much mileage on the shoes and the inserts we only walked in them for two days. Jeff wasn't even sure he was going to wear them for the trip. Good thing he did! We didn't even notice them like we did walking on the sidewalk. We were always walking over rocks and uneven ground and they saved us from any blisters!
Jeff made us a nice warm meal. Eating was just so amazing. It was crazy how hungry we got. I was a little nervous to eat all of my food. My tummy still remembered but I needed the energy. Wished I had a snickers! As we were leaving our little lunch area, we saw the horse shoe print! Apparently he rested here too! A
dvice I would give myself right now in hindsight: Put sun block on my forearms and the back of Jeff's calves! When we got home and in the shower, I couldn't enjoy it because my forearms were so sunburnt the hot water hurt! I wanted to stay in the shower forever but the pain drove me out.
Jeff charged our phones with a solar charger while we hiked so I was able to capture his second time filtering water. He loves using his new gadgets! We had filtered mountain water! Oh! If you look closely you can see the 3 stacked rocks. That's one of the trail markers! Look at the green cactus and it's easier to find.
"They" said the trail was rocky! We didn't know the half of it! This was NOTHING! We were amazed that the horse was able to do this trail!
Advice I would give myself right now: You aren't even close to the end! Ha! We saw 3 guys camping along the way. They waved to us and asked if there was water the way we came. We said lots of water! They were so relieved. They said there was water about a mile the way we were going but they didn't want to backtrack. We were thinking, "Wow they camped in an awesome spot!" but we were wondering why they made camp so close to the end/beginning of the trail. We had NO idea we still had a long way to go! Later we were like, "Those guys are amazing to have made it so far!" If we had started out on the Y Bar trail we would have probably quit! It was pretty hard going down. We couldn't imagine trying to go up! They had actually made it a long way!
The hardest part of the trip (for me) was walking from the end of the trail, through the L O N G parking lot and all ....the.... way back to the truck! It was around 2:00pm when we got to the truck and I think it was in the high 80's for temperature. When we got closer to town it was 91 degrees!
What a great first adventure! We "ROCKED" it!
Would I do this hike again? No. Smiley face :)
Our next adventure is planned for the middle of April. Stay tuned....
