2-19-14, 8 miles.
\nFirst days on the trail are always hard. After only a couple miles into my Arizona Trail hike I realized how out of shape I am. A few extra pounds in my pack and a few extra pounds around my waist contributed to a very slow and tiring climb to Miller Peak. I had a conversation with my body that went something like this:
\nMy body said, “This hurts! What would possess you to go through the agony of hiking into the mountains again?”
\nI replied, “Because it’s fun!”
\nAnd my body said, “Why you idiot!”<\/p>\n
A couple of hours earlier Richard and Dianna had dropped me off at Montezuma Pass in the Coronado National Memorial where I would start my hike on the AZT. Thanks R&D! I had planned for an easy day up to Millers Peak and down to a camping spot where it would be out of the wind and a little warmer. The trail started out okay, but in a couple of miles as I entered Millers Peak Wilderness, the path turned steep. There were great views but the hiking was strenuous. By the time I reached the side trail to the peak, it was getting late and I didn’t have the heart to climb to the top, so I continued on to Bathtub Springs and made camp there. <\/p>\n
I was so exhausted that I layed down in my tent for a rest, assuming I would get back up to make supper when I felt better. The next thing I knew it was dark. I grabbed a couple treats from my food bag, ate them, turned over and went back to sleep. The wind blew all night, and being over 8000′ I kept putting on more clothes to stay warm. <\/p>\n
There really is a bathtub at Bathtub Springs. There is a pipe that trickles into the tub, but the flow is too slow to fill a water bottle, so you have to drink right from the tub. I think this is the first time I’ve drank out of a bathtub since I was a little kid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2-19-14, 8 miles. First days on the trail are always hard. After only a couple miles into my Arizona Trail hike I realized how out of shape I am. A few extra pounds in my pack and a few extra pounds around my waist contributed to a very slow and tiring climb to Miller Peak. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-azt-hike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1170,"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions\/1170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dalelafferty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}