Our Uber driver didn’t want to drive down the dirt road, but we only had a mile to walk to the trail. Again we were climbing a mountain this time around the ski area of Flagstaff. We reached 9,000 on a 10 mile ascent. We were high enough for mountain winds cooled by patches of snow.
We were in the land of vanilla scented Jeffrey pines, Clark’s Nutcrackers, Loggerhead Shrikes and Rose Breasted Grosbeaks. Mountain Golden Beans, Creeping Mahonia and Mule’s ear hug the trail. The Aspen are huge and gorgeous with small leaves budding in their crowns. Colorado bristle cone hunkered low. The wind gusts and calls to us all day. Below the valley is long and quiet rimmed by the San Francisco Peaks.
Several local hikers and runners were heading back. We didn’t see any other AZT hikers. We were still in the trees when we had to call it quits. The temperature was dropping and the sun went behind the trees. We had been scanning for a flat area for two miles. It wasn’t perfect, but OK. We had ended a 16 mile day, and were sore everywhere.
Mountain Peace 