Ed dropped me off at the Pine trailhead around 7:45 a.m. with a day pack to start my trek up the famous Mogollon Rim. This is a 200-mile topographical and geological feature that’s basically the southern end of the Colorado Plateau. Anyway, it would be another short stint of slackpacking. Yay!
While I hiked, Ed took care of a few errands in town. Then he drove to the Webber Creek trailhead 8.7 miles ahead and hiked back in to meet me.
We got back to the trailhead and our food-laden car around noon. Ed had a hamburger from last night and I had a great turkey sandwich I’d made that morning. Plus chips and soda! Food tastes extra good when you’re hiking.
Onward toward the Mogollon Rim
From here we grabbed our full packs and continued northbound. Destination: the Washington Park trailhead, some 10 miles ahead.
The trail today was fantastic. Yes, there were some rocks, but it mostly was a normal trail of dirt or gravel. As we hiked, we could initially see the Mogollon Rim in the distance, which looks multicolored. It’s about 7,000 feet, by the way, so we will probably see snow soon (like tomorrow).
Pines
The trail here goes through a lot of pine forest, which I love. There are plenty of flowing creeks, too, so no worries about water.
As the day was ending, we figured we’d find a nice spot a few miles shy of the trailhead and set up camp. (You can’t camp right at this particular trailhead.) As luck would have it, though, as we started looking for a place to pitch our tent, nothing was feasible. the ground was either way too rocky or had tall, stiff grass. We had no choice but to push on toward the trailhead. Luckily, just shy of it, we found a nice spot to pitch our tent.
Oh — I saw in a trail register that Golden headed out just before me, with his sometimes-hiking-companion Savage Woman. Long-Hauler hadn’t signed in yet, so he’s either taking a rest day in Pine or enjoying his motel jacuzzi. I didn’t see CowStep’s name. Hope he’s OK.
Snowshoe
18.2 miles today
442.8 miles to date
357.2 miles to go
