AZT Day 1 – Finding the trail and Mt. Miller

Stats

  • Start: US Mexico Border – Mile 0
  • End: The Windmill – Mile 20
  • Elevation Max: 8,764
  • Elevation Min: 5,043
  • Elevation Change: 5,463 up & 5,063 down
  • Average Heart Rate: 141
  • Hike Time:  7 hours 11 minutes

The Walk

I’m wiped. My watch shows 7:30 pm. Today was wild. I planned to do 13.2 miles and ended at 20.7 with 5x more elevation than any of my training hikes. I want to melt into my sleeping bag. My body is sore and tired. But I made it. I feel content.
 
A shuttle picked up Mayra, Salsa, and me from Tuscon at 6AM. I rushed out of the hotel a minute late because I triple checked my gear. We hopped in at 6:05 and started the hour and a half ride to the border. The bus played an audio tour during the ride, which gave us a few cool facts about the area. Like Sierra Vista is famous for birdwatching and has the most hummingbird species in the world. Random. But cool.
 
The shuttle dropped us off at the Coranado National Memorial. Salsa asked where the trailhead was. “That’s for you to figure out” said the driver. Then he slammed the door and pulled away. Great start to this trip. At least he gave us a free water bottle for the ride.
 
I opened the FarOut app and realized we were a mile and a half away from the trail. Closer than this morning, but not close enough for 150 bucks! 1.5 miles didn’t seem bad, until it was all uphill. 1155 feet up and 8 down.
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Okay, a mile and a half. Oh well, we’re on the trail now, right? Kind of. We were at mile 1 of the trail. Which meant we had our first choice.
 
Hike a mile south to the border or start a thruhike northbound. Going south meant we would turn around at the border and rehike the same mile of trail.  The first thruhike purist test! We made a quick decision to hike the extra mile to start the mile zero. 2.5 bonus miles to start the day wasn’t what I planned. But I was on trail and ready to go!
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The first 10 miles of the AZT isn’t kind. you better be ready for elevation, sun, rocky trail, and climbing . I wasn’t. climbing halfway up Miller Peak at 9,090 feet sapped all my energy. Salsa and I were going a similar speed and kept the feet moving. I looked back and saw the trailhead parking lot full of cars. We must have been an hour ahead of the bubble.
 
After a few hours of sweaty climbing with a heavy pack I made it to the top. A bathtub full of water greeted us. We found a nice log,  refilled our smart water bottles, and ate lunch.
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During the climb I saw a mix of 20 day hikers and thru hikers. But after bathtub I didn’t see anyone. I might have stopping at bathtub spring for the day if it was at lower elevation. It’s usually below freezing at the peak and I sleep cold.
 
So we took off . Mostly downhill this time and the miles went fast. The views on the way down were beautiful. I slipped a few times on loose rocks while staring into the distance. But didn’t roll an ankle!
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At 16.7 miles (13.2 trail miles) my feet and legs were toast.  I had finally arrived at Sunnyside Canyon, my first planned camp site. I was a few minutes ahead of Salsa, so I threw down my pack and sat in the middle of the trail. Might as well accept the dirt. 
 
Salsa came around the corner and we sat there for a minute. There was no water close and we were low. So we had to keep going. The pack went back on.
 
Away we went. Fortunately the miles weren’t  bad. The trail wasn’t rocky and sloped a little downhill. We hiked to under 6k elevation, which was a welcome relief for me. The miles of 7-8k wore me out. I was more tired than normal and lost my breath more quickly (Illinois is pretty darn flat and low). 4 miles later we found a trickling stream beside an old windmill (trail mile 17.1)  The mediocre camping spot felt perfect.
 
I set up camp, rehydrated chicken and rice for dinner, and laid down. Tomorrow’s hike only has two water sources. One at 5 miles and one at 23 miles. I don’t want to camp in between them and 5 miles seems pretty short. So it’ll be another long day ahead.

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