To leave the Flagstaff area the Arizona trail goes up around the snowy San Francisco Peaks and with a clear blue sky as background, they just “pop”. Meanwhile the trail itself goes “crunch” or “squish” depending on the time of day that you cross the lingering snow pack.
The land levels out around 6,000 ft and the trail becomes a road walk for many miles. Although this provides sweeping vistas and the ability to look up while hiking, the repetitious level steps can be tiresome on the feet and legs. As a hiker you inevitably push your distance on the flat ground.
This is the first we are seeing cattle on the ranchland in hundreds of miles. They are both curious and nervous of us. We encounter them most often near the water tanks. One such tank was located in a bull pen and as Jobie was filtering litre after litre of fresh spring water, I heard these continuous grunting/heavy sighing sounds coming from the other side of the dirt birm that edged this area. Eventually the biggest, heaviest Daddy bull with balls hanging down to his knees appeared at the top of the ridge. He snorted and pawed dirt behind him with his forefeet like I imagine happens in bull fights. He heaved his weight, step by swaying step, down the slope grunt/sighing all the way and started heading for the tank where we were. He had BIG eyes and is eyeing us as he approached. While Jobie calmly continued to pump his water, I became nervous and picked up my hiking poles to fearfully shoo this beast away from the tank. As I moved right this bull moved slightly left – so I moved left and he leaned right. At the end of this game, this Big Daddy bull simply walked straight to the tank for a drink ignoring me completely. He kept his eye on us the whole time he slurped. Then he made his weighty way to the other end of the pen. Needless to say I was a little excited and forgot all about taking a photo of Big Daddy. Only Shakespeare could have schemed up such a drama!
In Grand Canyon Village we picked up our last resupply box and received our desired permit to camp in the Grand Canyon for 2 nights before climbing out on the north side and finishing the trail at the Utah border. Tomorrow we will start our last section of this trail and I feel a mix of joy mingling with sadness brewing. So as the sunsets on our eve of departure Jobie and I will bring our concealed bottle of wine to the Canyon Rim and dangle our feet over the edge as we sip and take it all in. Who says I am not a romantic!
Zip and Jobie Go Hiking 