Kearny, AZ

We made a bit of a rookie mistake last night. We camped on a saddle.

This is the low point between two higher points, which is usually where trails will cross from the southern to northern side of a mountain. This point usually gives a great view, but it funnels the wind coming towards the mountain and compounds the gusts through the saddle.

So that night, as the coyotes howled in the distance, so too did the wind. Shaking our tent, keeping a chill in our tent, and preventing us from sleeping as soundly as we would have liked.

Once we woke up, we quickly packed up and stumbled down the trail a bit to escape some wind as we cooked our breakfast.

Immediately, an all too familiar feel shot up my leg.

As if from a Greek fable, the one part of my body which has caused consistent issue while on my long treks is my Achilles' tendon. On the PCT, it began to get extremely tight, and every time I took a step it felt like old rubber stretching and resisting.

When I headed down the trail, I noticed my left ankle was swollen and my tendon tight once again.

I massaged the tendon and tried to work it out a bit as I prepared for the day, but ultimately had to pop some Aleve to reduce the swelling and alleviate some of the pain as I walked.

The crummy thing is, there's really not much I can do about it but rest and stretch it. Which I obviously can't do with 560 miles to go. So, I must keep tabs, and keep going.

As far as the days hike went, it was fairly cold in the morning, but then warmed up and and the terrain flattened out. We even saw our first. Looming wildflowers!

With one last push up hill for the day, we were ending in Kearny, AZ. Since our Aquamira bottle broke, we were forced to go into town to get bleach for purifying water.

A kind fellow named Gerry gave us a ride (and tour) around the area and copper mine. We got to our first motel room of the trail, ate a ton of pizza, sipped a couple beers, and were out like lights.