Through this all it is wonderful how my body is holding up. Early in the trip I had some knee pain and have had some problems with knees in the past but my body is up for the challenge. I have dealt with a lot of fatigue and “death march” has come to mind a few times. While my legs remain tired for days at a time, a night of rest helps a lot and I am able to pull off day after day of hard hiking and riding. I have seldom, if ever, tested my strength to this extent.
The Highline Trail traverses a distance just below the Mogollon Rim. The trail was slow going but very beautiful to see. Just above is a road which would have accomplished the distance in a fraction of the time so as we pushed, pulled and carried our bikes over the rocks on that trail I looked longingly at the graded surface above. Scott has some standards about how to ride the Arizona trail and taking the singletrack whenever possible is one of the standards. Sometimes the trail is nonexistent and nearby is a road so it becomes a dilemma as to how pure to the standards to remain. Looking back it is always more satisfying to know we stayed on the trail but when you are wandering around in a vast forest on rutted, rock strewn cow paths looking for a sign to know if you are even going the right way it can be trying. Now that it is behind us the memories of the Highline trail are rich and by myself I would not have opted to ride that way so I would have missed it. The rutted meadows are behind us now also and so are the sticky mud paths which the weather finally forced us to abondon. The idea of riding the Arizona trail was an inspiration of Scott’s and I joined him on it. I do not know if he would have done it without me but I do know I would not have done it without him. We are not finished yet but it seems likely that we will and I am better for it at this point so I have no regrets, am feeling relatively strong and am eager to see the lay of the land, feel the strength of the weather as we journey around the San Francisco Peaks, across by the old Moqui Stage Stop and then to the sudden drop off of the Plateau called The Grand Canyon.
– Lee
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