We were in the air flying east before sunrise. Our flight was beautiful and smooth. We stopped briefly at Lake Havasu, then flew on to Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ.

Dan was waiting at the airport so we quickly said goodbye to Bert who flew on to Utah. Dan drove us to lunch and then on to First Water TH. Once we left Mesa the scenery was immediately spectacular desert view with mountain backdrops. Majestic saguaros were everywhere along with all the other desert vegetation.

The trailhead was in beautiful setting. We started hiking after our startup photos. At first the trail was slabby Sonoran sandstone. Birdsong accompanied us all afternoon. We recognized a mourning dove and another hiker pointed out a cactus wren. Birds like chucker or Ptarmagen hens helicoptered away noisily when we approached. We have noticed a discrepancy on mileage; the guide had 4.8 miles when our gps indicated 6.2. That difference seems to continue.

Wildlife is amazing. Birds are never quiet. Frogs sounded like a flock of sheep baaing, and crickets or cicadas hum. Small mammals include ground squirrels and chipmunks and of course there are countless lizards.

Our campsite was gorgeous. We carried in hamburgers for dinner so I didn't have to cook.

Weavers Needle and its multiple points was behind us by the time we camped.

What an incredible day!

We were up before the frogs this morning. My bassoonist grows grapefruit and I ate the last one for breakfast.

Upper Box of LaBarge Canyon was very steep and rocky. Our slow progress left us panting. Hoolie Bacon Trail up the box canyon was full of thorny plants overgrowing the trail. The plants seemed to reach out and grab us as we climbed. Hoolie Bacon was to become our battle cry describing the quintessential of anything. Lunch was about 7 miles in near Horsecamp Basin.

The entire day turned out to be beautiful but slow. It's a paradox to me that abundant wildflowers grow leaf by thorn with desert plants.

Our acronym, SIS, stands for Stickers In Socks. For GET we added shoes, shirts, scarves, sombreros, and skin. Each stab of our skin and shirts leaves a red badge of ouch. I hope the blood washes out; I would hate to wear a measles shirt for the rest of the hike.

Our last mile of the day was described as "steeply down, rocky, vague trail and overgrown"...hard, slow work! Hoolie Bacon!

Camp was at the corral with the last glow of sunset.

Brrr, it's cold at the top. I woke before dawn to pull my sleeping bag hood over my head. We wore our fleeces and gloves when we started hiking for warmth and extra protection from thorns. Ken wants to design gloves that protect hands and arms and are cool in the sun.

We picked up some clear trail before Angel Basin. As we stopped to filter water we were very surprised to find another backpacker taking a zero day by the water. His hiking companion was still in their tent.

Just up the trail we found cliff dwellings of the Salada Indians. Since we were falling behind our schedule we didn't even cross the creek to explore the dwellings.

We slowly hopscotched up the flowing Reavis Creek to join the Arizona Trail for the next 75 miles. We immediately saw day hikers Paul and Mary. Lunch at Roger's Trough Trailhead was with 4 ATVers and many jeepsters.

The climb over Montana Mtn went quickly and the 30 switchbacks down were a breeze...and then we found NEW trail! As if that wasn't excitement we ran into Yappy and DA ! We talked so fast and long that we forgot to get DA's photo.

We didn't get to the highway to Superior so we camped in Whitford Canyon with its flowing stream.

Town tomorrow!

Our river bottom campsite was warm enough during the night. Hiking was in a riparian aviary. A hawk cried a warning twice before flying immediately overhead. I couldn't recognize all the other peeps, cheeps, or calls. We left the river to walk through a saguaro forest that was old enough to have arms. The forest was followed by huge blooming ocotillo.

We met two more AZT hikers: Bowlegs and soon after Diane. The AZT is the place to be!

We called Copper Mountain Motel when we got to Picketpost Trailhead. They picked us up at the trailhead and delivered us to a cafe and took our packs to our room. Great service!