A sprinkle last night erased footprints on the trail; this feels like new territory to us.

A small quail ran down the trail in front of me. When we stopped to take off our fleeces two turkey vultures flew by. I coughed so they flew back immediately overhead then took off around a rocky point. They returned with two friends! I obligingly coughed for them, too. It was a 'Far Side' kind of encounter.

Twenty feet up the trail we stepped over an unconcerned bull snake. He was sunning, refusing to move. A few steps later brought us face to face with a Gila Monster, hissing with a black cavernous mouth. So I think it was lunch time on the desert - but I wasn't sure who was 'luncher' and who was 'lunchee'.

When we got to Artesian Well, I won...more hikers were already at the well. Scott and Oscar were hiking as "GottaStop". We all agreed that it's the journey not the destination.

Walnut Canyon was a gorgeous place for an evening walk. The moon is almost full.

Our first goal of the day was the Gila River. We found good trail heading down to the river. After following a fence line for a short distance we found nice new trail leading to the railroad tracks. We met She-ra, northbound on the AZT. As we approached the railroad tracks it was decision time: overgrown, indistinct trail or railroad tracks. Hands down, the railroad tracks. We followed them into Kelvin. After filling our water bottles from hose spigots at the trailer park we ate lunch under the river's bridge in the shade. 

In the afternoon we toured the Tortilla Hills, a production similar to touring the Alps. The locals are proud of, talk about and point out Big Hill. That was our goal for the day.

We climbed, descended, contoured and traversed. Along the way we summited Lumpy, Bumpy and Knob. We were victorious over Little Hill, Small Hill, Junior Hill and waved to Faith Hill. We were snookered by False Summit, Insincere Summit and Got'cha Summit.

Finally, finally, as we were hot, weary and bloody, our GPS indicated that we were on the flanks of Big Hill. Then, alas, the irony... we contoured around the top and switched back down. We never summited Big Hill!

We camped in Ripsey Wash which was the staging point for our tour.

Trail was gentle, easy tread in and out of washes described by what grew in them. There was Hackberry Wash filled with dark gray bushes that looked dead to me. The Juniper Washes had huge healthy trees. We also contoured under power lines that give the air a peculiar odor.

The dash of the afternoon was to the water cache at Freeman Road. Nine of the twelve gallons that Dan left were still there. They tasted so fresh and cool. We each drank a liter and carried two liters to dinner.

The evening sun glowed golden making all the vicious plants look innocent. After crossing the flanks of Antelope Peak we dashed from wash to wash looking for smooth sand for a tent site. In one wash we found another hiker couple also hiking on the GET! They were from Indiana so we talked about several trails and gear.

We camped in the next wash.

High elevation 3749'

Today was a charmed hiking day where the trail was easy to follow, was easy grade, vistas were interesting and serendipity gave us lots of fun.

We cruised into Beehive Well just as the rancher and his ranch hand were firing up the pump. We had a good conversation about water in the West and hydrology. Then we collected water in our bottles from the pipe, drank until we sloshed, said thanks and walked on. Before leaving we had to have a picture. Just as Marcia was ready to snap the picture a bicyclist zoomed into the picture, smiled as the shutter snapped, and started to ride off. We had to know where he was riding. Quickly he explained he was riding the AZT and had to get to Superior by nightfall.

We had a nice stroll down Putnam Wash. Soon the flow from the spring meandered back and forth thru the wash. It provided a good site for lunch. When we reached the San Pedro River there was a log for us to cross the shallow 8-foot wide river.

We got to Central Arizona College just at noon to pick up our resupply box. Of course we stopped by the cafeteria to eat lunch. By the time we left we had been inside for the hottest part of the day...and temps were in the 90's today.

As we walked the road to Aravaipa Canyon we found fallen grapefruit and picked up the best one. It was our delicious appetizer for dinner.

The last happenstance was that we met Ranger Pat on the road and stopped for a chat. He's the person that helped us with our permits. He also gave us a weather update: rain with snow at higher elevations this weekend.

With light clouds tonight we both took lots of sunset photos which was a fantastic ending to a great hiking day. It also got us into camp after dark.