4/12/25, day 0. Start time: 6:02AM. 41.4 miles, 7,363’ ascent. AZT mile 41.4.
Planned to start at 5:30, last minute AM BM and wardrobe change pushed it back. So nervous! Sat on my sunscreen tube and nearly emptied it, oops! Saw an ICE officer a long way from a road. Hot but not unbearable. Vimal (boyfriend) had planned to start the Mogollon Rim Trail after dropping me off let me know he stayed in Phoenix because he feels like he might be getting sick (foreboding music plays). Right glute painful then resolved. Nice trail. Feet feel battered but otherwise doing aight. Heat/ UV rash begins. Nauseated in PM. Heat? Exertion? Elevation? Nerves? Turkeys. Pitched up just past water at 9:45P.
4/13/25, day 1. 45.8 miles, 5682’ ascent. AZT mile 41.4 to 87.2.
Hiking at 4:20. Realized the trail didn’t pass through Patagonia anymore like it did in 2021, had been looking forward to a cold bevie. Crazy long gradual ascent with unending contouring up the foothills. Met Alex, a section hiker from AK that decided to hike the ridge and watched as he got further and further ahead. Talked to a mountain biker who let me lather up in their sunscreen. UV rash progresses. Met 2 horseman with an adorable lab that found the only surface water in miles and was rolling in it. Passed Kentucky Ranch and remembered it- its where I ended my first ever 40 mile day in 2021. Two breaks, one planned, one emergency because I thought I was going to puke. Really had wanted 46mi but great camp spot at 45.8. MY FEET!!! No blisters, just feel like they have been bludgeoned for days, which they have. Roadrunner. Stopped at 9:15.
4/14/25, day 2. 48.4 miles, 5561’ ascent, AZT mile 87.2 to 135.6. UV rash is bad. Wore my long John’s all day- gross, but rash improved. Legs generally throbbing, swollen ankles. Slow moving all day to try to not heat stroke out but had progressive nausea, fatigue. Soaked myself at La Selvilla Picnic Area and was shivering uncontrollably. From picnic area to Grass Shack had to make micro goals to keep moving forward.
4/15/25, day 3. 36.5 miles, 7286’ of ascent, AZT mile 135.6 to 172.1.
Hiking at 4:30. Sweated out my sleeping bag, like soaking. Woke up repeatedly with a fever, chills, sore throat. This is not heat stroke, I am sick. Scared how it will play out with my history of asthma and always getting a gnarly cough when I get a cold. Contemplated quitting. Figured I had to walk a ways to a road anyway, might as well walk north. Ongoing heat rash, wore long John’s again all day. Windy, gusty. Despite all enjoyed the trudge up Mica. Started my period- for fucks sake body. Let Vimal know I was sick, he said he would hang another day in Phoenix in case I needed to bail. I jumped to the conclusion that he thought I was going to get off trail, he assured me that he believes in me. Hiked until 10:25.
4/16/25, day 4. 40.8 miles, 8829’ of ascent, AZT mile 172.1 to 212.9.
Sweated out by bag again. Had a dream that a local was telling me I had pneumonia. Great. Started hiking at 4AM. Glorious trail up to Romero Pass then it got hard. Showed up at the General Store 10 min before opening and hung out. Undesirable re-route that avoids Oracle ridge and instead plunges you down a very steep and loose Red Ridge then straight back up again. Met trail crew working on the route and they said they hadn’t gotten a positive review yet. Passed High Jinks Ranch. Feet felt fine until end of the day. Developing a cough, producing gnarly green phlegm- scared. Stopped at 9:50P. Saw a star link launch.
4/17/25, day 5. 47.7 miles, 5416’ of ascent, AZT mile 212.9 to 260.6.
First 1/4 of day was my fav style of open landscape, undulating. Rest of day I felt bored. Sweet new AZT rain catchment. End of day very windy on final climb towards the Gila. Biggest ocotillo I had ever seen during climb. Fox? Something cute in the night. IBs midday and PM. Feet are what get tired/ beat. Cough progressive.
4/18/25, day 6. 46.9 miles, 6278’ of ascent, AZT mile 260.6 to 307.5.
Scared of getting Noro from Pinal County Maintenance spigot or Gila. Took 4L from the Florence-Kelvin resupply box to get to the rainwater collector. Got lucky it wasn’t crazy hot along the Gila. Javelinas. Love the section of trail as you leave the Gila- well graded, slow long climb is my jam. 3 big horn. Police car with lights going and using megaphone to search for people at Picketpost TH. Clouds gathering all day. Started to rain right as I was done for the night, set up the tarp the first and only time. Rained hard.
4/19/25, day 7. 39.5 miles, 8091’ of ascent, AZT mile 307.5 to 347.
Coughing my brains out all day. Couldn’t eat and walk because I would get a coughing fit and legit scared of aspirating on trail mix. Coughed so hard I vomited. Then did a snot rocket to clear the ingesta from my nostrils and got a bloody nose. Oddly enough, in a great mood, jammed out to music on the climb into the Superstitions. Mood deteriorated as the vert and rocks accumulated. Feet felt destroyed by end of day. Roosevelt Lake. Left foot flexors started to hurt. Stopped early to not do the big climb away from Roosevelt Lake, needed a mental reset.
4/20/25, day 8. 43.1 miles, 8989’ of ascent, AZT mile 347 to 390.1.
Realized there was a water cache at Mills Ridge TH and carried less water than I assumed I would need to the night before. Cache had a cooler with frozen milk jugs and cold soda. Bliss. Loved the climb up into Four Peaks. Lovely trail, open vistas, manzanita. Cruisy. Having fun. Foot flexors feeling good.
4/21/25, day 9. 41.7 miles, 8816’ of ascent, AZT mile 390.1 to 431.8
Coughing less but still having hard core episodes. First part of the day was glorious but I toiled along very slow because I was tired- should have used caffeine (haven’t utilized caffeine yet besides the water cache soda). Tried to make up miles in the PM but the trail got super rocky and I got frustrated trying to move quickly. Super dooper rocky. Saw 5 AZT hikers. Enjoyed the Mazatals besides what the rocks did to my feet. Hiked until 11 and still didn’t get the miles I wanted. Excited for it to get flatter. KT tape for extensors seems to help. Had to take a few breaks because I just couldn’t get enough air, feels like my lungs can only get 30% in compared to normal. But it wasn’t like that all day and I think my cough is improving.
4/22/25, day 10. 45.7 miles, 7420’ of ascent. AZT mile 431.8 to 477.5.
Barely slept, coughing out my lungs. Would love some cough suppressants. Hiking at 4:30. Long slow down to the Verde River. So many rocks. Over the rocks. Painful and slow going until out of the Mazatals. Pine, new shoes!. Then the trail got sweet. Took all my effort to stay awake in the evening and then sort of woke up at 9:30. Made my miles finally. Heel blisters looking gnarly, hoping they don’t get infected. Fell hard and just laid there contemplating taking a small nap prior to getting up. Right quad will be bruised.
4/23/25, day 11. 47.6 miles, 5274’ of ascent. AZT mile 477.5 to 525.1.
Slept a bit better last night. Still coughing up chunks. Hard time getting a good pace all day, caught myself moseying constantly. Did math for pace needed to finish. Left extensors progressively painful starting mid-day, not sure if I should panic about it yet, stopped early at 10:20 because of it. Saw 2 large herds of elk. Lots of AZT hikers, mostly passing them in AM or PM when they are pitched up. My voice is GONE, couldn’t say hi if I wanted to from being sick and from mouth breathing dry air I guess. Oddly not very hungry.
4/24/25, day 12. 48 miles, 2896’ of ascent. AZT mile 525.1 to 573.1.
Slept well, warm. Feet aching as I went to sleep. Monotonous trail. Got into a walking sort of meditation between 2-6PM, really zoned out, it was sweet. 3 AZT thru hikers cruised past me. I am moving slow, playing the time on my feet game. Extensors good all day. Woohoo! Heel blisters not great. Started using caffeine, damn that shits good. Should have utilized it sooner.
4/25/25, day 13. 40.5 miles, 4379’ of ascent. AZT mile 573.1 to 613.6.
Didn’t do the Walnut Canyon route in 2021 so new tread was cool. Conoco gas station. Super windy and cold ascent up the side of Humphrey’s. Gradual increase in left lower leg pain. Stopped early, very sad about my leg, not sure I can finish.
4/26/25, day 14. 47.9 miles, 1653’ of ascent. AZT mile 613.6 to 661.5.
Slept amazing despite crazy wind and being camped among window makers (bad choice but didn’t care in the moment). Started at 3:30. Moved slow for my leg. Felt well rested all day. Leg good until mile 30, last 18 miles were rough. Lots of breaks, stretching. Right IT feeling the increased stress of an uneven gait. Hopeful but not convinced I can finish. Beautiful trail all day, would have been fun to go fast.
4/27/25, day 15. 47.9 miles, 3314’ of ascent. AZT mile 661.5 to 709.4.
Smooth AM miles. Leg started to hurt, swollen. Decided to quit, don’t want to cause serious injury and don’t want to be a liability in the GC. Cried for the first and only time. Called friends. Thought about regrets (of pushing vs quitting). Kept hiking. Most emotional day. Grand Canyon village. Light snow on the south rim. Headed down into the canyon, damn the canyon is cool.
4/28/25, day 16. 42.6 miles, 9612’ of ascent. AZT mile 709.4 to 752.
Dirt naps in the GC. Love me a long slow uphill slog. Had hoped to dirt nap my way to the end but couldn’t take another single step and passed out on an uphill grade in the middle of the trail at 10P. Cold all day. Had thought the trail would be chill after the GC but it was quite muddy with even some persisting snow fields, bummed by the effort needed to deal with both.
4/29/25, day 17. 45.5 miles, 2326’ of ascent. AZT mile 752 to 797.5.
Hiking at midnight. Just gotta get it done. So cold. Chest water bottle froze while hiking. Quit filtering water, who cares at this point. Snowed mid-day lightly. Last 10 miles took FOREVER. Last switchbacks took longer than forever. Met Goodiebag also finishing AZT today. He charged and I reflected on my fatigue. Constant motivational imagery of pizza, shower (and Vimal and my mom of course). Made it. Couldn’t muster the strength or balance confidence to get on the monument. Thank gawd its over. Finished at 6:29PM AZ time.
Final thoughts:
I have wanted to attempt an FKT for a long time which has always felt like the 6th grade 4’ tall version of myself saying I want to be a pro basketball player. I am not a fast hiker. I never felt like I looked like a person who could do an FKT. Which shouldn’t matter, but it did to me. It took the support of fellow lady hikers to convince me I had what it took. And it took this AZT hike for me to believe I could. That being said, in this moment- never again. But what if I hadn’t gotten sick?… what am I really capable of? No, nope, not again.
Total time: 17d, 12hr, 27 min.