I woke up to a big storm last night. My tent withstood the withstood buffeting without adjustment though I rearranged things inside a bit. It was cold too. There was sleet or grauple present I rewoke later to toss and turn. I forgot to check out sleeping bags while in Flagstaff. This isn't coming home with me.

I left camp with 6 liters of water after drying out my tent. I also have 1.5 liters if denatured alcohol for my stove. That's a lot for this next stretch but I have some longer cooking requirements on several of my meals. With almost 2 gallons of fluid my pack was heavy and sloshing but there was very little uphill today and it was over first thing. Good views of the mountain as the trail wrapped around it before heading north.

I passed two section hikers camping an hour before I stopped. I don't recall their trail names, maybe one was "No Butt" or â"No, but", but they had some helpful info about conditions. They also knew the two Kiwi hikers I left back at Twin Tanks south of Tucson. In fact they took them to the airport after they left the trail. The long distance community is a small one.

No water since leaving Alfa Fia tank. I'm down to 3 liters which should be enough for breakfast and to hike most or all of the day. The cool temps make a big difference! I've still got about 25 miles before next sure water source though. One of the "iffy" sources coming up better have something in it or I'm going to be thirsty.

OMG! How could I forget the sap! I sat in a huge puddle of sap. I don't know how I didn't see it. I tried scraping it off but it was too much. Good-bye Target track pants. You served me well but I don't want to risk getting my trail name change to "Sticky Bun" or whatever.