Oh my god was it cold! This was definitely the coldest morning of my trip. I'm glad I had my sleeping bag liner to at help keep me a warmer, but the wind howled through the night keeping the temperature near freezing. I had waken periodically throughout the night and would curl up in the fetal position with my head in my sleeping bag to try in an attempt to keep in all the heat I could. In the morning a couple of my toes were numb and I wasn't sure what to make of it. I immediately took down camp in hopes that it would warm me up. It did for the most part, but my toes were still numb and I think my brain was frozen because I wasn't making the best decisions.
I set up my stove in the sunlight where It was a couple of degrees warmer, and started boiling the last of my water which was barely a cup and a half. While the water heated I tried to warm my toes over the flame, which only resulted in a burned sock and disn't really help my toes. I tried doing some jumping jacks and pushups while I waited for the water to heat up which helped a little in my body, but not my feet. When the water was hot enough I even tried dipping my toes in the hot water. I tested it with my finger and it didn't seem too hot, but when I dipped my toes in I had to pull them out quickly a spilled some of the little water I had left. Eventually I could keep them submersed for a few seconds and I was getting back some feeling.
When I looked at the water, after my feet had been in it, there was some weird stuff floating around that grossed me out. I wasn't sure when I would have the chance to get more water, so I dumped some instant coffee in there to and poured it into my water bottle in case I really needed something to drink. My toes were still a bit numb, but I felt better about them, and got ready to get on my bike to ride. I had no cell service and my cyclometer with temperature gage wasn't working, so I don't know what temperature it was. All I can say is that it was damn cold, and the wind wasn't helping. As I started pedaling out of the campground, the cold air and breeze felt like a million little needles piercing my face.
The next portion of the ride was grueling. I had yet to reach the summit of the mountain I'd started climbing the night before. My toes were still numb, and the air was freezing and I had to deal with a cross wind that continued to blow. After a rough hour, I felt somewhat accomplished when I reached the pass at Top-of-the-World, AZ at 4600 ft. The residential town there was actually really gorgeous, and the name suits it well, as I did feel like I was on top of the world...a frigid windy world, but a beautiful world none-the-less.
I wasn't looking forward to the ride downhill to Miami, AZ but I have to say it was pretty easy. The wind blew hard as I shot down the mountain and I tried to keep my feet behind my front panniers to keep them from getting too cold. It helped a little but by then my toes had been numb for about 2 hours, and I was just trying to get somewhere warm. Luckily the sun was shinning bright by now and the world around me was slowly warming up. I came up to a small diner style place just on the edge of town and figured I could use some warmth and food and water.
After filling up on water and getting something warm in my belly I looked for an outdoor store. Walmart was the only thing around and I figured it may be the only place I'd have a chance to get some warm weather clothes. I stopped in and got some wool socks, pocket warmers, some cheap gloves, and some more snacks. My rough morning was over, the feeling in my toes had returned, and the wind had even let up a bit.
The rest of my day seemed to go pretty smooth. I stopped in at a grocery store in Globe and stocked up on more food. Just east of Globe is the San Carlos Apache Reservation. As soon as you enter the reservation you reach the Apache Gold casino. I didn't have any desire to stop so I kept on riding through, but the parking lot looked pretty full. It was sad to see, but the sides of the road through the reservation were riddled with trash and booze bottles. The scenery was beautiful with distant mountains to the north and south as I rode through the rolling desert hills. The reservation is actually quite large, and I didn't expect to be making it through before the end of the day. At one point I stopped at a roadside memorial that caught my eye. I believe it was made in honor of the Apaches that lost their lives fighting in world war II. A few miles further and I was near the center of the reservation, so I stopped at the next town, a place called Peridot.
Peridot was the only town for miles, and I wanted to stop and eat. I made some lunch, and got some ice cream at the gas station. A few young locals started up a conversation with me, and despite their gang-like tattoos and overall demeanor they were actually really nice and interested in what I was doing. In fact, I'd come to find that most people on the reservation were very pleasant to talk to. A lot of the Apaches were sure to identify themselves with pride that they were indeed Apache and that they lived on the reservation. It was also common for them to end the conversation with "God bless," which was unexpected but received as a nice gesture.
The sun started to set as I got outside of Peridot, and I began thinking about finding a camping spot. I didn't expect it to be as cold as the night before, because of the lower elevation, but without a tree in sight I kind of expected wind. I found a trail that lead off of the highway, and I followed it back until there was just the faint sound of the highway in the distance. The area was very open and full of cacti and desert brush, but nothing that stood over 6ft high. The ground was a mixture of white dirt and rocks covering a harder rocky crust just a couple inches below. I swept away some rocks behind a big bush, hoping that the bush would keep me sheltered from the wind, and made a smooth area to set up my tent. The ground was hard, but flat, and the night was bright. The moon was almost full, and shone like a headlight through the net of my tent. I wasn't much bothered by it, and enjoyed looking up at the sky as I fell asleep somewhat early. I was going to work on the blog, but my phone was almost dead so I instead hoped to get an early start on the next day.
Miles: 52 miles
RRD: Lots and lots of booze bottles
-D
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