Through The Mazatzal Mountains To Roosevelt Lake

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 After leaving the urban trails around Flagstaff, I mainly hiked through heavily managed ponderosa pine forest, along or near dirt roads that used to be railroad grades for logging trains. Seasonal lakes like Marshall Lake, where I also camped one night, brought some nice visual changes.

Morning At Marshall Lake


This continued until I passed massive Mormon Lake and got closer to the Blue Ridge near Mogollon Rim. Another hiker had told me about a fire closure that required a road walk, but when I reached the area the forest service had expanded the closure and I couldn’t easily go around anymore. 


Too Close For Comfort


A helpful trail angel was onsite and brought the two of us to the small town of Pine where we spent the night. I had planned to stop there anyway as I had sent a resupply package to their small post office.


Always A Good Day!


Shannon, the trail angel, dropped me off at the other end of the closure the next morning (the other hiker decided to stay in town) and I continued my hike with nice views of the Mogollon Rim.


Looking Down From The Rim

…And Up It From Below


The next section turned out to be much tougher than I expected. As I entered the Mazatzal Mountains, the trail became steep, overgrown, washed out and in some places even hard to find.


Mazatzal Wilderness 


My daily mileage dropped significantly and I was even at risk of running out of food. The shorter days didn’t help. I tried hiking after dark, but due to the bad condition of the trail I barely made any progress.


Gorgeous Views Though!


I didn’t meet any other hikers for the next five days. It’s a remote wilderness, but I would have expected somebody out there as the scenery was beautiful and definitely worthwhile visiting. I can’t think of any other time in my life when I was completely alone for that long. What an interesting experience! Thankfully I had intermittent cell coverage to communicate a little with the outside world.


My Only Companion Here


As the days went on I started to ration my food as the trail didn’t get any easier and I could see that I would barely make it to the next resupply stop. 


Glorious Evening 


The trail continued from the Mazatzals to the Four Peaks Wilderness, another rugged area with steep and eroded drop offs. From the ridge I could see immense Roosevelt Lake, where this section would end, but the last 22 miles didn’t have any water sources and so I also had to ration my water during one of the hottest days of my hike, all the while looking down at the lake!


Looks So Close…


At least the scenery improved and in addition to the lake views I could admire the immense cacti that I had been looking forward to see. 


Look, Don’t Touch!


When I had about nine miles left I was down to my last liter and knew I would be dehydrated by the time I reached the lake. That’s when I saw that a trail angel had deposited about eight gallons of fresh and even cold drinking water in a large cooler near an intersection of the trail with a dirt road. What an awesome surprise!


I got to my destination about 5 pm, hiking 18 really tough miles on some oatmeal, three Clif Bars, some honey and a few pieces of chocolate. Luckily the restaurant at Roosevelt Marina was open and I compensated with a large steak sandwich.


Food Never Looked So Good…


I decided right then that it was time for my next zero day.


No Hiking Today


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