August 31-September 3, 2011 Pine TH to Allan Lake (about 60 miles, 6,000 feet of climbing)

I call this trip the Blister, gate and sign trip.

First, I had the worst blisters I have ever had on day two, made for a long day three and four.  Second, I had at least 15 cowboy gates to go through.  Do you know how hard these are at the end of a long day?  And lastly it was about signs, missed signs.

This was my first four day hike and it was a workout.  The first day I sweat so much there wasn't a dry spot on me.  When I stopped to set up camp, I put a dry shirt on and was setting up camp in my undies while everything else dried out.  (I know, TMI)

I walked by at least three signs with turn arrows, extending my hike by a couple of miles.  Even with the best technology, if you don't look up and you don't look at the GPS, you can still end up in the wrong place.

This is a wash crossing on the HighLine trail.   Look at the size of the trees that have been piled up.  Good thing it wasn't raining.

This was the start of a rail tunnel they planned through the mountain above the East Verde River.  A lot of work for something that never materialized.  

Remind me how do you miss a sign like this??

My planning on this hike was a little better, I had a couple of water stashes and the water availability was pretty good.  I still ended the hike a bit dehydrated as Eric and Allison can attest to.

This was my first hike that I ran into another hiker doing the AZT.  Of course he passed me like I was standing still.