In a wash near some old ranch ruins.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.958475,-110.978517(I+Am+Here+Tuesday+April+12+2016+06:25+PM)&iwloc=A&z=11
Walked steadily all day to cover a lot of ground because the weather was still cool. Partly cloudy, a few drizzles, and only a couple hours late afternoon warm enough to seek shade, and even then not sweaty warm. We could still see Mt Lemmon this morning and the top ~1000 feet still had snow from the Sunday storm. Forecast is for 10 degrees warmer the next couple days. We are in a 3-4 day stretch of ~4000' desert landscape with limited shade and limited water, and we are over-the-top lucky to have 55-70 degree weather for this chunk.
Easy walking all day in low gentle hills. Same habitat as past couple days. Horned Toads and one more (quiet) rattlesnake.
We saw a pair of Harris's Hawks late today. A very beautiful bird with restricted range that we have only seen a few times previously. Yippee.
Birds are abundant and chirpy chattery all day long.
We met one easy-bound thru-hiker on the Grand Enchantment Trail, a route that is concurrent with ours for a couple dozen miles. It's not an official trail like the AZT, and he said it's been tough and trashy in many parts. AZT is a National Scenic a Trail.
This is an inhospitable landscape. Water is very scarce, nearly all plants are thorny, and the rocks tend to be sharp. The three best seats in the past 48 hours were (other than fences and roads and one power line) the only man-made structures we've seen -- the gas pipeline platform yesterday lunch; the concrete base to a water tank yesterday dinner, and the animal-proof cache box at a trailhead today lunch. That cache of water, provided by a the local hiking club, was the only water in this 30 mile stretch. Great water and a terrific seat for lunch.
Tomorrow we will reach the Gila River. We may hitch to Kearny for a hot meal, or we may have pizza delivered to the a Trailhead! Bravo for the Kearny pizzeria for delivering pizza to hikers.
We are healthy, happy, and have very tired feet. Funny how we don't get sore muscles, but a full day of walking gives us foot-aches. History says they'll feel fine in the morning.
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