[Day 19] Roosevelt Lake

I woke up to an excellent view on the desert mountains around Roosevelt Lake. After the morning business, I rolled on through the desert hills to the lake. Fed by the Salt River, Theodore Roosevelt Lake is damed reservoir, the largest body of water entirely (to neglect Lake Powell and Lake Mead on the Nevada border) in the state of Arizona. Completed in 1911, President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated its finish in person. Today, there’s a couple small highway operations north and south of the lake, but the “town” of Roosevelt is not much more than a ranger station, RV park, and a marina.

The Saguaro cactus is an icon of the Sonoran Desert, standing up to 40 to 60 feet tall and having lifespans on the order of 150 years. I came into their presence today as I descended to Roosevelt. The pictures do not do justice as to their size — many of them are ten times my height and large enough in diameter to be unable to hug. But, you wouldn’t want to hug these monoliths with their thousands of thorns.

The dam came into view, and soon enough I was walking the suspension bridge towards civilization. I followed the highway a bit too long and missed my turn off to continue trail, so I followed Highway 188 into Roosevelt.

Per the suggestion of some northbound hikers from my first day on trail, I shipped a box of resupply items ahead to the marina. Resupply was doable in the shop, but ridiculously priced. The extra calories of four Slim Jim’s and five Hershey bars cost me $40.

They had a “hiker shed,” which was a hut with a broken solar power setup and the scraps of past hikers. Miraculously, I found a brand new roll of one inch Gorilla brand duct tape. This good stuff is going to save my disintegrating shoes. Sometimes, things just have a way of working themselves out when hiking a trail. Many people say, “the trail provides.” But, I see it different. I believe things work out whether you are on trail or not, it’s only a matter of situation and position. Today, if you need something, you are likely to get in your car and go purchase the tools or services needed. Back a hundred years ago, when people didn’t have the radical technology of our age and the instant disposal of a mass production economy, the idea of things working out was probably just life. It happened. Today, we see solutions to our critical instances when we don’t have immediate means as happenstance, coincidence, or luck. I don’t know — just a thought.

I slummed around, ate a burger at the marina restaurant, charged up, and fixed my shoes. My battery pack took inexplicably long to charge, so I wasn’t back to hiking my last miles until 6:pm.

Steep dirt road led the way out of Roosevelt. I was going slow, sliding out and turning my ankle often. You lose a good bit of depth perception with a headlamp, often leading to kicking rocks and making poor foot placements. Trail eventually followed a wash with a couple active springs. With trail criss-crossing the dry bed, I chose to follow the rocky wash for a ways, which was big hinderance on pace. But, searching for the trail and cairns equally killed my pace. While hiking the wash, I noticed a pair of eyes glowing from my headlamp when I checked my behind every tenth of a mile or so. Chucking a rock killed the interest of whatever that was. Though, I was able to identify four other animals today — all of them skunks. Minutes before camping, there was squealing and rustling in the plants beside trail. I assumed I was to come upon a javelina youngling. No — it was two skunk fighting.

After my few slow night miles, I made camp at my last water source for the next ten miles. With bugginess from the creek and the fighting skunks, I pitched my tent tonight. The Superstitions start tomorrow, followed by a walk alongside a favorite feature of the southwest — the Gila River — in a few days.

Signing off,

Zeppelin

“Freak on a Leash”