[Day 23] The Friendliest Town

After a chilly night under the Florence-Kelvin Highway bridge over the Gila River, I was awakened by the horn of an approaching Copper Basin engine. Promptly, I swigged down the remainder of last’s night two liter Pepsi and the remaining slice of pizza. I returned to the Pinal County Maintenance spigot, where hitchhiking was said to be easy. After 45 minutes wait and no traffic, I called Gary, a Kearny local who left his number at the trailhead for rides into town. Within the 15 minutes it took Gary to pick me up, three separate vehicles offered me rides to town.

Gary, a retired bearded resident of Kearny who formerly owned the pizza place in town (now run by his daughter), provides free rides to and from trail in exchange for stories. It’s these real small towns where you commonly find those with passion for the trail and the bizarre creatures that hike it.

After a quick tour of the four businesses on the town strip, Gary dropped me off at the IGA Foodliner — the grocer. They offer hikers a free donut and coffee. I ordered half a dozen.

After breakfast, I picked up my new shoes and light resupply from the post (thanks mom!). I scrounged town for an outlet to charge up my battery banks, covertly plugging in at a front door outlet of the Ace Hardware. This is the limiting reagent for a same-day town exit. Loiter time was going to be about five hours. I finished up resupply at the IGA for my carry to Mt. Lemmon. Throughout vagabonding Kearny, everyone was greeting, offering rides, and asking if I needed anything.

Kearny, population of about 2,000, was built on the basis of the mining and smelting operations. The Ray mine, one of the largest copper reserves in the country, dictates rush hours in town between it’s day and night shifts. Often, mine workers getting off shift hitch hikers into town. Kearny advertises itself as the “friendliest town of the AZT.” It may be the simplest and kindest point of civilization I’ve visited in my 6,000 miles of western foot travels.

I loitered at the pizza place in town, but I wasn’t hungry after breakfast which was chased with a half gallon of chocolate milk. There, I met Swig, a fellow southbound hiker. who was crashing at a trail angel’s house. He invited me to their house to wash my crusty socks — the last critical to-do. He assured me the owners wouldn’t care; they have literally hosted hundreds of AZT hikers. The trails angels themselves were out of town and literally gave the keys to the house to Swig — wild, but that’s Kearny for you.

By the time my sock wash was down, it was 4pm. Time flies in town, I called Gary who happily drove me back to trail.

I made the climb south from Kearny at night. I anticipated ten miles, but pulled up short at eight, curious to see this morning desert view of the Copper Basin. I skipped jy dinner and pitch my cowboy camp behind a bush for a slight wind break.

Signing off,

Zeppelin

“Freak on a Leash”