May 31, 2021
Miles: 29.8 miles
Steps: 65,871
The wind last night was intense. It must had been 40-50mph all night long. I got almost no sleep from all the noise. At around 3am I almost just decided to pack up and start hiking but I knew packing up would not be easy. I did get a little sleep after that then 5am came before I knew it and didn't want to get up. Then started moving around by 5:30am. By now the wind had died down enough to where I could pack up. I knew that was a bad spot to camp but it was the best I could do in that area.
The morning hike started off on top of the plateau then would go up and down each one. While hiking on top was easy but going up and down was steep. The last climb before Cuba was around 400ft over 0.7 of a miles, basically straight up.
I will say the hard part was exactly enjoyable. At time I was hiking from cairn to cairn along these big rock slabs. The trail had been marked very well the last 50 miles.
I did actually see a snake on trail today, I think only the second one I’ve seen, saw one back in the Gila.
I only had 1 water source for the day which was about 8 miles from camp. It was a nice little piped spring feeding into a trough.
Storm clouds had been building the whole day. I knew it was in my best interested to get to town as it looked like it would storm at any minute.
After 19 miles of hiking I made it to the highway to take me into Cuba. I hiked as fast as I could so I didn’t get caught in the storm.
Made it to town before 3pm and went straight to the laundry mat. Soon as I started washing my clothes the storm finally hit, dodge that by minutes. The locals said they had been under a tornado warning.
Waited out the storm in the laundry mat and when it was down to a sprinkle I made my way over to the grocery store to get some resupplies. Then went across the street for a late lunch/early dinner. The service was long but a good burger. Spent way too much time figuring my game plan for the next few days. Then called home to see what I’ve missed. Then got a few more supplies. Then on the way out of town I stopped by the McDonald’s to upload all my pictures then took the road out of town. Walked until I ran out of day light and set up camp. A fox did jump out of the bushes and scared me.
