We got up early and made the hearty climb up Mt. Lemmon, the third biggest climb on the trail. From one of the false peaks, we descended into the Wilderness of Rocks, a wonderland of pine trees and big, round granite formations reminiscent of the area of Bailey, where we used to live. Finally, we climbed up into the resort town of Summerhaven, where we stopped at the famous Cookie Cabin before walking over to the hotel for the night.

Despite how hard they were, the last two days were our favorite of the trail so far. The scenery ranged from saguaros to craggy low-desert mountains to a straight up oasis with jungles and pools to pine forest to the Wonderland of Rocks to strange scrubby hills to aspen forests. All in 22 miles and 4000 feet of gain.