Sun-Baked Sabbatical

Took another zero day today. We’re at the lowest elevation of the AZT, and have a couple mountain ranges to climb over before getting up into the northern section of the trail, so we wanted to rest up. In the morning two other hikers, Jiyu and Grant, showed up to stay at the house too. We met these guys around Oracle and have been leapfrogging them the past couple days, so it was fun to chat with them most of the day and rest up. We cleaned our dishes and did the laundry and got ready for an early morning back on the trail.

Today we climbed 16 miles up and over the small Tortilla Mountains range and into the town of Kearny. Just outside of town we got in touch with another trail angel named James who came to pick us up at the trailhead. He took us to his favorite restaurant just before town even though he’d already eaten lunch. He dropped us off at another trail angel’s house who hosts hikers. They weren’t even home this weekend, so we had the place to ourselves. Guess they don’t call Kearny the friendliest town on the AZT for nothing!

Hiked 20 miles today, still through mostly easy terrain. The trail between Oracle and Kearny is pretty boring here, with pretty much the same rolling hills and Sonoran vegetation the whole time, but it is still nice to catch up on miles with the weather finally cooling down from the heat wave. We did see a rattlesnake on the trail though. It was angry, shaking its rattler and bobbing its head side to side. Luckily we were way out of striking distance and we were able to hike around the snake giving it a wide berth. Around sunset we climbed up over a saddle, admiring the beautiful skies, before reaching a wildlife water tank and pitching our tent for the night.

Had a good day today after our nearo in Oracle. We went 18 miles on easy terrain, and for the first time on the trail it rain a little during the day. The cool, wet weather was actually refreshing. And we got in our second night of use with the tent: it has felt much cozier than cowboy camping, and I am finally getting good sleep on the trail!

Woke up feeling revitalized after our luck at the ranch, but still tired from the climb up and over the Santa Catalinas, so we only went a couple miles to a trailhead where we got a ride into Oracle. We got breakfast at a cool spot in town and then went over to the market to restock on food. Then we went to pick up our tent at the post office before spending some time at the town library staying cool and charging up our devices before getting another ride out to the trail.

In the morning we made a quick trip to the market before heading out. It was a tough day… we dropped over a thousand feet in elevation over four miles to the first water source, before climbing a thousand feet back up. Then we descended along a rough jeep road and down into the valley near Oracle. We carried water for most of the day because of the lack of sources along the way, and thunderstorms were breaking off in the distance on both sides of us.

Luckily the day ended with a bit of trail magic. The historic High Jinks Ranch was bought a few years ago by a friend of the trail whole occasionally leaves the basement of the house open to hikers, and when we arrived the place was unlocked. The ranch was built by Buffalo Bill’s right-hand man, and is now a national historic site. The new owner has outfitted the basement with a full bathroom, kitchen, and cots. We even watched Cowboys and Aliens before hitting the hay. All free of charge! It even rained all night to boot.

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.

Packed things up in the hotel and took a Lyft back to Molino Basin, and spent the afternoon climbing over hills to Hutch’s Pool, a true oasis in the desert fitted with huge swimming pools. We rested our feet and filtered some water, but it was buggy and packed with people, so we climbed another mile or two up to a higher and drier place to sleep for the night. Also saw a couple gopher snakes on the trail. They aren’t venomous, but still… creepy!

We took a zero day in Tucson, mostly chilling out in the hotel and catching up on some much-needed sleep. Our place was near the Mexican restaurant we went to last visit with the awesome carne asada tacos, so we went and got those again.

Rose and I have been carrying a lightweight tarp for our shelter in case it rains, but have been cowboy camping the whole trail so far – just laying our air pad and quilt on a groundsheet but with no tent or tarp around us while we sleep. This setup is nice for its simplicity and for looking at the stars, but the trail has been surprisingly buggy and we have been craving the creature comforts of a tent, so we shipped ourselves one to Oracle, a couple of town stops down the list. Hoping this will help me sleep better on the trail.

Dropped in elevation back down to the low hills, past granite outcroppings on Mica’s north face that would make for great rock climbing. I haven’t been sleeping well on trail this stretch or last, and it was 17 miles to Molino Basin where we could get a ride down to Tucson, so we booked it most of the day to get there. We’re nearly through Passage 10 of 43. Got a ride with a fellow thru-hiker picking up her friend who’s also doing the trail this year. In town, we grabbed burgers for dinner and conked out early once back at the hotel.

Woke up late in the Grass Shack campground. Erik and the other guy camping here had left already, and we took our time getting going. It was nice to be up high and out of the heat of the low desert. Climbed a few thousand more feet up to Manning Camp, an old cabin turned Park Service weather station in the piney woods at the top of Mica Mountain. We walked through something like six different biomes in the 15 miles between the floor of the Sonoran Desert and the top of the mountain, and the views were awesome from the top. We worked our way down the other side to the park boundary where we camped in the oak forest. Met Levi, a friendly Albertan, as we were setting up camp.

Woke up in the Colossal Cave campground, in a shady wash surrounded by saguaro cacti. Took off around the hills and down into the low desert Rincon Valley. The saguaros were becoming ever more frequent, and after a few miles, we found a peaceful little flowing stream where we met back up with Erik and met three middle-aged Tucsonan women doing a section of the trail. We chatted and filtered water for a while, and eventually decided to head up further. Huge mistake. It was 10 miles and a couple thousand feet of elevation gain to the first allowed camping in the national park, and we overestimated our energy. At least the sunset and the lights of Tucson below were pretty. Still, we arrived at around 9pm truly exhausted and grumpy.

Got back on the trail early this morning and met Erik from the Netherlands, whom we leapfrogged much of the day. We were feeling strong after our time in town, and between the flat terrain and slow descent most of the day, we hiked around 21 miles. Made it through Las Cienegas (“the swamps”), an unusually wet marshland specific to the Sonoran Desert. We ended up at Colossal Cave where we’d shipped some food, and hung out in the shade of the visitor’s center eating soft serve and drinking lemonade before heading down to the campground for the night.

Spent the last two days at the closest hotel to the trail to let our feet recover, patch our air pad, and catch up on caloric intake. It turned out to be in a retirement RV resort. We were out of place, but it was a nice spot and had pools, hot tubs, a restaurant, and a little market all within walking distance from our room. We did still go to Tucson for gear at REI and to mix it up with the food, including getting some of the best tacos I’ve ever tasted at a local Sonoran-style Mexican joint. Carne asada! I will be dreaming about those tacos in the weeks to come.

The Sonoran Desert has its own species of fly, and we have become a bit too well acquainted with it over the last couple of days. When you’re hiking, they’re following you around. When you’re resting in the shade, they won’t leave you alone. Basically, there is no respite until the sun goes down. And then hopefully there aren’t mosquitoes…

The heat wave is in full effect today. We hiked early through Las Colinas (Passage 5), some low-lying hills with progressively less and less shade, until we felt like things were getting a little dangerous. The siesta schedule is awkward on the trail, and we didn’t want to overdo it with the next few days of literal record-breaking heat, so we decided to get a ride into town and wait it out. Our feet are killing us anyway. A Lyft picked us up in the middle of nowhere at the nearest trailhead, funny enough.

Got up at 4 today to get some miles in before the heat. Hiked into the foothills of the Santa Ritas and the sunrise was beautiful. There’s a lot of trail redirection going on in this area and somehow we got off the track as described in our navigation app, but were definitely on the new established AZT route. Still, it added a couple of miles and we were grumpy about it. After waiting out the midday heat, we did a few too many more miles at dusk and ended up scrounging together a campsite in the brush in the dark. It was pokey. Our air pad popped. Ugh.

Today we got a late start and it was hot. A heat wave starts tomorrow and you can tell. We struggled with the first 5 miles before resting in a shaded wash for a few hours. I was already feeling jaded, and only a week in. At 4 we got back on trail and went another 4 miles to the next creek, feeling much better with the cooler temps.

We woke up feeling strong and pushed out a bunch of miles. We left the Canelo Hills West, crossed the highway, and headed up into the Santa Rita Mountains, the next sky island on the trail. We found a wonderful spot to camp by a creek as it was getting dark.

Decided to head back out today. Rose has been fighting a cold for most of the trip so far, but is thankfully feeling pretty good and rested now. We bought food for the next leg, including a pack of two dozen freshly made flour tortillas. Yum! Grabbed burritos from a food truck and headed back up to the trail in the afternoon. Found a decent place to camp after a few tries. It felt weird being back after a decadent town stop, but that’s how it goes.

Slept 12 hours last night. Our legs are sore as hell, but we got some chores done and planned out the next leg. Went to dinner at the Velvet Elvis, a cool pizza place with a great bartender who served us Bacanora, a liquor somewhere between tequila and mezcal that was outlawed in Sonora for decades.