Wednesday November 15, 6.0km/3.7mi

Santa Rosa Canal at Greene Wash (105.4/1400ft) to Santa Rosa Canal at Joaquin Road (109.1/1380ft) (AZ)

With a planned short day today, we woke up very late and didn’t leave camp until 7:30. We only had about an hour and a half to hike along the canal, before getting picked up to go into Tucson for an urgent dental appointment. One little spot next to the canal was flooded, so that made things interesting for a minute.

The rest of the morning was uneventful, just relaxing hiking along the canal.

We had arranged a ride from a local Trail Angel to come pick us up, and Jake showed up at 10am in his trusty Subaru to give us a ride to Tucson. After an hour in the car, he dropped us off near my dentist and we had a quick lunch at Eegee’s first.

TopShelf went to hang out in a Starbucks for a few hours while I was at the dentist, and we met up at the motel later that afternoon. The dentist appointment was expensive (someday we’ll have national healthcare) and uncomfortable, but it was necessary and I was glad to have it done with.

After the dentist I went next door to Walgreens to pick up the prescriptions they had just given me, and I had a light dinner of applesauce and medications. Ugh.

After dinner, I passed the time watching TV while waiting for the antibiotics and pain medications to take effect. Eventually I was feeling better, and after catching Stephen Colbert’s monologue, I went to bed in a better mood.

Tuesday November 14, 31.4km/19.7mi

Santa Cruz Flats (89.9/1540ft) to Santa Rosa Canal at Greene Wash (105.4/1400ft) (AZ) +4.2mi on I-10 spur

We were excited to be getting town food today, so we were up pretty early and hiked out by headlamp at 6am. Within a mile we came across a very strange sight, a set of four concrete pads set in a very distinct pattern in the ground. Apparently they are historical satellite calibration targets.

We walked across a sandy playa for about an hour, before we joined up with the main road that heads into the town of Arizona City.

We arrived at Nico’s Mexican restaurant at 8am, and had some amazing breakfast burritos.

From there, it was another hour of road walking through Arizona City up to the interstate where there were some more restaurants.

We stopped at the Love’s truck stop for a couple hours, where I got a shower and we had a meal at Arby’s. It was nice to be in the air conditioning and out of the hot sun for a while. After lunch we hiked out into the afternoon, and it felt pretty warm. On our way out of civilization we passed by this interesting little house with some strange mailboxes. Ha!

We connected with the casa grande Trail Network for a couple miles, it was actually quite scenic.

And then for the rest of the afternoon, we walked along with some dirt ranching roads.

Some of the fields had cotton growing, which was shocking to see since that’s a wet climate crop.

Thankfully the clouds had built up throughout the day, and kept us shady and cool on the long road walk.

For the last hour of the day, we hiked along the Santa Rosa canal, which is part of the controversial CAP (Central Arizona Project).

It was neat to get to view a civil engineering marvel up close, but also it was sad to see so much water being wasted in the desert.

After watching a pretty impressive sunset, we started looking for a place to camp and eventually found one amongst some creosote bushes.

Even with 3 hours worth of stops today in various restaurants and shops, we still managed to cover almost a full day’s worth of mileage!

Monday November 13, 35.6km/22.1mi

Base of West Silver Bell Mountain (67.8/1980ft) to Santa Cruz Flats (89.9/1540ft) (AZ)

It was surprisingly windy last night, so neither of us slept very well with the random errant gusts of wind that would occasionally try to flatten our tents. But we were still hiking by 6:15am, across a flat desert plain.

I don’t like that there isn’t much daylight this time of year, but it is amazing to get to watch the sunrise every single morning.

Eventually the day got pretty hot, and we walked on various old dirt roads and some cross-country terrain.

After a slight climb up into the Sawtooth mountains, we re-entered the Saguaro elevation. They were everywhere!

There was a very short and very steep climb over the top of a little pass, from where we had pretty good views down to our next valley.

The trail passed between a couple of rocky cliffs, which radiated the heat back onto us and it was very hot.

From the top of the climb, we also had a cool view down to this little rocky butte.

After a short but steep descent we stopped at our only water source for the rest of the day, and unfortunately it looked a little green. It filtered clear, but I felt bad for my poor filter. After our break at the water source, we had a fun little cross country section to do which involved scrambling up and over another little pass.

The Sawtooth mountains are very rugged! The xc section was only a mile long, but it took almost an hour, so I was glad to be back on an easy flat hiking surface again.

We continued for a couple hours on another old road, until we got to a place where we could legally camp. Of course we hiked right until dark, so I got to watch another sunset. There were some clouds that had moved in today, so the sunset looked especially unique.

We walked for a mile along some farm fields, where they were strangely burning the brush. Seems like an awfully dangerous and pollute-y way just to remove some brush.

The view back south to the Sawtooth mountains, which we had just climbed over.

Once we entered state land, we started looking for camping spots.

A little after sunset, the sky turned ridiculously deep red, and I just stared at it for a minute.

A few minutes later we found a place to camp, just as it was getting really dark. Perfect!

Sunday November 12, 35.2km/21.9mi

Below Silver Bell Peak (46.2/2250ft) to Base of West Silver Bell Mountain (67.8/1980ft) (AZ) +0.25mi Silverbell #2 Guzzler

With less than 11 hours of daylight each day, we are starting and ending in the dark. The positive side is that we get to see the sunrise and sunset every day.

After 10 minutes, we turned off our headlamps and walked in a little wash.

This section the trail is heading almost due west, so we got to see the east faces of the peaks light up in sunrise orange.

After an hour we came to our first water source for the day, the Silverbell guzzler #1. As usual, camping is prohibited near the water sources, so hikers don’t scare away wildlife.

There were two tanks at this guzzler, and the first one was dry.

Fortunately the second one had about three inches of water in the bottom, but it also had some skeletal remains of a small critter.

After filtering a couple liters of water, we hiked on a cross country section for an hour. We met up to another small dirt road, where there was an ancient dilapidated windmill.

The temperatures got pretty warm as the morning went on, but fortunately it was flat easy walking.

We also had really good views of Ragged Top peak.

Just before lunch there was some really enjoyable hiking in a wash, and it was a really nice wash without soft sand or any brush.

During our lunch stop I was remarking on how we hadn’t seen any snakes yet on this hike. And a few minutes after we left from lunch I spotted my first snake on the WTH. It was just a tiny snake, maybe only 1.5ft / 50cm long.

We followed a perfectly straight dirt road all afternoon, and it got pretty hot. I could see the west of Silverbell mountains all afternoon. They were our objective for the end of the day.

Towards the end of the day we were on a 2 mile long xc section, when I came across a bunch of trash in a wash. Taking a closer look, I realized it was a bunch of discarded stuff from migrants… Backpacks, water bottles, batteries, coins.

Our next water source was really good, and the tank (in this case a tractor tire) was full of pretty clear water.

There was another water source in only a mile, but it’s hard to be certain it would contain water. We got to that water source, Silverbell mountains guzzler #2, it only had a little bit of water. But it also had a really cool mural painted on the concrete apron.

We hiked for another 30 minutes after the last water source to find a spot to camp.

As usual, the sunset was pretty epic.

It was a little tricky to find a flat spot, but eventually we succeeded and set up our tents just after dark.

Saturday November 11, 34.1km/21.2mi

Near Indio Tank (25.0/2410ft) to Below Silver Bell Peak (46.2/2250ft) (AZ)

We departed camp together, since this is a short xc section, and routefinding is easier with two people. Within 10 minutes we arrived at a water source.

This one wasn’t listed on the map, and it looked pretty new, so I made a note on my GPS. The sky was becoming a deep pink color, and it was a warm morning.

After spending the last two weeks walking by thousands of Saguaro cacti, I thought I had seen every unusual shape. But this was a new one!

Pretty soon, the sun rose and the temperature warmed. It was a perfect morning for a stroll thru the desert. After a couple hours of hiking, we came to our first solar well for the day.

It had plenty of clear water, so we filled up, not knowing if the next source would be dry. We hiked along, and a mile later, there was another solar well.

And then we passed another, and another. In two hours of hiking, we passed 6 more solar wells. It was very strange, since these aren’t cheap or easy to build, and they don’t seem to serve any purpose. But it was nice to have lots of water options! We hiked by two little mountains called “dos titos”, what a ridiculous name.

Just after we stopped for lunch, we saw a procession of jeeps and ATVs in the middle of nowhere. They seemed to be in a hurry, and we waved to them as they drove by.

After lunch we started the long gradual climb up to the summit of Waterman Peak.

Eventually, the climb shifted from gradual to steep, on an old road blasted into the side of the mountain.

We took a long break at a guzzler halfway up the mountain, refilling our water bottles and enjoying the shade.

The water was very green, but I grabbed some anyway, in case the next source was dry. Afterwards, we hiked the little road until it ended, and then went xc up a rocky ridge of the mountain. It was so fun!

Within 20 minutes, we were on top of the peak. What great views to the east !

And to the north, there was a giant mine.

Near the summit, there was also a memorial to an air rescue pilot.

We spent the next hour hiking down the mountain, and soon arrived at a historic missile silo site.

It was built in the 1960s, and dismantled in 1987. Strange place! An hour later, we saw something even more strange, an abandoned boat in a wash.

Somebody had clearly intentionally abandoned the boat there, since they had scraped off all of the registration numbers. Jerks. We hiked onto our next water source which was guarded by two bulls. So I reached my hand through a hole in the fence, to get water out of the tank.

We continued on another couple of miles to a campsite along an old abandoned dirt road. Hiking west into the sunset was pretty spectacular.

As usual, we set up camp in the growing darkness and used our headlamps to do all of our camp chores.

Friday November 10, 34.6km/21.5mi

Wasson Peak Saddle (3.5/3860ft) to Near Indio Tank (25.0/2410ft) (AZ)

We left camp at 6:15am with headlamps, and after 5 minutes I was able to turn it off and get a photo of the orange glow in the eastern sky.

I finished climbing up to the top of the pass, and then the sun rose over the Santa Catalina mountains.

I traversed the ridge just below Wasson Peak, where I had an excellent view of the entire valley below. It was a nice preview of the rest of the day!

It was a little chilly in the shade, but I could see that the sunlight was coming soon.

It was really cool to watch the shadows recede from the mountaintops in front of me.

We descended off the ridge, and then began a short cross-country (xc) section. It was a simple route, with easy navigation aided by some well-located washes. This Saguaro had fallen over like a tree, and we gently stepped over it to avoid any remaining spines.

Easy wash walking.

We walked a paved road for a mile, which led us to the Saguaro National park visitor center. I was surprised to see this license plate…from Minnesota.

We took a break and refilled our water bottles, watched all the tourists dressed in jeans and other inappropriate clothing for the desert. We left the busy visitor center, and had a nice quiet couple of hours walking on a wide paved road. There were almost no cars!

Eventually the road ended, and we turned into the Ironwood Forest National Monument. Lunchtime!

We sat and ate lunch in the minimal shade cast by two signs near the entrance. It wasn’t that hot, but being in the sun all day is tiring. After lunch we followed an old disused dirt road for the rest of the afternoon.

I expected this water source to be dry, but it was full! And it barely even tasted like cows.

As we walked down the road, we noticed all the ants around here have piles of grass seed husks surrounding their anthills. Neat!

As the afternoon wore on, the road became smaller and smaller.

It was fascinating to see Saguaro cacti growing right next to Ironwood trees. It happened so frequently that I began to suspect some sort of symbiotic relationship.

Our last water source for the day was a guzzler, which collects rainwater during the wetter monsoon seasons and stores it. It was great!

At the very end of the day, we came across a random cellphone on the ground. It had clearly been there for at least a year. Weird.

A few minutes later, we came across more stuff on the ground, like backpacks, waterbottles, and chargers. And then I realized, these are all things discarded or lost by migrants. Hmm…

We walked a few more minutes, and then it started getting dark so we setup camp.

Thursday November 9, 17.7km/11.0mi

Sweetwater TH (0.0/2800ft) to Wasson Peak Saddle (3.5/3860ft) (AZ) + 7.5 Connector to WTH

After a busy but restful zero day yesterday, we slept in a bit at the motel. I spent most of the morning doing tasks on my phone, eating, and packing up. We checked out at 11am and walked over to the donut shop nearby, which was surprisingly good.

After spending an hour eating and arranging some final plans, we started hiking at 12:30. The first hour was on roads, leaving town.

Pretty soon we were on a dirt road with no traffic, which was nice. It was finally quiet.

The road ended, and we were at the boundary of Saguaro National Park, at the Belmont Trailhead.

We hiked along a series of trails all afternoon, never seeing a single person. We stopped and investigated the only water source for today, which was dry.

Unsurprisingly, there were Saguaro cacti everywhere. This national park is aptly named.

The temperatures were relatively cool, only 77F/25C, and with the slight breeze it was perfect weather.

Eventually we began to climb up to Wasson Peak, gaining a few thousand feet in elevation.

At 5:30pm, we found ourselves at a saddle near the peak, watching the sunset.

After discussing where to camp, we decided to go into State land nearby, as camping isn’t allowed in the National Park. First day on the WTH complete!

Wednesday November 8, 0.0km/0.0mi

We took a zero day today in Tucson. It was our first zero day of the trail, and much needed. First, there were some supplies to buy for our next trail, the WTH (“Winter Thru-Hike.” It traverses the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of Arizona and California for 800-ish miles.)

After some shopping, I had to go to the dentist for a chipped tooth…ugh. I had an evaluation and x-ray, and have to somehow get back here next week. And it’s going to cost a ton of money, ugh.

But on the walk back, I was cheered by some cool metal artwork along the sidewalks.

And after doing my resupply at Fry’s/Kroger, I met up with TopShelf for dinner at a Thai restaurant. Afterwards we had Eegees!

And for a bonus dessert, we walked next door to Culver’s and had frozen custard!

It was an action-packed day and very productive, yet still physically restful. Tomorrow we start hiking the 800+ mile WTH route! Details at this link here.

Tuesday November 7, 37.7km/23.4mi

Lemmon Rock Trail Jct (613.6/7250ft) to Romero Pass (617.5/6050ft) (AZ) + 19.5 AZT Connector to WTH

We left camp at 6:15am, and hiked an hour through the Pusch Ridge Wilderness. We were up at 7,000 ft so the Ponderosa pine forest was back.

The trail was amazing to hike and the ground was not dusty, because of the granite rock type around here.

As we neared Romero Pass, the views started to open up, and we could see down into the Oro Valley.

There’s Tucson way down there somewhere!

We hiked another mile to Romero Pass, and dropped almost a thousand feet in the process.

There were multiple viewpoints along the way, with the valley getting closer each time.

By 9am we had arrived at Romero Pass, and we departed the Arizona Trail. I’ll have to return next year to finish the last 182 miles to the Mexican border.

From Romero Pass, we hiked down Romero Canyon and across the suburbs of Tucson, to connect to the “Winter Thru-Hike” (WTH) route, a creation of Brett “Blisterfree” Tucker.

Halfway down Romero Canyon, we came across a skunk that had met its demise with a predator. Yuck.

As we got lower, the trees disappeared, and the temperature climbed to 90F/32C.

And the Saguaro cacti reappeared!

We exited the canyon and entered Catalina State Park, where we followed a wide dirt track for a mile.

And just like that, we had re-entered civilization.

Since we were so close to an Olive Garden, and it was lunchtime, we decided to eat there. Unlimited salad and breadsticks!

After lunch, we followed the Cañada del Oro bikeway all afternoon.

We hiked 8 miles on the bikeway, to Ina Road, where all the motels and chain restaurants are located.

Just before getting to our motel, we stopped at McDonald’s for some cold drinks. It was hot today! We checked-in to our motel, showered, and passed out by 10pm.

Monday November 6, 28.8km/17.9mi

American Flag Hill (595.7/4500ft) to Lemmon Rock Trail Jct (613.6/7250ft) (AZ)

We were awake early, and I started hiking at 6:15. It was nice to get most of the uphill hiking done before it got hot. Within a mile, I saw one of the AZT mileage signs…less than 200 miles to Mexico!

A few minutes later, I stopped to watch the sun rise. The yellow disc moves above the horizon surprisingly quickly at this time of year.

After an hour, I had climbed up to a ridgeline, which I followed for the rest of the morning.

I had a phone signal up here, and I saw a message from TopShelf…”I left one hour late, meet you at the top”. So I hiked the rest of the morning by myself. I made a quick stop to get more water, which involved a climb up a ladder.

A little while later, Zackwards caught up to me and passed me. He definitely seemed excited to get to the top!

As I climbed higher, I could see the Oro valley below me to the west.

It was a pretty pleasant hike up the ridge, and I enjoyed the flatter sections.

By late morning, Mt Lemmon was really close! There is a little town on the top, SummerHaven, so I kept hiking, aiming to arrive in time for lunch.

There were a couple short steep sections, so I didn’t arrive until 12:30, and I was pretty hungry.

The first stop was the general store, to get my package (maps for the next trail), and a cold gatorade. They also had lots of homemade fudge, and they give free samples to hikers. I chose the prickly pear flavor. Yum.

The next stop was down the street, at the Cookie Cabin. It’s a famous spot for huge homemade cookies and also pizza slices. I got both!

Of course, I had to get my cookie topped with a scoop of ice cream, and all the toppings. So many calories! After devouring that, I walked up the street to a cafe to meet up with the other hikers, Zackwards, Beer Goddess, and Ali. TopShelf arrived at the exact same time, and we all hung out for awhile. By 3pm people started leaving, and I departed at 3:30 to hike 4 more miles. The first mile was on a quiet deadend road.

The road ended at a trailhead, and then immediately after I entered another wilderness! The Pusch Ridge wilderness.

I followed along in a dry wash for a little while.

And pretty soon the trail climbed up into a ponderosa pine forest.

I reached the top of a small climb, at the Marshall Saddle. The view to the southwest:

From there, it was a quick 30 minutes down to our campsite. I arrived at 5:45, and TopShelf arrived 20 minutes later, along with Zackwards. This is our last night camping on the Arizona Trail! Tomorrow we split off onto another trail, the WTH (Winter Thru Hike).