18.4 miles
639.5 AZT mile marker
I slept much better last night in my tent to make up for the lack of sleep in the Post Office. I woke to frost on my tent and condensation on my sleeping bag yet again, though it didn’t feel that cold out.
Yesterday’s hiking seems to have gotten beyond the ruggedness of Mt. Lemmon, and the trail was much more gentle today. It started on rolling hills walking down a valley before crossing a road and climbing to a minor pass.
Shortly after the pass, I got water at a boxed spring which had a white frog living inside it. It’s always a good sign to see living things in the water you are taking as a sign there is nothing horribly wrong with the water.
Then it was wind swept rolling hills for most of the rest of the day. It was windy out and the wind was blowing the dead grasses around like fields of wheat.
After the first pass today, Mica Mountain loomed ahead. That is the next big climb and where Saguaro National Park starts for us. Throughout the day, the mountain quickly approached.
I got my tent and sleeping bag dried out in the wind and sun at a long lunch break. At least my tent gets wet most nights, but it is easy to get it dry during lunch most days due to the sun and wind. It would be a different story if it wasn’t so sunny here. It would then be a much larger challenge keeping the rest of my gear dry day after day.
As I crossed the last large wash before starting the ascent of Mica, I finally saw 2 javalina briefly foraging on the shore. They bolted quickly when they saw me, and they were actually near another hiker taking a break. She had no idea they were there.
The climb up Mica is a big one at 4,500 feet. We started the climb today and knocked off 1,500 feet of it. Nearly to camp, we came across a great flowing stream to take water from.
We stopped about a mile shorter than we had planned since there were some other hikers ahead of us and they were going to the spot we wanted. We needed to camp near the edge of Saguaro National Park so we can hike across it tomorrow in a single day and not need to deal with permits. It is a windy day, and my campsite with Kevin and Hiep is under trees and mostly sheltered from the wind. Some gusts still hit the tents though, so it will probably be an ear plugs night.
While cooking dinner, the wind knocked over my pot, spilling my water. That left me abit shorter of water than I’d like, but I should be able to make it work tomorrow. There is also the possibility of a seep shortly ahead where I might be able to get a little more water on my way up the mountain tomorrow.
Today was just ok. After the spectacular scenery yesterday, today just couldn’t compete. The mountain we are climbing looks like it could be good though with some great rock features, so I’m looking forward to see what the park has to offer tomorrow. I expect it will be pretty cold tonight.