Kearny to Mt. Lemmon Archives - Yeti Hikes

Arizona Trail Day 34: Pusch Ridge Wilderness

Yeti — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 20:20:03 +0000

19.6 miles
621.1 AZT mile marker

We all slept horribly last night due to the incessant light. Even though I had my improvised mask on, it was as if my body knew it was light out and rebelled against sleep. I tossed and turned all night. I did get sleep, but when I got up for the morning, my eyes didn’t want to open they were so tired. At least we could pack up in the warm and get water and all that. I set off around 7 with it light out, and it wasn’t actually too cold out, relatively speaking.

I started off down the road, leaving town. The road quickly turned into a path through a solid rock gulch with flowing water which I was not expecting, and made for a good road walk. At the trailhead I got back on trail for the rest of the day. The trail climbed another gulch along more running water. Great scenery and so different with there being so much water around.

Towards the top of the climb, the landscape changed to large white boulders littering the landscape. There were several large ridges with huge shear rocky outcrops on them, and once I got to the top I was also surrounded by many hoodoos with the large boulders. It was incredibly scenic, and I took my first break for the day early because it seemed like my pace was pretty good for the miles I had planned for the day.

I wandered on through the rocky wonderland that was the south side of this mountain. It was completely different than the other side of the mountain that I climbed yesterday. And there was constantly running water everywhere. I didn’t carry more than a liter for the morning. So different than the rest of this trail.

There were tons of great campsites around which I could have used yesterday if I had decided to continue on, but hindsight, and it still would have been chilly.

I ran into Kevin, and we took a break at a scenic spot where I dried out my tent and took an early lunch. It was just so scenic that I wasn’t moving forward quickly; it seemed a shame to.

Just after our break spot, there was an even better overlook with views of mountains to the south, and Tucson sprawling in the background in a flat plain.

The trail got rocky as I started my long descent, undoing my climbing from yesterday. More of the same spectacular terrain, and as I descended the vegetation went through a gradual transformation from mountain ponderosa through juniper and back to saguaro at the lower elevations. I really can’t say enough or explain the scenery today. Perhaps it was due to passing through some far more bland areas of this trail, but this had to have been the best scenery of the trail yet.

When I had slowly descended most of the way, I grabbed water from a stream for the rest of the day and night. It sounded like there wasn’t a great water source for the rest of the day.

I had to do some climbing late in the day at the peak of the temperatures and with the sun bearing down. I just took a slow and steady pace that would get me to camp around sunset. I got through the climb carrying my water load, and immediately saw some more water that was an unmarked large source… Oh well, better safe than sorry.

Through another basin surrounded by jagged peaks with even more different great scenery before I crested another ridge and headed down to a forest service campsite where I planned to meet Kevin and Hiep. There wasn’t much for camping immediately before it, so we had to do with the extra noise and people.

I grabbed a sight right around sunset and the others caught up about an hour later.

I can’t say enough about the fantastic scenery today. It seemed surreal at times and took me totally by surprise. It was so amazing to have this dramatic change after some flatter desert.

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Arizona Trail Day 33: Mt. Lemmon

Yeti — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 20:20:03 +0000

13 miles
601.5 AZT mile marker

My camp on the road worked and no one tried to get by in the night. It was a cold night and my tent was completely frosted over in the morning, inside and out. Nothing I can do about that now, so I just rolled up the frozen tent and shoved it in my pack.

It was less than a mile to High Jinks Ranch where I was going to pick up a resupply package and get some water. I tried to arrange an early pickup time with them last night but I didn’t get a response. I arrived around 7 and rang the bell and no one answered. I had the barest glimmer of occasional cell signal and it was really hard to get a call to connect. I stood outside the gate of the ranch for an hour alternating ringing the bell and trying to call before a call finally went through and my package came out. I was upset about the delay, but there was nothing I could do about it, and I still had plenty of time for my hiking today. I got a new pair of shoes as my old pair was getting quite flat after 33 days of use and almost 600 miles.

The trail today was a big climb up to Mt. Lemmon. It was a climb of about 3,000 feet, but there were also some descents and additional climbing in there.

The trail alternated between 4×4 tracks and trail, but regardless a lot of it was pretty steep. The trail pretty much went straight up a spine of the mountain, then followed a ridge as it further climbed.

It was a great change of pace to get above the desert plain below, and it was quickly disappearing in the distance as I ascended.

The rock of the mountain was pretty cool. A lot of it was white, and there was even a section of pure white marble. Some was freshly broken from making a road and it seemed like the whitest white possible.

The surrounding mountainous landscape was great, and the different ridges of the mountain even looked unique. One ridge was almost pure rock in contrast to the mixed forest on the other ridges.

I was trying to get up the mountain quickly to get to a pizza place on top before it closed, but after 4,000 feet of cumulative climbing I had to take a break for a few minutes. That gave me the energy to knock out the rest of the climb and I had 5,000 feet total ascent when I finally made it to the top.

I was greeted by a biker who had just biked up the mountain from Tucson. She was laying spread eagle on the pavement. I’m sure it was a tough climb. She offered me a coke and cookies, and I took just a coke to save room for pizza.

I ran into Hiep heading to the pizza place and we stopped to charge our stuff at the general store. Moving onto the pizza place, I got an overpriced 16” pizza for myself and devoured it easily. They also had head size cookies which they are famous for, but the pizza was enough for me.

There aren’t good lodging options on Mt. Lemmon and it was supposed to be in the 20s that night. We decided to set up camp inside the Post Office which allows hikers to stay overnight. Kevin showed up as we were setting up and he joined as well.

The only downside to the heated Post Office was that the lights can’t be turned off, so we had to try to sleep under those. I tied my thermals around my head to see if I could get to sleep.

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Arizona Trail Day 32: Oracle State Park

Yeti — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 20:20:03 +0000

25.5 miles
588.5 AZT mile marker

Only one pack of coyotes howled in the far distance last night. It sprinkled a couple times during the night, just enough to get everything damp. Tons of condensation inside my tent too. I’ve never had such a hard time keeping things dry inside of my tent as this trip.

I was camped next to a large wash and crossed it and climbed up to a ridge first thing. I could once again see some mountain ridges around me; I appear to have escaped the dead flat desert. It is still the same Sonoran Desert with the same vegetation, but it is nice to have some character in the land.

I traversed the ridge and refilled my water at a tank a few miles in. It was another huge tank and you had to climb a ladder and dip from the top of it. Looking at the trail ahead it didn’t look like there was any water for the rest of the day besides caches which I wouldn’t rely on, so I got 6 liters of water for the day and night. A little more than I thought I’d use especially since the day was slightly cloudy, but better safe than sorry with water out here.

The day went in fits and spurts. At times I was flying down the trail, and other times it seemed like I was going at a snail’s pace for no apparent reason. I bumped into a GET hiker who had heard about me and pumped me for questions about the Hayduke trail. He was carrying a full acoustic guitar in a case over his shoulder in addition to his pack.

I met Hiep a couple times as we leap frogged. He was heading directly through Oracle and would probably get ahead of me. We said goodbye since it’s possible it’s the last time this time.

It was winding around rolling hills and small ridges all day today. I crossed several roads into Oracle, but there was nothing for me there so I kept on walking.

I have a resupply package tomorrow that I mailed to a ranch. You have to give them a heads up the day before to confirm they will be around to pick up the package. Towards the end of the day, I couldn’t find any campsites at all. There were a couple washes I could have camped in, though I really try to avoid them, but the washes didn’t have cell signal. I needed to coordinate with the ranch and have a place to camp.

I ended up hiking miles longer than I had planned to just looking for a campsite. There was literally nothing which was surprising. Normally there are campsites quite regularly along this trail.

I hiked until after 6, which was after dark. Finding nothing, I eventually ended up camping directly on a 4×4 track. It looks like it is not regularly used so it should be fine but I’m definitely blocking the road. Seems like it will be a colder night tonight, but I got my gear dry during the day so it should be fine. I’m camped at the foot of Mt. Lemmon which I will climb tomorrow. Been walking towards it for a couple days.

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Arizona Trail Day 31: Sonoran Desert

Yeti — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:20:03 +0000

20.5 miles
563 AZT mile marker

I was woken three times last night by a pack of coyotes breaking out in a howling/barking session. They weren’t far off, but I didn’t expect they would bother me. The last session was just before dawn so I got an earlier start than usual at sunrise.

I continued across the Sonoran Desert today, and the trail was largely flat scrub for the first half of the day. There wasn’t really much of note. Just something that has to be crossed as part of walking across the state. It wasn’t good or bad, it just was.

I bumped into Kevin early on at a cow pond with water that wasn’t too cloudy despite the cow shit in it. It filtered decently. I cut a corner off trail leaving the pond, and I think I passed Kevin by doing that.

It got warm again, but there was some wind today so it wasn’t that big of a deal. The miles just flew right by since they were flat and easy.

Half way through the day, the landscape woke up slightly and there was a little elevation change and I passed a mountain, but nothing too exciting. I saw a mule deer sprint away from me at one point but was stymied by a cow fence that it had to really work to get around.

I took a good break at a huge overflowing tank of spring or well water. There clear water being piped into the tank which is pretty rare out here. I traded out some of the dirty cow pond water I had from earlier in the day.

I mentioned that I was going to do lower miles, but looking at the trail ahead, I pretty much have to average 20 miles per day for the next week to deal with some logistical difficulties on the trail. Not a big deal, but just a slight change in plans.

I pushed on to just over 20 miles. It was still early in the day, not even 4 and I was thinking about continuing on. However, it was windy and the trail next goes on an exposed ridge. I met some northbounders and they said there wasn’t much for camping ahead, so I stayed low in the shelter of some mesquite trees at a large camping area. I did enough to make my week ahead work just fine, so I just laid in camp and relaxed for the afternoon.

There was a chance of rain this evening, but it looks like it is going to pass. Hiep showed up and is camping here, and Kevin passed through since he has to get to town tomorrow.

Today wasn’t too exciting, but it was somehow just some pleasant easy desert hiking, and I did enjoy it.

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Arizona Trail Day 30: Desert Flats

Yeti — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 20:20:03 +0000

17.9 miles
542.5 AZT mile marker

We were packed up and ready to hit the trail by 7 when the grocery store opened. They have a deli with good fresh made food and we wanted to hit that before going back to the trail. I had 3 bananas and a big breakfast burrito, and I packed out a second burrito for later.

We set ourselves up to hitch and got a ride in about 15 minutes from a local whose ranch was near the trailhead. There was someone in town we could arrange a ride back with, but we both preferred to hitch instead since we figured it would be it would be easy enough and we wouldn’t have to get someone to make a special trip to shuttle us back.

Back on trail, we immediately crossed the Gila River on an old road bridge and the trail then started winding its way through some hills, up and away from the river. This quickly gave views of the mountains and canyons behind us, and the large open pit copper mine near Kearny.

It quickly got warm since it was sunny and I was at low elevation. Not warm enough to matter much, but it’s always a factor out here. I’m in the Sonoran Desert now with little cover.

After some climbing, I met Kevin, another thru-hiker who was taking a break in a small shady spot on top of hill. He gave up his spot and moved on and I replaced him. I’m trying to go slower now and take more breaks to reenergize and remotivate myself o the trail.

After going through initial hills/mountains, the trail settled into flatter terrain. It followed a wash up for a bit where I took to the easy wash walk instead of weaving back and forth across it on the official trail.

There was a spring which was funneled into a barrel where I got my first water. The area was covered in bees, including the spigot for the barrel, and I had to coax the bees off with my hiking pole before I could get my water. I didn’t stick around there long, but took a break in a shady bend of the wash just upstream.

The trail got fairly level and crossed some relatively flat desert for the rest of the day. It was pretty uneventful but pleasant. I leapfrogged with Kevin some, and we ended up walking some 2 track together and talking which helped pass the time.

I got water for the night at a wildlife waterer which was similarly swarming with bees. It seems to be a pattern with water out here, and has been an issue even before today.

I saw a small snake, maybe a baby rattler without its rattle yet. Its tail was striped as if something was supposed to be there but I don’t know if that’s how they develop. That was only my second snake of the trip. I saw one that looked like a coral snake a couple days ago that quickly got off the trail before I could get a picture.

I passed Druide in his tent and continued on with Kevin until the sun was starting to go down and I found a flat enough tent spot. We went 0.2 off trail on the road we were following past a subtle turnoff, but it didn’t take long to backtrack.

I felt much better and more motivated for the hike today which I really needed. I had planned on doing some shorter days, but looking at the trail ahead I realized I have to do 20s for the next week due to the spacing of a town I want to hit and a National Park I have to hike through in a single day. Oh well, it should work out. I’m on track to finish about when I expected, so it should be fine.

There was a good sunset, and the full moon rose opposite the sun at nearly the same instant. The moon was casting shadows and I didn’t need much light. Hopefully it isn’t too bright for sleep.

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