I figured I would make the most of my weekend and headed up the mountain for some cooler weather. I decided to backpack to Lemmon Pools, but used the wilderness of Rocks Loop to extend the mileage a bit.

On Friday I hit the trail at about 2:30 and worked my way down Lemmon Trail at a leisurely pace. There were no clouds in the sky, but the temperature was perfect in the mid 70s. Before I knew it I was turning onto the Wilderness of Rocks and walking through one of my favorite locations on the mountain. I took my time enjoying the landscape of rocks and wandered off trail a couple times to check out the most interesting formations.

I had never been to Lemmon Pools before and almost missed the turnoff- but fortunately I had loaded GPS coordinates that helped me find where to go. There was already one group of men at the site above the main pools, so I backtracked a bit and found a site that I thought was far enough away from them to enjoy solitude (it wasn't). I set up camp, started a fire & ate dinner while I watched the sunset and the moonrise. As I ate, two more men arrived to join the group of 3 that were camped above the main pool.

Unfortunately, the group above the main falls (which consisted of men who all appeared to be in their 40s) decided not to enjoy the solitude and spent almost the entire night yelling & making noise. I have never encountered loud backpackers before- I always figured anyone who hiked into the wilderness with a pack on was there for solitude. I should have realized when I first came across the group above the pools and heard one exclaim "Who wants some whiskey!?!". I tried to sleep, but was woken up at 10pm, midnight, and even 2am by the group yelling stuff like "LEMMON POOLS!!!!"

I didn't get much sleep, and by 4:30am I was wide awake. I lit a fire, ate breakfast, and slowly cleaned up camp as I waited for the sun to rise. At 6:30 exactly I was back on the trail and headed out, and by 8:10 I was back at the trailhead and headed down the mountain.