Camped at Gordon Hirabayashi Friday Night and hit the trail early Saturday morning. There were probably 20 - 30 water crossings on this trip (literally water flowing EVERYWHERE - a beautiful sight!!), and at first I tried to avoid wet feet by walking up and down the banks looking for a place to cross. Got to the crossing near Hutch's Pool, where it was knee deep, and had to just suck it up and remove shoes. After that, just got the feet wet to save time. There was a LOT of deadfall all over the trail, and lost it a few times at water crossings, but followed the app to get me back on track. The snow started getting really thick at around mile 178, and although I had footsteps to follow, it was very slow going as the snow was a bit slickery. After Romero Pass, it was a very slow, careful trip for me, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Stopped at the Mt. Lemmon General Store, as well as the Sawmill Run for a burger, beer and fries!

good big loop using catalina highway, soldier trail, the AZT and la milagrosa ridge. perfect day. felt decent for the most part. saw some people here and there.

ended up being a small fire in molino basin the next day. yikes. certainly wasn't from me burning rubber

Day 1: I decided to join Dallin on a portion of his Spring Break AZT dash. We were dropped off at Gabe Zimmerman TH on Saturday a.m. and started the trek at segment #8. It was a sunny, beautiful day. The trail is mostly flat and winds through a scenic desert. Saguaros dominate, Rincon Peak looms and neat geology surrounds. The smell of spring Creosote wafted through the air. Plenty of mountain bikers on this stretch. We breaked at Rincon Creek and enjoyed a brief soak. Heading up and into the mountains we would cross many flowing drainages and even saw a distant waterfall. After some climbing, we both hit a wall and stopped for camp on a rock slab 2 miles short of Grass Shack. Worst campsite ever. We were joined at camp by Anna, a solo backpacker on the 2nd night of her maiden voyage, who we'd been leap frogging in those last 6 miles.

Day 2: We woke up refreshed and determined to make up some milage. We started our climb up Mica Mountain. The ever changing terrain kept me in awe. Unlike anything I'd seen in AZ. The Juniper grasslands gave way to pines. The trail was beautiful and easy to follow. The creek at Grass Shack was flowing good. Temps dropped as we climbed and we didn't see any sunshine all day. Our nutrition / water break at Manning Camp was fairly chilly. We reached the top shortly after and enjoyed the stunning views. We hit a few snow patches on the north face of Mica. Nothing too bad but the slow melt made the trail loose and slick. We made our way down through the oak and manzanita forest before a nice afternoon/evening stroll over the rolling grasslands. Winds were ripping, deer were grazing and we both nearly stepped on a very lethargic baby rattler. After an impressive sunset and 1.5 hours of night hiking, we settled on another lousy camp site, but made it work.

Day 3: Didn't start well at all. I woke up with a screaming IT band and a serious case of pumpkin chaffe with a 25 mile day ahead. I threw an elastic knee brace on and went commando to help combat the chaffe (it helps). Needless to say, it took some warming up before I could move. I limped my way up the pass and down to Molino Basin. Dallin informed me that this was one of my last bail out options, but encouraged me to keep going, so I did. Once we topped out and I saw the views down into Sabino Canyon, my spirits were instantly lifted. I pushed on through the pain and was grateful I did. Wouldn't want to miss this canyon. We made our way back down into Saguaros and a lush riparian zone. The entire canyon and every drainage was raging. Quite a few day hikers and a few backpackers along this stretch. I can see why, Sabino is a showstopper. Despite my ailments, we were cruising along the canyon and making great time. Romero Pass put an end to that. I could barely lift my right leg at this point but we pushed on. Eventually we topped out and down into Wilderness of Rocks. More snow patches in this area. Some icy, but no additional gear is needed, just a careful step. The snow melt fueled good flowing water everywhere. We had about 5 miles left and I was hurting, completely drained and flat out delirious. Spending another night wasn't an option. Temps dropped quickly and darkness fell. We had a couple hours of night hiking with some interesting route finding along snowy creeks. It took some teamwork but we made it out and to our ride after road walking up from Marshall Gulch TH. Temps were already in the mid 30's. Burritos and beverages saved the day. Overall, an amazing and epic trip. We knocked out a good amount of trail with big climbs but I also got my pumpkin handed to me a few times throughout. Well worth it.

Wildflowers
Brittles and poppies mostly. Still too early.

I had to head to our southern Arizona yard on Tuesday, so I ended up camping out Tuesday night in Tucson so I could get a good hike in. I was going to camp right by the trailhead, but there was a whole troop of rednecks there when I pulled in about 7:30 so I kept going. I ended up camping up on Incinerator Ridge, oddly enough I happened upon a nice campsite that I had been at with my wife some 16 years earlier. Pretty chilly up at 8000', there was a good wind going most of the night but I slept pretty well. Got started at the trailhead about 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Everything is really green out here, you can tell the monsoon season has been good to the mountain. The trail is pretty overgrown from the Sycamore Reservoir on, Bear Canyon wasn't too bad, but the 'trail' over to the Thimble is really overgrown. I would strongly recommend having a GPS route if you are going to do this one anytime soon. There was a decent use trail to follow, but the grasses were so grown it it could be hard to find at time. I ended up getting off track quite a few times, but for the most part it is hard to go too far off course. I made it over to the Thimble and scrambled up to the first big rock shelf. I skipped the climb to the very top, it looked doable, but I was a bit dubious being solo and having seen no one on the trails. Awesome views all around for sure. Made it back to the van before one so I could head back in to town for a quick lunch and the usual drive home. Fun hike, I really like the Reservoir area.

Wildflowers
No big shows, but many things in bloom here and there. Grasses of course, Fern Acacaia, a few Penstemons, and Fleabane Daisy

March 24th
Miles: 17.46
AEG: 5,520 ft

We flew through the first couple of miles to X9 Ranch Road, where we left off the last time we got off the AZT in this area.

Back on the AZT!

Soon we reached the Saguaro National Park boundary. Up until this point the wildflowers were sparse and withered, but from here there were plenty of great looking blooms for the next couple of miles. After taking a short break at the Quilter Trail water crossing, we passed our first thru-hiker of the trip and started the long climb to the top of Mica Mountain.

As we climbed the environment slowly transitioned from saguaros and ocotillos, to shrubs and century plants, then oak grasslands, and finally pinion-oak as we rolled into the Grass Shack Campground. Here we met 3 other thru-hikers. One was on her first thru-hike, and the other two (No Trace & Unbreakable) are triple crowners (those who have completed the PCT, AT, and CDT). We stopped to eat lunch and enjoy the company at the campground. It's always fun to pick the brains of triple crowners.

After finishing up lunch, we filled our bottles at the spring and continued on the trail up to Manning Camp. From Grass Shack, the environment transitions to a hearty ponderosa pine forest. At the campground there was one other person staying the night, a section hiker from Canada who had picked up the trail at Grass Shack and was planning on continuing to Superior.

By the time we were going to bed I was feeling pretty crappy. Extremely soar throat and congested. Before starting the trip I was still getting over a chest cold, and apparently I wasn't better yet. We expected it to be very cold at 8000ft, but surprisingly we both kept pretty warm the entire night.

March 25th
Miles: 21.97
AEG: 2,910 ft

Today was our "long day", with minimal AEG. Our goal was to make it to Molino Basin Campground. I woke up feeling slightly better.

After packing up camp and getting some more water at the spring, we headed up the trail for the top of Mica Mountain. Along the way we passed No Trace and Unbreakable again. The pine forest on top of Mica is quite impressive. Once we topped out and started down the other side, views of the basin below and Mt. Lemmon open up. Italian Spring had drinkable water but lots of algae on top.

We started the long descent into the basin below, and then the traverse across the hills to the base of Lemmon. Beautiful grasslands! By now the mistake of wearing newish shoes for this hike had caught up with me and my right foot had been rubbed raw on the back. I tried fixing things up with some mole skin and some bandaids.

Just before the Lake, we caught up to the section hiker from Canada who was going to stop at the next drainage. We stopped with him at the drainage to get some water for the last hump into the campground.

Once we got to the campground we greeted the camp host to get a spot. We asked him if there was any water around, he claimed "there is no water, it's dry out here." We were both surprised a little considering how much water we had seen getting to this point. He kindly offered us a liter each to make it through the night, and gave us a spot which was right next to the AZT. We didn't quite believe him about the water situation, so once we set up camp we dropped into creek bed below the campground and sure enough there were spots that had running water (not even 200 yards away from the camp host, I might add...)


March 26th
Miles: 17.25
AEG: 5,133 ft

I woke up feeling terrible, super congested, coughing up lots of phlegm, and running a small fever. I thought about bailing at the Highway next to the campground, but decided to try a few miles before making the decision. The going was extremely slow, probably less than 2mph.

We reached Shreve Saddle and took a quick break, I popped some Tylenol for the fever. I knew after this point I was going to be committed for some serious uphill either going forward or turning back. I decided to keep going.

We saw lots of people along this stretch going to Hutch's Pool. It was cool to see Saguaros again near the bottom, because at the end of the day we would be back up in the Pines. I'm a sucker for "transition hikes." Once we reached the bottom, we took another break in Sabino Canyon where there was flowing water. This was the point where I was either going to commit all the way to Summerhaven or go back. I nearly turned back here, but there was just too much planning that went into this and I wasn't sure I would be able to come back to finish this up for a long time.

We passed the junction to Hutch's Pool and started the long climb up through the west fork of Sabino Canyon. This place is stunning. With every foot of elevation gain the views got better. The trail itself is graded extremely well so the climbing felt almost effortless. Once again we got to see the transitions from saguaros, to sparse pines on Romero Pass. There were plenty of pools and spots with running water in the canyon.

I was starting to feel a bit better after we took a 30-45 minute break at the pass. It was a good thing too, because this is where the real climbing starts. You aren't graced with very many switch back after this point, it's just straight up. About half way through huffing and puffing, I looked at my Arizona Trail app to see how much further we had to climb and let out a little snicker. My cousin asked "what's up?" and I told him "do you really want to know?", he said "yes", I told him "it gets steeper." We both laughed and continued up the mountain.

After topping out and taking a break, we joined the Wilderness of Rocks trail. This was by far my favorite part of the hike. This is one of those places that feel really special, a feeling of reverence overcame me. We meandered through the beautiful giant boulders and trees, before reaching an awesome spot to camp right next to Lemmon Creek.

By the time we were going to bed I felt great, except for my feet. I used some alcohol wipes, and anti-septic wipes before reapplying a few bandaids.

As we drifted to sleep I heard a series of bangs/explosions in the distance, which culminated into a bunch of bangs/explosions at once. Fireworks in Tucson?

March 27th
Miles: 18.8
AEG: 2,609 ft

We got up excited for a real meal in Summerhaven. It was actually warm enough during the night that I started sweating in my quilt. After eating a quick breakfast and filling our bottles with water out of Lemmon Creek, we started the gradual 1000ft climb to where we would meet the Marshall's Gultch Trail. I was still awe struck by beauty and grandeur of the Wilderness of Rock. We made our way to the paved road we would walk into town on.

After satisfying a soda and candy craving at the General Store, we ate some breakfast at the Sawmill Run restraunt. The manager or owner (not sure which) came out to talk to us and asked if we were on our way to Utah. We told him we were ending this segment in Oracle.

Oracle Ridge was hot. On the way down we met a 3 time triple crowner "One Gallon", who was taking a siesta in the shade of some cedars. We talked with him for about 45 minutes. Another very interesting person.

We reached the American Flag TH about an hour before the sun set.

This now puts us at just over 50% of AZT miles completed, and we have now connected a foot path all the way from the border to Roosevelt. Woo hoo!

Work finished up a bit early, so I thought I would treat myself to another trip up the mountain...got to the Gordon Hiryabashi TH about 2:30 to find it closed. I parked in the small lot right by the road and hiked through the campground to the trail. The first mile or so of the trail are OK, lots of burn evidence with a slow recovery, plus marching thtough a gravelly wash. Once you hit the saddle views open up big time, slowed me down for a while. I also got cell service back so I had to stop and finish up a bit of work...back to the fun! Made my way to the Sycamore reservoir and poked around, lots of water to be found here. Got back on the trail and followed to the end, even did a little bit of the East Fork trail because I could. First time back to this gem since February! Headed back the way I came, saw a white tail about a mile from the TH. It regarded me cooly, let me snap a few photos and then we each went on our way. Dark looming clouds as I was heading back but I just got a few sprinkles. By the time I made it down the Catalina highway I could see where the storm hit below the mountains, fun stuff. Had to stop by IKEA on the way home to get some furniture for the wife, there is an hour of my life I wish was trail time...Great hike, and I got to do it without seeing anyone else, my favorite.

We started at Molino Basin because that is where we ended on a previous day hike from Redington Road on passage 10. I'll add that link for the mileage once I finish the first part of that passage, but it added 2.5 miles to this trip. My hiking partner (Jamie) and I drove down from Phoenix the night before so we could get an early start on Friday since we thought it might be hot in the lower elevations of this passage. Thankfully the weather cooperated by being one of the cooler Memorial Day weekends - and of course the breeze helped too. I remember passage 10 being really windy when we did that one, and this time the wind started off as a gentle breeze but soon got gusty especially near Sycamore Canyon. Jamie was hiking ahead of me and I stopped to take my trekking umbrella down after a gust of wind inverted it (and distracted me on an area of the trail where it drops off on the right side! No bueno - so I stopped to put it away!) Anyway, I was hiking along after that and started heading east for what I thought was too long for a typical switchback, and could not see that the trail went down to where I needed to go. I could not see Jamie anywhere and thought maybe I missed a turn somewhere, so I backtracked a little but didn't see any other trail that would take me where I needed to go. Damn! Stay calm. . . look at your map - OH! It was just a really long switchback above Palisade TJ where I couldn't see the trail below. I felt stupid when I finally caught up to Jamie at the junction and had to explain why it took me so long to get there!

Initially we planned to stop for the night at Hutch's Pool, but since we got an early start we got to Hutch's way too soon to camp. But we did take a much needed long break there to cool off in the water and filter some of that lovely water to take with us. It would have been a great place to camp for the night - another time maybe.

And then the climbing began. . . and the light was starting to fade, so we camped just a couple miles away somewhere along the west fork of the canyon. The temps that night were great for camping, and it was so quiet. A great nights sleep and up early to climb some more, and into passage 12.

I was worried about Romero Pass (especially carrying a backpack), and it was a long climb, but not as bad as I had imagined, and the views. . . the views were so worth it! I loved looking out at the wilderness side (as opposed to looking out toward Tucson) and seeing nothing but wild as far as you can see. It was hazy (maybe from a wildfire north of Sonoita?) but still some great views up there! We took another nice long lunch break in the pines at the top before heading into the Wilderness of the Rocks area. It just kept getting better. I loved all the strange and wonderful rock formations. And now that we were at a higher elevation the temperature was more comfortable than the previous day down in the canyon.

Our next stop was Lemmon Creek. We had originally planned to camp there the second night - but since we got farther the first day, and didn't take as long to hike up Romero Pass. . . we got there too early to stop for the day, but again took a leisurely break to soak our feet in the creek and have a snack. This was one of our favorite places so far on this already spectacular passage. It was so lush and cooling. The ferns, some yellow columbines, the clear creek, a frog, soft pine needles to rest on - what's not to like. By the way, there was plenty of good water all along this section - and we had filtered more water before we got here, but this would have been a really good source. We also started seeing more people as we got up to this area (it was a Saturday on a holiday weekend - so we expected to see more people out, but still there was plenty of solitude the whole trip).

We ended up camping tucked next to some giant rock formation before the Marshall Gulch trail junction, and it was the perfect spot. It was still very windy, and much colder up there, so the rocks made for a nice wind break (but it was a cold nights sleep). That left a very short but sweet hike the next day through the pines and along Marshall Gulch. Really pretty area!

We had left a car at the Oracle Ridge Trailhead - and I guess if I had really done my homework I would have left it at the Marshall Gulch Trailhead instead. I could have done without the road walk up through Summerhaven. But we finished early in the morning and retrieved the other car on the way down the mountain and made our way back to Phoenix. No celebratory beer this time since it was only 9:30am (but I guess it was 5:00 somewhere?!) Still, a great way to spend a few days on the trail. Loved all the variety of terrain in this area.

this was billed as "let's work an event and do some AZT which means a free shuttle"... sure. Sometimes I don't know what I was thinking because when you work with Shawn, you WORK and this time with an overnite backpack to take on and off. Shawn also said something like the first section wouldn't be bad because they had taken care of a lot of dead fall last year. But then I looked at the over nite temp forecast and thot; what was I thinking again. I'm not good at 40 or below, well for that matter 50 or below. But if they'll listen to me whine; who am I to say no. Plus we are trying to do this as a group.

Ambika came down sick so she was unable to join us. We ended up staying in Tucson on Thur nite since the meet-up time was 7:30AM. I unpacked all my stuff on the bed for my backpack and realized I had forgotten one very important item, the tent . Fortunately, after Shawn texted out for help, one of our shuttle drivers, Lee, had one for me to use and it was light weight and everything. But, heh, at least I remembered the Fireball ;) and my trainer had made energy muffins too.
We met up with the group to be shuttled to the Marshall Gulch TH. There would be 10 of us, 1 would day hike so 9 for backpacking. Everyone had at least two tools and it was up the trail we went.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• - got to finally hike the Marshall Gulch Trail
  - got to revisit the awesome Wilderness of the Rocks plus camp there overnite (Wendy had talked about camping down here when she first took me on the Lemmon Rock Loop back in 2010)
  - got to see some of the hardest workers I've ever seen work harder than I thot possible including Shawn who had some competition with Doug (altho I think Doug is younger?)
  - the gang cut through about 8 trees I think
  - they hard-picked out numerous roots from shrubs so that they wouldn't have to be trimmed year after year; it is amazing how hard that was to chop out that nasty root :wlift:
  - the weather temps for the most part was nearly perfect; even before bedtime and in the AM. I was one happy camper .
  - it smelled good up there!
  - the views coming down
  - got to hike from Romero Pass on the easier side.
  - the junction with Cathedral Rock was so beautiful, wish we had gotten to camp there.
  - seeing the infamous Hutch's pools for the first time from above, though briefly
  - all the water on display in the pools below us on the way out
  - the hike out, all the flora
  - think I'm one step away from getting my backpack back to the way it was back in the Spring of 2013
  - the tram ride through such a beautiful setting with water everywhere
  - meeting new folks and of course completing some more of the AZ Trail with Shawn and Tracy

The Not so highlights
- the taking on and off of the heavy backpack
- the battle to get it comfortable again caused a bit of pain for me from time to time
- not bringing a lightweight shirt to avoid all the scratching my arms would take from cutting down the supposedly non-sticky shrubbery of the forest
- the constant buzzing of the bees after Cathedral Rocks Junction, it was like a movie or something as the buzzing was continuous and loud.
- the gnats :yuck: at Saturday's campsite until we got the fire going
- the pace was a little fast for me so I wasn't able to video much after Romero Pass. And the next morning, it was perfect conditions for taking pics of the fabulous flora but apparently some folks needed to get home to wash their socks ;) .

VIDEOS
to the saddle - [ youtube video ] ...
from the saddle - [ youtube video ] ...
the big log - [ youtube video ] ...
Wilderness of the Rocks - [ youtube video ] ...
Wilderness of the Rocks, part 2 - [ youtube video ] ...
DAY TWO including a sunset view from camp [ youtube video ] ...

awesome climb up from prison camp. i've been on all these trails numerous times but not officially as the AZT so here it is..

beautiful day, though a bit warm. the east fork and west form remain among my favorite local trails though right now they are literally pure torture from all the grass and fox glove.

as always the climb up mt. lemmon trail from romero pass in the hot sun is a total killer. the wilderness of rocks remains a show stopping rock star trail. saw a western diamondback and a black tailed rattler

thanks for the help getting this one done, john.

this caps off 30 days in a row for me and also gives me a new personal record for mileage recorded in one month

697.98 miles and 38 segments done. 5 to go

Sometimes I'm not sure if Jessica grasps the full scope of my hikes. I went over the details. Thirty some miles, serious gain, big mountain, Tuscon, August, etc. She promptly replied "I have a couple hand warmers you can use"

jj helped me finish off the AZT, bought pizza for lunch and set a pace I'd never accomplish on my own. Thank you! A huge thanks to Denny, Bruce and Dave for the majority and all the good times along the way!

Chrome domed 8 hours. Sweat more in a day than probably ever. At one point I got tired of sweating. 2 black-tailed rattlers passed and jumped over a diamond back with unknown energy near the end.

As it turns out, my hands never got cold all day.