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| Backpack | 39.30 Miles |
5,939 AEG |
| | Backpack | 39.30 Miles | 3 Days | | |
| 5,939 ft AEG | | 32 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | [If you were the sort of person who put a lot of stock into the idea that what you do on Jan.1st defines the rest of your year - then I'm going to be one lucky, hiking-pumpkin kinda girl in 2012. When Sirena said she wanted to hit the AZT's new passages between Superior and Kelvin, I thought 'great'. When she filled in that it was largely newly built, long awaited single-track, I thought 'double great'. When she said we might have a couple of 12+ mile days I thought 'that might hurt - but great'!. Sign me up. Get my boots on that trail!
39 miles later I was sore of foot and light of heart, and certainly no worse for the wear. In fact, I left that bit of trail with a wholly renewed love for the Sonoran Desert landscape and the beauties it contains.
Highlights:
- Our generous shuttlers: a couple of locals from Superior who run the Copper Mountain Motel there in town. Listening to their banter was better than any Hollywood comedy duo... And in all the years they'd lived in Superior, they'd never been to Kearny before. We were so glad we could give them a tour of the finer places in Arizona
 - Picketpost Mountain: she keeps you company for the lion's share of the Alamo Canyon passage. What starts off as majestic and isolated monolith fades into just another of the myriad of amazing cliffs and hills of the area. Watching sunset and sunrise touching those rocks, though, is a treasured experience.
- The saguaro forest on the slope near our first camp: in retrospect, we might have been better off walking a few more miles... We had a little more to cover than we'd initially thought. But with views like this, and a wonderful Arizona winter evening setting in, we couldn't pull ourselves away.
- Cheese fondue for dinner. Need I say more?
- Sleeping under the moon and stars without a shelter on January 1: how many places give you this kind of gift for the New Year?
- A trail you can see for miles: well, perhaps not miles. At times, you could see the tread at the far end of a valley or canyon, but you'd find yourself hiking for what seemed like an eternity in the wrong direction. The very gradual slope of the trail and the well-engineered path felt circuitous at times, but was always a first-class trail walking experience!
- Finding Trough Spring: not exactly sure from the map or the GPS where the actual spring was, or even if there was anything there to expect, we explored the floor of Telegraph Canyon. Once again that age old adage of "follow the cows" worked wonders - they lead us right to the concrete trough overflowing with (only slightly cow smelling) spring water. If you add flavored Tang and hold your breath, you'd never know it wasn't Dasani!
- Mike the Micro Chicken's photo shoot at the springs. That is one hip-little chicken.
- The Valley of the Mutant Shrubs: a place where being big isn't enough - you've got to be mutant. 10' tall ephedra, sotols that threatened to consume large boulders, even graythorns that looked more like something out of a biblical horror tale. I'm guessing it was a unique spot both under and above the ground, probably with some rich soils and a pocket of protected weather, but this valley was as lush and crazy as any I'd ever seen.
- The Swoop (swoop-swoop): more basins to walk all the way around, more eternally long traverses between passes, more beautiful trail that just seems to go on, and on, and on...
- Stripey rocks: who doesn't want 'em?
- Sheep scat and coyote scat and cat scat, oh my!: This trail has been claimed by both feline and canid markers... keep your self alert and don't roll in catnip before your trip.
- A million seedlings popping up trailside: tiny signs of promise for poppies, lupine, verbena, Dichelostemma capitatum and more!
- "The Canyons" section of Passage 16: New, beautiful, amazing trail that looks as nearly impossibly cool from afar as it does from the trail. Thank you AZT gods.
- Dry waterfalls, rock spires, sweeping vistas and stunning cliffs: here's to having it all in one place, at one time, blowing your mind!
- Hiking through sunset, moonrise and the beautiful night: even if it was mile 15 and 16 of a long day, it never felt like too much.
- Camping within sight of the river, but not knowing it until after dawn: my doubts were assuaged by the appearance of cottonwoods in the distance.
- The Gila River Valley: lush, wide and beautiful. It beckons me even now.
- Goat cheese and prickly pear leather on crackers: #2 best invention of the trip.
- Collecting pins and flags from trail construction WHILE hiking with a pack for 17 miles: might as well get your ab work out in while you're at it!
- Dates with goat cheese and salami: #1 best invention of the trip. Makes miles 11&12 for the day more bearable.
- The trestle bridge: Unlike the tooth fairy, you will eventually see the bridge.
- Miles 16 & 17 for the day, hiked in the dark on hard-packed mine roads: there's no losing your way on THAT path...
- Pizza, hot wings, salad and soda in Kearny: the only thing better was the company and our mutual sense of supreme accomplishment!
So the 35 mile hike turned out to be 39. So the cool winter hiking was down right hot at times. So the Gila isn't really the 'water source' you want it to be. These two passages represent everything that is marvelous about the Sonoran Desert in Arizona - and I can't wait to get back! |
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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.- Barack Obama |
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