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| Hiking | 20.50 Miles |
4,860 AEG |
| | Hiking | 20.50 Miles | 14 Hrs 34 Mns | | 2.39 mph |
| 4,860 ft AEG | 5 Hrs 59 Mns Break | 25 LBS Pack | | |
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| Partners |
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[ show ]
| partners | | On Thursday night Joel and I decided we wanted to hike up the Italian Springs trail early in the morning and go to Spud Rock and Manning Camp. Once up there we'd hang out and take naps until things cooled off and then we'd hike out in the evening. We convinced Mark to go with us on this adventure. We successfully accomplished our goals except we mixed it up a bit by going to Mica Secondary and Reef Rock instead of Spud Rock.
Late Friday night, Joel actually read the description for the Italian Springs to Spud Rock. We decided we should drive in to the actual trailhead instead of taking the connector offered by the Arizona Trail. I texted Mark to have him bring the Land Cruiser, but unfortunately he had gone to bed and didn't hear it. Once he showed up at our house, we decided to all go to his house and pile in the sturdy 4x4. It was a good decision as the Outback would never have made it on the road to the trailhead.
Just as the description says FS 37 is really for high clearance 4x4 vehicles with experience. Luckily, Mark had recently done Rug Road so he didn't have any troubles navigating the rocky road. He deposited us safely at the trailhead. Oh and by the way, the description has an error. You will be heading due east towards the end of the road, not west.
We started up the trail and at first the temperature was pretty good. About 3.5 miles in we stopped for a break. After that it was pretty hot and miserable, however, I was still excited as it was the first time for me to take the entire Italian Springs trail. There is nothing like a new-to-me trail! To the east was awesome rock formations that gave us something interesting to look at.
I had no issues with the climb, instead the heat made my heart race so I paused a lot on the way up. About 4.5 miles up there was some shade which provided some respite from the heat. At 5 miles we reached the entrance to Saguaro National Park. There was an old sign that still said Monument. We took a break just inside the Park while it was still shady. Shortly after entering the Park we reached an old burn area. For about 1.5 miles it was again hot. We took it slow since we didn't want to kill ourselves. I was very happy that I brought my Solar Dome, it provided me with shade when there wasn't any. Solar Domes should be a requirement for hiking in burn areas. Finally, we reached the end of the Italian Springs trail and the spring itself which appeared to just be a seep. Around the spring there were ferns as tall as me. They provided a nice splash of green.
We took a break near the spring under a wonderful canopy of trees. We were happy that we had made it and we knew the worse was behind us. We thought about lunch and the glorious time that would follow... Siesta time!
We took the segment of the North Slope trail that leads to the Fire loop. I was interested in seeing this part of the trail as I had once helped with a bit of trail maintenance that the SAHC had done while staying at Manning Camp over Labor Day several years ago. Overall the trail seemed in pretty good shape considering it doesn't get that much traffic.
We decided to change our plans and head to Mica Secondary since we knew we'd get great views. We stopped at a stand of trees right before Mica Secondary and had our lunch. Joel and I had brought Brooklyn Pizza that was leftover from the night before at Sky Bar. Once lunch was over we succumbed to the exhaustion we felt from hiking in the heat and took a very nice nap in the shade. After our nap we explored Mica Secondary and checked out the Fox fire below. Joel and I scrambled to the top of Mica Secondary and was rewarded with nice views of Rincon Peak and all around.
From there we headed on to Reef Rock. We checked out the view and then continued to Manning via the Mica Meadow trail. I hadn't been on the Mica Meadow trail before so it was nice to continue to do new trail. The ferns, again, were adding splashes of color all around.
At Manning Camp we met the new ranger who was posted there. He offered us water, so we didn't have to filter! We were very happy not to have to work on our siesta break! As we relaxed, I spotted a nest in the trees. It was a nest with 4 baby Plumbeous Vireo! We got to watch the parents swoop in with food to feed the hungry little ones.
On our way home, we decided to take yet another new-to-me trails, the North Slope trail, even though it would increase our trip by about a mile. We soon learned that this was the bear toilet. There was many piles of poo along the way. We enjoyed the views of Helen's Dome and the Catalina's as we walked along the North Slope. This trail is probably the least used on top near Manning Camp. At times the trail was a bit faint and obscured by ferns. It was a lovely trail all the same.
We stopped for dinner near some rocks right before Italian Spring. We scrambled up the rocks to check the weather and shade for our hike back to the car. We immediately saw what looked like rain in the distance! Exciting! We weren't concerned because we knew that rain would cool things off nicely.
On our way down it only sprinkled on us a few times - just enough to limit the number of photos I took. It was a great to hike while the sun was setting. We had a complete rainbow to the west and a magnificently colored sunset over Cathedral Peak to the west. The light on the rocks to the east was beautiful. It was perhaps the prettiest sunsets I've seen. The temperature was much nicer than our climb up.
After dark the tedious downhill hiking started to wear on us a bit. Our knees hurt from descending nearly 5000 ft. We were just starting to complain when I checked my GPS and saw that the car was only a tenth of a mile away! We made it! We completed our 20.5 mile trek!
Next, Mark still had to drive us home. Again his 4x4 skills came in handy and we made it out safely. We drove straight to a Mexican place to pick up food!
Joel and I stumbled into the house just a bit after 11 pm. We were elated that our plan had worked and happily exhausted. We were still exhausted when we woke up at 5 AM this morning to go on a birding outing this morning... Nuts!
I would definitely recommend doing long day hikes with siesta time... It was great to not be in a hurry and to relax and take our time on top of the Rincons! |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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