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| Hiking | 19.36 Miles |
5,000 AEG |
| | Hiking | 19.36 Miles | 10 Hrs 44 Mns | | 1.87 mph |
| 5,000 ft AEG | 22 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I have hiked this trail once before, 15 years ago. The intent for this hike was to get to AZT11 and hike a couple miles of it that are right in the middle of that passage and hard to get to without a long day hike. The only part I hadn't done was from Romero Pass to Sabino Canyon. This hike was to get some of that right below Romero Pass done.
After dropping Radmila off at the airport at 4am, I headed directly down to Tucson. Hit some rain south of Phoenix briefly and then it was smooth driving. got to the trailhead just before dawn and started hiking a little after 6am with just enough light to not need a head lamp.
There were low hanging clouds at the start, so the top of the mountain and the surrounding ridges weren't visible. As I got up to the level of the clouds, waves of rain would occasionally waft in from the wind. It was interesting to be up higher and be able to witness this happen as opposed to being on the ground and just seeing the rain fall on top of you.
Mile 5 of the trail was getting steeper and rockier. There were times I was seriously considering bailing because I was already kind of tired from waking up super early. The lat mile to the pass is the worst. It's the steepest, and you can see the pass, which at that point it vertically farther away from you than horizontally. And there is now some treefall that you have maneuver around, in addition to the snow just below the pass. Even as close as I was, I was again seriously considering just turning around short of the pass and heading back. Just before the pass, the trail levels a bit, and the snow disappeared. on the other side sun was shining into the next canyon and farther out on Mica Mountain.
Another hiker who had started a half hour before me was there having lunch. He was trying to decide whether to hike the rest of the way to the top or down to Sabino Canyon and call a friend for a ride. I strongly advised going to the top as he thought it was only another 3 miles.
I soon headed down the East fork trail for just over 2 miles before having a quick lunch in a nice wider area with many boulders to sit on. then it was time to start heading back up. This trail is much smoother and level in more spots than anything on the Romero Canyon Trail. I made very good time heading down and not bad time on the way back up.
On the way back up to the pass, the clouds had lifted and revealed freshly fallen snow, with a visible snow line. The snow had stuck to all the trees but almost none of the rocks or ground. This made for some very interesting scenery and a lot of nice pictures.
the first 2 miles down from Romero Pass are pretty nice, minus the treefall and snow. After that, it's a slog, which was exacerbated from the length of the hike, which at that point was into mile 15. Steep and rocky on the way down didn't improve my time per mile, and it was taking a toll on my legs. The last 2 miles everything was sore, even on the level part.
Finished around 5pm and got home just after 7. Very long day but great scenery. 15 years ago when I did this water was everywhere. Sutherland Wash was full, making the crossing difficult, and the pools and several stream crossings further up were tricky to negotiate. This time it was much easier. No wildlife seen, the majority of the hikers I was were at or below the pools on the way down. |
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