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| Hiking | 8.61 Miles |
1,786 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.61 Miles | 5 Hrs 2 Mns | | 2.24 mph |
| 1,786 ft AEG | 1 Hour 11 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Yesterday I watched it rain and snow all day in Wilderness of Rocks. So I decided to head up the mountain today to see what I could see.
Indeed there was lots of snow above General Hitchcock on north slopes, and sporadic light powder elsewhere too. Not deep, but enough to give a little wintry vibe to everything.
Summerhaven looked like a little Christmas town, just with tourists instead of elves. Sitting on the balcony at the lodge sipping hot chocolate sounded like a nice thing to do, but I had business to attend to.
There weren’t a lot of cars at Marshall Gulch so I got a spot near the trailhead. It was a little chilly in the late morning but not too bad. I set a good pace to start and that warmed me up quick.
Marshall Gulch was gorgeous as always, and lightly trafficked as almost always not. Decent flow in the creek, too, considering how lame our winter has been.
There were lots of tracks in the snow at Marshall Saddle and down into Wilderness of Rocks. Enough to make me wonder if the snow was older than yesterday, which it wasn’t.
Soon I stepped off to allow a couple lady backpackers pass. I asked if they had stayed the night and they said yes. I asked if they had fun, knowing it either rained or snowed on them, and sadly they said no, and they were bailing a day early. Clearly we had different definitions of fun.
Shortly after that I stepped off the trail to let a long line of very polite teenagers pass, with two adult chaperones in tow. This group could have accounted for some of the heavy tracks at the saddle.
Near the junction with Lemmon Lookout I passed a thru-hiker from abroad, presumably somewhere in Europe, scarfing a miniature pie for lunch. He said it had rained on him the previous night but it wasn’t bad. After I had moved on I thought about the extended forecast which has Tucson pushing 100 by Thursday… this fellow would likely be crossing the desert north of Oracle by then and that stretch would be brutal. Hope he fares well.
At the pine flat before the trail made its final crossing of Lemmon Creek, I saw about a dozen tents. Biggest group I’d ever seen there, though I only saw two campers.
I split off trail to make for the pools, and made a new for me route. Seems I never take the same route twice.
As I neared the pools I heard voices, and at first thought the pools might be occupied by a large group. Had I arrived a few minutes earlier it would have been, but said group was climbing out. It was about a dozen ladies, who said they were indeed the occupants of the epic camp at the pine flat. They indicated I’d have the pools to myself.
I did indeed. I stayed over an hour and cooked a hot lunch. I forgot a spoon though so I used my tiny Swiss Army knife to whittle a stick, and it worked pretty well.
On the hike out I didn’t really see anybody, just another thru-hiker. All the snow had already melted. As I approached the saddle there were a few snow flurries… so slight I wondered if trees have dandruff.
As I descended into Marshall Gulch the snow picked up into a more legit flurry, enough that it accumulated a bit on my shirt. It was pretty fun, it’s not often I get to hike when it’s snowing.
It didn’t last long. Before the Wilderness sign it was already sunny.
The snow in Summerhaven was gone, too.
I’m glad I took the trouble to do this hike today, it’s probably the last time I’ll get to enjoy a cool hike with a little snow for quite a while. |
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Lemmon Pools |
76-100% full |
76-100% full |
| | | Looks pretty full and clear. Filters great. Predictably numbingly cold. | | | |
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