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| Hiking | 16.50 Miles |
7,100 AEG |
| | Hiking | 16.50 Miles | | | |
| 7,100 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | AEG on this trip is actually elevation lost. Elevation gained was 1950 feet. When I hiked the Arizona Trail, this was one of my favorite passages. I hiked this in May 08, and I was interested to see this same hike in the fall. Also, when I did this part, I hiked all the way from the Wilderness of Rock down to Molino Basin in one day, covering 18 miles. I wanted to take this trip at a more leisurely pace and camp in the West Fork, which I remembered as being particularly attractive. Mr. Sirena graciously helped me put my car at Sabino Canyon and dropped me off at the parking lot above Ski Valley. I like to take the Lemmon Rock and Wilderness of Rock trail combo instead of the Mount Lemmon Trail all the way because I never miss a chance to wander the Wilderness of Rock. There was water in several pools, even in this dry, dry season. The descent to Romero Pass was a little brushy, but really well cairned. I saw a line of people on the trail below me, moving slowly. I was surprised to have come across fresh horse biscuits on this part of the trail. When I caught up to the people, it turned out to be a group of 12 students from Prescott College that had ridden horses all the way from the Utah border on the Arizona Trail. They were a little shaken by the steep descent. The AZT guidebook says this part of the trail is not passable for stock, but someone locally had told them that it was doable. Thankfully the students and all the horses and mules made it down safely, save one scary slip by a horse on the way down. Camp in the West Fork was fantastic and the weather and bugs cooperated so that I could sleep under the stars without a tent. I had cheese fondue for dinner (look for it prepackaged at Trader Joes- you can put some in a freezer bag and then put the bag into boiling water to melt it) with apples, bread, and green olives for dipping. Fondue and post-hike libations, it feels so fancy for the backcountry! I was visited by a ringtail after dinner (unfortunately no pictures of the little guy) The almost-full moon woke me up several times in the night, it was so bright I could almost read by it.
The next day, I reluctantly packed up and headed toward Hutch's Pool. I could have stayed at that camp for days on end and been completely content. Unfortunately, I had not seen any water, it being such a dry year. When I had come through here in May 08, there were streams and pools all over this part of the trail. The trail wove through the creekbed for a while, in the shade of oaks and alligator junipers. Then, it leaves the creek to contour on the hillside the last bit toward Hutch's Pool. It's a weird transition, one minute you are in a lush riparian area, the next you are on a grassy hillside with dotted with a couple big trees and no shade. The nice part is that you can look into the canyon and see the fall colors. It was an unseasonably warm day and I was happy when the trail reached the shade of Hutch's Pool. The group from Prescott College was at Hutch's, having spent the night there. They were excited to have camped next to water. In this dry year, they had not spent the night near water since the Grand Canyon. They had been having someone meet them each night with a truck to water the horses. Not quite what they had expected at the outset of the trip. It made me realize how lucky I was that when I hiked the AZT, Arizona had had better than average rains. It made my life on the AZT much easier, not to mention prettier in terms of running streams and wildflowers. The riders left, and I was dismayed to find that the horses had pooped all over the place. Ugh. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon reading, writing in my journal, and splashing in the pool. The weather was perfect to be at the pool. However, it made for a toasty hike on the way to the shuttle. Thank goodness for umbrellas! The last part of the trail was the only part that I had not been on before. 15 years in Tucson and I had never been on the Sabino Canyon Tr. It was very pretty- the views into the striated walls of the canyon were great, and the trail was surprisingly completely devoid of people. I reached shuttle stop #9 (why don't they have anything up there for shade?) and waited about 10 minutes for the tram which got me back to my car in about 20 minutes. There were some ladies on the tram that were looking at the steps that go up from the tram stop to the trail, saying "Wow, could you imagine walking up all those steps" And they were just shocked that I had spent the night "out there" by myself. I was just as shocked to think that most people will never see a fraction of what I saw in the last two days unless they are willing to get out of the tram, strap a pack on and work for it. This hike was even more beautiful than I had remembered, I was so glad that I came back to savor it at a more leisurely pace. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
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