Author: Loren Nelson

Day 3

We woke up to frost all over the tent. Tatiana checked the thermometer and inside the tent it was 20 degrees F, with the wind still howling outside. I checked it a short time after the sun had finally risen and began lighting our tent and it had already jumped to 35 degrees F, a good sign indeed. The lack of sleep and challenges of the previous days were beginning to get to us and were affecting our pace, so we talked through a few things and managed to pick each other back up to make for a much smoother day.

We played a few different games as our spirits lifted while the trail maintained a steady downhill pace from expansive ponderosa pine forests to oak-lined canyons. With constant sunlight as well, it began to feel much more like what an ideal hiking day should. Cool temperatures, warm sunshine, and lots of fun and laughing. Earlier that day I even saw a brief glimpse of wildlife: a deer’s rear running into the woods.

The trail brought us farther and farther down Sunnyside Canyon and even out of Coronado National Forest where, looking back at the kiosk at the boundary, noticed a bear warning sign. Up to this point, we had been sleeping with our food in the tent. Leave it to a couple of Jacksonians to overestimate the bear danger in other areas. In addition, with recent weather and apparently a good winter, every water source appeared very healthy and reliable.

We found a nice place to camp at, as the guidebook puts it, “a confusing series of dirt roads.”

Day 4

Both of us woke up feeling much better after a quiet, restful night of great sleep. We both slept from 8:30pm the night before to 6:30am that morning. Though it was a little chilly outside, it wasn’t unbearably cold, partly due to dropping in elevation and partly due to no wind. We began along the “confusing series of dirt roads” only to find that they weren’t so confusing thanks to the trail being incredibly well signed, something that made me start to regret wanting a picture of every AZT sign.

Though we were getting a bit low on water, and the guidebook said that the next passage was scarce on water, we decided to skip the Parker Lake Store since the water everywhere else was so reliable. Besides, the next water source was the Parker Lake runoff, which appeared to have plenty of water. A few miles down the trail, and sure enough, the runoff was an excellent place to not only fill up on more water, but also to have lunch.

While filling up, four other hikers in a group caught up with us. Four other female hikers came excitedly down the trail at the sight of fresh water. We chatted with them while we both topped off our water supplies and had some food. Tatiana and I were a bit out of place since they all had trail names and we didn’t. There was Happy Tree who was from Hawai’i who was along with Olive Oyl who had met Twix and her mother, Salsa, on the Appalachian Trail. They were all out to conquer the AZT together and were promoting the Wild at Heart Raptor Center in Cave Creek, Arizona. They got going into the Canelo Hills before we had gotten everything back together, which made us realize just how long we had been lingering there.

Once we were back on our way, Tatiana began to notice an odd sensation in her right leg. She had a hard time describing it, so it limited anything that I could do to help other than just trying to motivate her. We climbed higher and higher into the Canelo Hills which, as the guidebook described, don’t get much love. It’s very easy to overlook them. There’s nothing grand or dramatic about them, especially when looking on them from the outside, but once immersed on the inside, there’s a constant pleasantness and peacefulness that is very relaxing. The hills are amazingly scenic and Tatiana remarked more than once about how they reminded her of Spain.

As the day went on, her pain intensified and dramatically slowed down our pace. Our imaginations began to worry about different scenarios and symptoms, and we agreed that all we could do is just press on. I was eager to find us a campsite as well so that we could just get her off the trail and rest.

It didn’t take long before we caught up with the others who had already set up camp at a spacious site. We camped with them that night where they put our minds at ease saying it’s probably just her “hiker legs” breaking in.

We relaxed much more once camp was set up and enjoyed socializing with the others. We even got in a bit of stargazing before the moon came up where I was able to finally do some night shots thanks to the pleasant weather.

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Day 1

Our currently anonymous friend drove us to Coronado National Memorial to fill up on water and get us on our way up the Arizona Trail. The first two miles head south to the Mexico/U.S. border, so realizing that immediately leaving would put him in Tucson during rush hour, he agreed to come with us for the first two miles each way and see the border.

From a large parking area on Montezuma Pass in the park boundary, the trail climbs up a short distance and then begins a lengthy descent until reaching the border, marked by an obelisk commemorating a treaty between the U.S. and Mexico. Along the way were various interesting rock formations and a high grasslands sparsely decorated with juniper and oak.

After the ascent back up, we unloaded the bulk of our gear from anonymous’ car and poured our thanks on him. As he drove off we began getting our packs together and with only an hour or two before sunset, made our way to at least two more miles in to get past the park boundary since no camping is allowed inside. The Miller Peak Wilderness borders the park to the north, so that was our goal. Under normal circumstances it would have been easily doable, but the trail was a relentless climb higher and higher. While the views were amazing, the climb only intensified as the weight on our backs became apparent. At the same time, the light from a near full moon began to take over as the sun had set a long time ago.

Exhausted, we reached the boundary and set up camp, something we were both eager to do since we were up till 2am the night before finalizing our packing. We both agreed on a simple dinner and rushed to bed.

That would have been the end of day one but shortly after crawling into the tent the wind began howling from out of nowhere and never let up, dropping the temperature with it. We slept ok, but it definitely could have been better and less noisy.

Day 2

Early the next day, I woke up at sunrise to find traces of snow flurries and sleet around our tent. Since there were still many clouds in the area, it made for a great, but brief sunrise. I made the mistake however of assuming the worst of the weather was over.

Though the wind had died down overnight, we were about to climb to the high point of the next several passages, and the storm was only just getting started.

Neither of us slept well from the wind and cold, so ultimately crawling out of the tent to start the day proved difficult. We eventually did make it out though and got on our way.

After hiking a mile or so, the clouds parted and we finally had some sun to warm up to. We prematurely put away a few layers and continued on where it didn’t take long at all for the clouds to roll back in. More sleet began pouring down on us, but began to let up as we neared the turnoff to climb Miller Peak. We stopped at a nice overlook for lunch to also take advantage of a break in the weather.

Our lunch was cut short by more sleet and even snow now dumping down on us, but cleared up as we reached the spur trail for the peak.

The short mile-long, round-trip detour was well worth it. We hit it during another break in the weather giving us amazing panoramic views and glimpses of trails to come, and the gateway towns below.

We hit more snow as the trail finally leveled out, giving us a rest from the excruciating climb up. We also hit our first water source along that stretch, Tub Spring, named so for a natural spring that’s piped into an old bathtub. As long as we didn’t stir the water up too much, the quality was great! We of course purified it though.

Just a short climb up the ridge we watched a fantastic sunset and found a nice spot for camp, until an unrelenting wind that lasted well into our sleep rolled in as soon as we had our tent up. It wasn’t long after that before the temperature began dropping quickly. Fortunately the tent was set up well enough so that the wind didn’t bother us much, but it still helped to bring the overall temperature down. This proved especially difficult in getting our alcohol stove lit for a warm dinner, which I was now trying to do in the dark. It didn’t help that I forgot my headlamp at home, so we only had one to share between the two of us.

We both spent the night periodically waking up and seeing where in the sky the full moon was and finding out the next day that we were both getting more and more excited as the bright moon began to set behind our heads, capping off another long, cold, and uncomfortable night.

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