Category: Free Roaming Photography

Day 12

This day was a day filled with mixed emotions and experiences. I started off acknowledging a lot of the worry that had been following me onto the trail, and made an intent to release them. While feeling lighter and better about the day early on, I came out of the small desert mountains beyond the ranch, where the trail opened up into a large valley between Saguaro National Park and myself. I also ran into Hemlock who was heading south, someone I had been chatting with before each of us started the trail. We had a nice conversation before we continued in our respective directions.

It was mostly flat and easygoing for the next several miles. Chipmunks, butterflies, and cottontail rabbits all fled the trail in front of me through the wildflowers and cactus. I soon rounded a corner and came upon a snake lying in the middle of the trail. I’m not very familiar with snakes, so although this one seemed non-threatening, I still threw a few rocks in its direction to see if it would voluntarily move. Without much success, I noticed I could pretty easily bushwhack around it, so I did so quietly and carefully while giving it plenty of room. One crisis averted, but more were soon to follow.

I continued down the trail enjoying its easy and gradual descent toward Saguaro National Park when I heard the sound that I most fear hearing in the desert: a rattler on a rattlesnake. Fortunately, this one was behind me a couple of dozen feet, so a safe distance, but still alarming. Two crises averted.

With the rattlesnake rattling around in my mind, I hadn’t even gone a mile before I heard the same sound again, but this time directly ahead of me about 10 feet. My plan to alarm them with extra heavy hammering of my hiking poles into the ground seemed to work. I backed up to give it some room, and it slowly uncoiled and casually slithered off the trail. Three crises averted, but I wasn’t done yet.

I reached Rincon Creek which was flowing nicely, and knowing that this was the last certain water source, I had some lunch and stocked up on water, forgetting that Hemlock had told me that there was plenty up Mica Mountain, where I was heading in Saguaro National Park. I crossed into the park boundary and just as quickly as the scenery became mesmerizing, the trail began to climb. Wildflowers exploded between a dense saguaro forest as the trail began a grueling ascent up the south side of Mica Mountain.

A few hours had gone by under the hot sun when I noticed I was needing some water. I didn’t want to stop because there were swarms of gnats that would instantly cling to any exposed skin, in this case mainly my face, as soon as I stood still. Regardless, I was getting dehydrated and needed to put a big dent in my water supply. I found a single, armless saguaro along the trail which provided just enough shade for me to stand in, and I dropped an electrolyte tablet into a liter of water and chugged it. I felt a lot better, but the trail was far from being done climbing and my water was getting low.

I hadn’t seen an AZT or park sign in a long time and I was beginning to wonder if I had missed a fork in my slightly dehydrated state. With the relentless sun bearing down and water running low, I decided I needed to figure out where I was. I saw a nice shady spot a short distance ahead and decided that that would do. As I approached, I noticed in the shadows a sign! I eagerly went to read it and discovered that I was actually still on the right trail. And better yet, camp was less than three miles away! Even better, just a short distance up the trail I found more water! I stopped to get a couple of liters before the gnats made the job nearly impossible. Four crises averted.

Feeling refreshed and reassured, I was now making much better time up the steep trail. I pulled out my phone to take a quick picture, but now noticed that my USB cable that I was using to charge the phone had broken due to the plug bending. I killed every process except the tracker I was using and left it in airplane mode and hoped it would at least make it to camp.

Soon enough, the trail brought me to the Grass Shack Campground where a creek was generously flowing next to it. Despite getting my permit, the campground was already occupied and was about to be more so. A guy sitting with a few teenage girls informed me about 12 more were on the way. He said it might be a noisy evening, but wouldn’t last long into the night. Good enough. Not quite a crisis to avert, but another one was coming.

I headed to the back of the campground where I thought my site was supposed to be and set up my tent. Once inside to escape the gnats, I heard a very loud fly seeming to patrol my tent. I didn’t think much of it since I was desperately hungry. As I began to devour dinner (in my tent), I also took out my USB cable to see if I could crack it open to fix it back into place. A few moments later and it was charging my phone again! Five crises averted!

The bugs had died down by now and so I poked my head out the tent to notice an amazing sunset going on outside. I jumped out to do a few quick shots and then went back a bit beyond my tent to make a bathroom break. I went back by my tent and stood watching the sky when I noticed the fly buzzing nearby again. This was no fly though. I had apparently camped too close to a large hornet and it was clearly upset. Not being completely familiar with hornet behavior, I stood back as it hovered on the other side of my tent facing me, clearly guarding something. I thought I was giving it enough room but it made a pass around the tent, prompting me to back up a bit more. It wasn’t enough though. It came after me as I ran back toward the main campsite and took a swipe near my head, fortunately missing. I was nearly back to the larger group of campers, the rest of them having arrived by this time when I noticed I wasn’t being pursued anymore. I was very tempted to ask the group leader for some help moving my tent, but realized he’d be in the same danger as me. I stood there debating what to do for a little while when I realized that if they saw me, they might assume I was standing there for a different reason. I headed back up to my site solo, slowly and patiently to see if the hornet was still out. With my adrenaline still going, I eased in toward my tent, but no sounds. I opened it up to grab some of the heavier items and brought them down the small hill. One trip down. I went back up, grabbed my camera on its tripod, and brought it down. I was calmer, but the next step had me on edge. I pulled up one stake from the tent, and with five to go, began to make my way around the tent to get the rest, hoping the hornet wouldn’t be alarmed. One by one I pulled them up, and just as the tent began to fall after pulling up the last stake, I caught it to avoid any surprises. I quickly lifted it by the rod and carried it down. Finally my two hiking poles remained resting against a blooming manzanita tree that the hornet seemed to be guarding. No point in hanging around. I made a quick dash in, grabbed them, and ran back down. No pursuers. Six crises averted.

After all that, it was finally time to rehydrate, set up bed, and get in a few token night shots before sleeping the day off.

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Day 11

It was a bittersweet and subsequently uneventful day. After having a great few days with Giggles, we realized that her leg was too injured to continue on the trail and that I would finish on my own. The trail didn’t change much in terms of diversity so my mind was stuck on her and whether the loneliness away from her would prevent me from finishing.

The trail was far from bland though. It weaved in and out of rolling hills and washes saturated with cactus, desert vegetation, and even wildflowers. Two welcomed features to shake up the scenery were a protected area around Cienega Creek where the trail dipped into shade and cool breezes beneath cottonwoods, and the other was when the trail went through a long tunnel underneath I-10. It’s the little things.

As I approached La Posta Quemada Ranch, which didn’t seem too keen on talking to hiker-types, the sun was beginning to get low, so I knew I’d need to find a place to camp soon. I entered the ranch and walked to the main area, only to find that the campground I was looking for was still another mile down the trail, and they weren’t even serving ice cream anymore. It’s the little things.

The next campground was the La Sevilla Campground, found after many small ups and downs through a large array of different cacti, including saguaro which were finally beginning to adorn the trail.

I secured a site, stuffed myself with some dinner and chocolate, and began doing some night photography below the mesquite trees that created a canopy above the campground. Nearby, a group with the Conservation Corps played some music as I got ready for bed.

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Day 10

After a night of coyotes howling and passing through our camp, we woke up to a great sunrise and surprisingly pleasant temperatures. We all wanted to get a head start on the day so we were ready to go fairly quick. We were only a few dozen yards from the start of Passage 7 so after a short climb up a hill, it was pretty easy-going for the rest of the way, especially thanks to a cloudy sky that gave us a break from the hot sun.

The views to the north opened up after cresting the first hill and the mountains the trail would soon be approaching were looking closer than ever. At the same time, there were many more ocotillo and cactus coming out along the sides of the trail with prickly pear, barrel, rainbow, and all sorts of wildflowers mixed in as well. The caterpillars that we had been seeing even seemed more active. Some were grazing heavily on the blooming ocotillo and others even seemed to be beginning to cocoon.

Though most of it was quite scenic and pleasant, there were a few cattle pastures that we went through where nothing was growing except the grasses. I’m not against ranching or farming of course because I love food, but it would be nice to see a few brave ranchers replace their cattle with bison since the land would rebound and benefit tremendously from their presence, which would then bring down the price of bison meat.

Beyond that though, wildlife seemed to be much more active in this stretch. Twix and Olive Oyl had discovered a large lizard that I wasn’t familiar with, but it had run off by the time I got there. Farther down the trail, I began to hear more sounds in the grasses of things scurrying away, good signs that there was more here than in previous areas. I caught a quick glance of a large rodent darting across the trail before I could even realize that something was darting across the trail. There was a black butterfly with a brilliant royal blue coloring on its wings that (again) was a bit too fast for me. Later in the day, a large hare went racing across the desert in front of me. But it was a sighting in the middle of the day that had me most giddy.

I was out in front for a change and was coming down a hill. I heard a slight brush in the grasses ahead and as silently as it was quick, caught the back end of an animal with a large, thick, light brown tail gliding into the rocks nearby. I waited to see if I could catch a better glimpse of what I suspected it could have been, but it never came back out. A dozen miles up the trail, a clue confirmed that it was most likely a feline: a fresh explosion of feathers in the middle of the trail. Combined with the tail that I saw, it would be pretty hard to convince me that it wasn’t a cougar! It was definitely the wildlife highlight along the trail so far.

In the 13.3 miles that was Passage 7, there was only one water source, and it wasn’t pretty. It was basically a stock pond which was filled with murky water containing all sorts of things we didn’t want to think about. As we got there, I downed my last liter of water filled with electrolytes before filtering four new liters from the pond. I felt hydrated enough, so I held off drinking any of that until I had to.

As the day started to wind down, Twix, Olive Oyl, Salsa, and I were beginning to have a bit of trouble deciding on the best plan of action to get me back to Tucson and get Happy Tree back to them. It was beginning to look like Giggles’ leg would prevent her from finishing the trail, so I wanted to maximize my time with her in case the worst case scenario came true. Plus, she could only either get me off the trail that night, or two days later, which I wasn’t prepared to wait for.

After much discussion and a few phone calls, we found Happy Tree a ride to the ranch farther down the trail for two days later, and I would be picked up at the junction of Sahuarita Road and AZ83. The others were finally able to find a campsite, passing up a few good ones because of me, and I continued on into sunset to make it to the junction before dark. Along the way, sunset came out for a brief, but beautiful show. At the end of it, I had traveled 18.69 miles, my new personal best for one day, and about the last five miles without any water, due to where it came from. A short moment later and I was on my way back to Tucson for a few days to rest some muscles, and especially some blisters that were getting a little out of hand.

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Day 9

I woke up surprisingly not too chilly. Apparently the forest of oak trees that lined the creek that we were near had helped shelter us from some condensation, since for the first morning my tent was completely dry.

Bill Murray and Sheriff Woody were off early to make a much better pace than we were. While Twix, Salsa, Olive Oyl and I ultimately made nearly 15 miles for the upcoming day, the other two were out to get in about 25 miles. Sure enough, we never saw them again after breakfast.

I started my hike a bit behind the other three, but not by far. I felt very carefree and in love with the trail as we climbed out of the canyon and onto the grassy foothills where we’d spend most of the day. I was missing Giggles so I gave her a call and found out she wasn’t doing much better. I was glad to talk with her though and continued on my way after the others.

We reached Kentucky Camp much sooner than we thought we would and were welcomed by the caretaker, Steve. He was originally from northern Idaho and enjoyed looking after the historic mining ranch and sharing information about it. Plus he really seemed to enjoy meeting new thru-hikers.

We explored the main building that had been restored and stopped there to have lunch and refill on clean water before heading out.

The trail for much of the day followed a number of intersecting dirt roads and meandered in and out of trails that went over and around the hills, not offering an incredible amount of diversity, but did present us with two horny toads resting in the trail. It ultimately began to take a toll on my feet as a soreness began to intensify. Once my pace had developed into a short limp and I had fallen behind, I caught up with them at our next reliable water source for 13 miles: a bee-infested tank of murky water with many other things in it, both dead and alive. We got some necessary water from there and took a much needed rest before deciding to go just a bit more down the trail before finding camp.

We found a quiet spot near some oak trees where the tallgrass had been been worn down and set up camp there. The others packed it in pretty early, but I stayed up for just a bit longer to get in a small amount of night photography.

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