March 8, 2022
- Start: Boundary to Saguaro Natl Park (Mile 124.4)
- End: Rincon Wilderness sign (Mile 143.7)
- Miles: 19.3
Last night, I made it to the southern boundary of Saguaro National Park near dusk, and I found a place to stealth camp not too far from where Prov was already set up. There appeared only to be one other hiker nearby — a guy cowboy camping back near Rincon Creek, which passed just 0.2 miles before stopping.
I set my alarm for 5:50 am, knowing that I needed to get an early start. Today, I planned to climb over Mica Mountain, and I’d need to hike to the national park’s northern boundary (18 miles ahead) before I’d be free to set up camp. According to the elevation profile, that would involve the biggest climb I’ve encountered since climbing to Miller Peak on day 1 of this hike.
It was still dark when my alarm woke me, and I could hear lots of coyotes howling in the distance as I made myself a quick breakfast and some hot coffee. My water bottles were partially frozen once again – just like they’d been at Kentucky Camp.
I probably shouldn’t have been too surprised by that discovery. Yesterday’s weather forecast said it was supposed to drop down near 33°F in Tucson last night, and I’d camped at least several hundred feet higher in elevation than Tucson.
SUNRISE IN SAGUARO NATL PArk
With the motivation to get moving this morning, I had all my gear packed and I was back on the trail by 6:30 am. Prov’s tent was still quiet, and it didn’t appear as if she was awake by the time I left. In fact, I hadn’t seen any other hikers come down the trail since I woke up. I guess that means I’ll be the first one heading into the Saguaro National Park this morning.
The landscape was just light enough out that I could find my way without a headlamp, but it was still wicked cold. I’d need my rain jacket, gloves, and beanie hat to keep me warm until the sun warmed the desert back up again.
As I headed north into the park, the early morning light breaking up over Rincon Mountain created a breathtaking atmosphere. It lit the saguaro cactus all around me in so many interesting ways that I couldn’t help but stop and take photos every few minutes to try to capture it.
A few years ago, a friend asked me if I was a ‘sunrise’ or a ‘sunset’ person. Normally, when someone poses that question, what they’re really asking whether you are an early bird of a night owl. But he was genuinely asking which solar event I preferred: (a) watching the sun emerge and light up the landscape; or (b) watching it depart and fade into night.
I’ve seen far more sunrises in my life than sunsets, thanks to my career choice. But honestly, I think I’ve always enjoyed seeing sunsets more. And Arizona’s sunsets are something truly spectacular. The vast desert sky lights up with fiery reds and deep oranges for as far as your eye can see.
But, even with that bias, I have to admit that this morning’s sunrise in Saguaro National Park was pretty freaking awesome!
HEADING UP MICA
The first few miles of the day were relatively easy hiking, as the trail gently zig-zagged across the desert toward the base of the mountains. Thousands of saguaro cactus covered the hills in front of me, and it appeared to be a veritable cactus bonanza.
Lower down near the trail itself, pops of color caught my eye as I trotted by them. First, it was the wispy pink flowers lining the trail. Then some yellow wildflowers flowers. And purple ones too.
I’d kept intending to download the iNaturalist app to my phone for this thru-hike to help me identify all the new flora I was seeing in the desert. You simply take a photo of a leaf or flower, and then the app uses your location and the item’s shape to suggest what plant it might be.
But downloading another app to my phone was one more thing I’d been too lazy to do before leaving Oregon. So I’d just have to casually admire the flowers today and figure out their names later.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the cold morning air became more tolerable, and I was finally able to strip off my jacket and gloves. The trail was now beginning its upward climb, but it was graded quite nicely. The ascent felt more akin to the climb up Miller Peak (on day 1), than the insanely steep slope of Mt. Wrightson (right after Patagonia).
To my surprise, pockets of cold water filled the rock depressions beside the trail here and there. I assumed I wouldn’t see any water in Saguaro National Park until the Grass Shack campground, so this was a pleasant surprise. But with the water in my bottles mostly thawed now, I didn’t need to stop and fill up just yet.
Before long too much longer, I crossed paths with some National Park Service employees rebuilding a section of trail. They must have camped out here inside the park overnight because I’m certain nobody walked past me this morning…and definitely not carrying all the hand tools sitting nearby.
The crew was relocating some immensely large rocks to build stairs on this section of trail, and it looked like hard work. Considering how nice the trail was thus far, I’m sure these folks (and their predecessors) spent countless hours out here building and re-building this stretch of the Arizona Trail.
I stopped to thank one of the trail maintainers who was already working up a sweat. Their effort really did make an incredible difference in my overall thru-hiking experience – even if this wonderfully graded trail was only for a brief section of the AZT.
UP & UP
As I continued to climb up Mica Mountain, my view of the desert below became more expansive. Tucson seemed impossibly far away, even though I knew I’d see it again.
The Rincon and Santa Catalina Mountains form a crescent shape around the eastern and northern sides of Tucson. And since the AZT follows the mountain terrain as it curves around the city, I knew this wasn’t the last I’d seen of the Old Pueblo.
I’d mentally built this climb up Mica Mountain to be an incredibly difficult task. But it wasn’t horrible. It was just long… 14.5 miles of gradually climbing from 3,100’ elevation at the park boundary up to where the trail crests the mountain at 8,600’. Yet, I knew I’d eventually make it there as long as I kept moving forward.
Around 10:30 am, I crested a false summit just below 5,500 feet and was rewarded with some relatively flat hiking along some rocks. Then I was suddenly upon a wide creek with evenly-spaced boulders to hop across the water, only to suddenly realize that I’d reached Grass Shack campground.
Wait a second…I was there already? I just hiked 8.6 miles uphill before 10:30 am? My confidence was boosted immensely with the realization that my day was nearly half over already.
Other hikers (both online and in person) made it sound like a nearly insane physical endeavor to try to push through Saguaro National Park in a single day. But, I only had 9 more miles to go. There was no doubt in my mind that I would make it over the mountain and to the park’s northern boundary before dark!!
Yes, I still had 3000’ of vertical gain left to tackle. But this task was totally doable!! I just needed to continue slowly and steadily putting one foot in front of the other.
And with that internal pep talk complete, I filtered some water from the lovely creek I’d just crossed. Then I ate a calorie-dense “second breakfast” of donuts before wandering off to find the campground’s pit toilet (which was completely out of TP).
NO NEW BLADDER
The next 4.4 miles up to Manning Camp were a bit slower than the preceding ones up to Grass Shack. The trail through the national park was still well-graded, but it was becoming noticeably steeper.
Luckily it wasn’t as exposed as some of the other climbs I’ve done thus far. The switchbacks were often even covered with trees that provided some temporary shade from the midday sun.
Truthfully though, it wasn’t even all that warm today. And the higher I climbed, the more the air temperature dropped. Nonetheless, I was still working up a good sweat with the constant climbing.
At one point on the mountain, I took a quick rest break and checked my phone. I was pretty surprised to see I had service way up here. I must finally be high enough to have an unobstructed view of a cell tower somewhere down below.
I sent a quick text home to my loved ones, then checked my email, only to discover that the new CNOC water bladder I’d ordered back in Patagonia (five days ago) wasn’t going to make it to the post office at Mt. Lemmon in time for my arrival.
I expected to go up Mt. Lemmon in just another couple of days, but the tracking number said my order hadn’t even left the vendor yet. Dammit. How much longer could I rely on my existing water bladder with the pinhole in its side?
The hole hasn’t gotten any worse over the past few days since I discovered it. But I’ve also been able to hang the bag on branches and let gravity pull the dirty water through the filter and into my clean bottles. If I got somewhere without trees up ahead (and I had to start squeezing water through the soft bladder), that hole might grow rapidly.
But I can’t control how quickly my order is processed. All I can do right now is accept I won’t be picking up my replacement water bladder in Mt. Lemmon. So, I spent a moment redirecting the order to my home address. I’ll just have to get Keith to mail it to me somewhere farther up the trail.
And so, with that frustrating news dealt with, I turned my phone back into airplane mode and set off walking uphill once again.
MANNING CAMP
During the mile or so left to Manning Camp, the evidence of the winter became more apparent. Patches of snow dotted the shadier slopes beside the trail. And one of the streams was still filled with icicles where the water had frozen mid-drop.
Wildlife started to appear, including several deer and chipmunks. And in the distance, I could hear the voices two men who were busy sawing giant trees that had recently fallen across the trail. Amazingly, they had to do all this work by hand. No chainsaws. Just two rangers standing on opposite sides of a fallen tree pushing a long cross-cut saw back and forth.
With the trail temporarily flattening out here, I detoured around the rangers so they had plenty of room to do their work. I was now on the edge of Manning Camp and passing by the established forest campsites with metal fire pits and long logs for campers to sit by the fire.
It was a nice campground for those who planned to stay the night up there. But it was only 1:30 pm, and I 100% wanted to camp at a much lower elevation! Even in the early afternoon, it was super cold up at Manning Camp.
A bit further up, I could see the log cabin built in 1905 by Levi Manning (the former Surveyor General of the Arizona Territory and mayor of Tucson). According to a nearby sign, Manning and his family spent several summers up here, raising vegetables and cattle, and escaping the desert heat.
Once the mountain became part of the national forest though, the Manning family abandoned the historic log cabin. These days, it’s primarily used by fire and trail crews, researchers, and park rangers.
Back behind the cabin, I found some picnic tables and empty horse stalls surrounded by tall pine trees. But even when I settled into a spot in some direct sunlight to eat lunch, the temperature couldn’t have been more than 45-50°F up here. Now that I was no longer moving, I had to pull my jacket, beanie hat, and gloves out of my pack just to stay warm.
After lunch, I found another trail register up by the cabin and flipped it open to add my name to the ledger. It contained all the same names as before, but this register had a new column – the time of day visitors passed through the campground.
I scanned the names written above mine. Cheez-it had been here just a few hours ago. And Ratio was here at 7 am this morning. Perhaps I’d catch up and meet one or both of them in the next few days. For now, I was the only hiker up here at Manning Camp though. Just me and the rangers cutting their fallen trees.
Manning Camp’s water spigot was still turned off for the season, so I was relegated to grabbing some water from the fast-moving creek down behind the horse corrals. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised to learn the water was wicked cold as I dipped my water bladder in for two fresh liters. Everything about this high-altitude camp was like an icebox!
Thank goodness I was planning to continue gravity filtering my water because I think my fingers would have gone completely numb if I spent the next 5-10 minutes trying to squeeze my water bladder.
I sure hope Prov is prepared for a cold, cold experience camping up here tonight!
TO THE BOUNDARY
Throughout my climb from the park’s southern boundary, I’d focused my efforts on just getting up to Manning Camp by 3:30 pm. I figured that cut-off would give me enough time to hike back down to the northern boundary before dark. Yet I was ahead of schedule. I would have little problem making it the final miles in time.
I still had a few obstacles to get past before I made it to camp tonight. First off, I wasn’t at the top of the pass yet. Manning Camp was nearly 1.5 miles from the highest point I’d need to climb for the day.
As I marched forward, more and more snow appeared around me and occasionally across the trail. Once again, deer emerged from the forest without a care in the world. Living in a national park probably has its perks.
Once I made it to the pass next to Mica Mountain’s summit, a new challenge emerged — navigating the snow on the north side of the pass. It seemed that the north side of all these mountains in Arizona were covered in snow. And today was no exception!
I don’t mind a bit of snow here and there, but it was still icy in places. Navigating an icy trail while going downhill always had a bit of a treacherous aspect to it. But, at least the views were nice. Plus, I had the benefit of hiking this stretch during the warmest part of the day when the conditions were far less icy than early in the morning.
Once I dropped down low enough for the majority of the snow to fade away, it was only about an hour longer until I got to the park’s boundary.
I’m not sure why there was a barrier across the trail here, but as I pressed forward through the metal gate, I felt like a weight being removed from my shoulders. All day long, my focus was on getting through the 18 miles of the park without stopping. And now I had the freedom to camp anywhere I wanted once again!! It was only 4:15 pm, though, so I was fairly certain I could push a few more miles north before dark.
As the trail continued to descend, I was captivated by a series of rocky outcroppings nearby. They had some sort of stripes or stains across them that reminded me of a tie-dyed piece of fabric.
A few good campsites emerged here and there beside the trail, but I continued pushing on. With Saguaro National Park behind me, my new goal was to camp somewhere near water tonight. And hopefully I had the perfect spot.
A comment in my FarOut App said there were some pools of water (like the ones I’d seen earlier this morning) near mile 143.5. That should give me a 19-mile day. A solid effort, especially when you consider that the day included the big climb over Mica Mountain.
Sure enough, the water source was exactly where the comments promised, and it was nice and clear too. As a bonus, I spotted a perfect campsite for a single tent near the wooden sign for the Rincon Wilderness boundary just another quarter mile beyond the water.
I was back down to 5,000’ elevation once again, which should make it a considerably more comfortable night than up at Manning Camp!
And so I set up my tent in this sublime spot nestled by tall grasses, and I ate dinner as the sun set behind me. What a day! I walked through some fantastic scenery in a national park, and up and over a tall mountain, and my journey was bookended with a wonderful sunrise and sunset.
HIGHLIGHTS
- I’m really proud of myself for how easily I was able to make my way up Mica Mountain. I rocked it today! Maybe my trail legs are finally kicking in.
- Saguaro National Park had some of the best scenery of the Arizona Trail thus far. I’m so glad they routed the trail into this park.
- I had plenty of really good water sources today! Nothing at all like the muddy cattle ponds earlier on the trail.
CHALLENGES
- It was a really chilly day. I woke up to partially frozen water bottles, and I was shivering up at Manning Camp.
- The trail conditions on the north side of Mica Mountain’s descent were pretty challenging with the snow and ice. I had to pay close attention to my footing as I navigated that section.
- I’m starting to develop a bit of chafe on my thighs from these new hiking pants. If this keeps up, I may have to hike in my leggings (which I bought to sleep in) rather than my hiking pants!