Tortilla Mountains To Santa Catalina Mountains

Kearny turned out to be a very friendly town. The local pizza shop that appeared to be the center of activity actually picked me up from the trailhead (instead of delivering a pizza there). I was really grateful as the town is 7 miles away and the temperature was already approaching 100F.

The Center Of Kearny’s Universe

I actually wanted to take a zero day, but the only hotel in town was only available for one night, so the next day I went back to the pizza place for lunch and a ride back to the trail. 

Kearny’s Copper Mine In The Background 

The heat wave was still in full swing and the miles didn’t come easy. When I had climbed a ridge with great views over the copper basin area I set up camp and called it a day.

Copper Basin

The next morning I met a fellow southbound hiker, Spikes, and we hiked together for some time. This trail had been so incredibly remote that it was only the second time that I hiked with anyone for the 600 miles I’ve been on it.

Evening Vibes

The following days followed a similar pattern: great sunrises and morning views, increasing heat from mid morning, reaching upper 90s and even 100s in the afternoon and making hiking very difficult. Beautiful desert views in the late afternoon again, then cooling down a bit after sunset. 

Cholla

Every other day I hiked after dinner for a few more hours after dark to make up for the slow going in the hot afternoons. I don’t like night hiking as my main motivation is the scenery, but I only had provisions for a certain amount of days and the water sources were few and far between, so sometimes it was simply a necessity.

Prickly Pear At Sunset

When I got close to Oracle, my next resupply stop, I got my package much quicker than I thought thanks to an amazing trail angel, Rob, who saw me walking from the trail head into town and picked me up. Not only did he drive me to the post office, he invited me to a late lunch at the local Mexican restaurant, drove me to a Walmart a few towns away to get a gas can for my stove and brought me back to the trailhead. What an amazing guy!

Flowering Yucca

I hiked a few more miles until it started to get dark and camped at a nice spot overlooking the Oracle valley. It was very windy, so I cowboy camped again. I was rudely awakened by large rain drops hitting my face. A thunderstorm had developed while I slept. It was still too windy for the tent, so I just wrapped myself and my backpack into the rain tarp. Shortly after the rain turned to hail that pelted the tarp. I hugged my backpack, thought of the little town in Mexico by the Sea of Cortez where I planned to recuperate after finishing the AZT and fell back to sleep.

Dreaming Of Better Weather

Hail and rain ended a few hours later, but the strong wind continued through the night and actually dried everything again by the next morning. I had a quick breakfast and started heading up Oracle Ridge into the Santa Catalina Mountains.

The Only Way Is Up

It was a sunny morning, but storm clouds began forming soon and the next electrical storm was on its way. It soaked me pretty good despite my rain gear, but it passed after about an hour and I hiked on. 

Coming My Way - Again

When I had just dried, I reached the top of the ridge and another thunderstorm rolled in very fast. I was in a very exposed area and all of a sudden it occurred to me that my aluminum hiking poles looked very much like lightning rods. I scrambled down from the ridge just as the rain turned to hail again. This was by far the strongest of the three storms and it got very cold. I hunkered down while about an inch of hail accumulated around me. The heat wave was finally over. I continued to hike as soon as the center of the storm seemed to have moved away from the ridge as I needed to warm up. 

Interesting Rocks

I continued to climb up the ridge above the cloud level until I reached the small community of Summerhaven, which is next to the southernmost ski resort of the US, Mount Lemmon. I must have looked a bit distraught because the local Sheriff drove over and checked if I was ok. I was just cold and tired and luckily I found a cabin to rent. Again I was ready to take a zero day, but again the cabin was only available for one night.

Nice Place!

I warmed up, showered, washed and dried my gear and slept very well that night. 

When I left my cabin the next morning, the clouds were gone and the landscape looked very different. 

Fall Is Here

I was now on one of the Sky Islands, isolated mountains that raise up to 6000’ from the desert floor and, as the climate up there is colder, have very different plants and animals. I found myself in a beautiful forest with amazing fall colors.

Found Tarantulas Here Too

Shortly after I entered Push Ridge Wilderness with rock formations that reminded me of the Sierra Nevada.

Push Ridge Wilderness 

As I slowly made my way down to the desert floor on the southern side of the ridge, I suspiciously eyed the fast moving clouds in the sky, but they didn’t form another storm and slowly dissolved.

The next morning I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning with moderate temperatures. It seemed that both, the heat wave and the violent storms were behind me. Onwards to my next destination: Saguaro National Park and mighty Mica Mountain.

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