Homeward Bound – The Santa Rita Mountains

After a great sleep, multiple breakfast burritos, and lots of dog lovin’, we said our goodbyes and hit the trail by 11:00. Our stay in Patagonia was beautiful in every way imaginable. We even brought a piece of cake with us that we saved for dessert later down the trail.

only 734 miles to go!

The “Trail” leading out of Patagonia is a well traveled dirt road. With a major mine clean-up and rehabilitation project underway, we took a detour that took us several miles out of the way, had far less water and was poorly marked in many places. This is how we spent most of the afternoon. As there was very little information on the detour, we spent a lot of time wondering where we were going.

Once we finally rejoined the trail, a great weight was lifted from our shoulders. There is something a little unnerving about wandering for hours without much indication as to where we are headed or why. Especially when water is limited. When we at last arrived at anaconda spring, we settled for an early camp next to the stream…

The next day was one of hardest days we’ve had on trail. As we left the flowing waters of Gardner canyon, we headed for the historically (gold) rich hills of Boston Gulch and Kentucky camp. We luckily found water at Kentucky camp, an old mining encampment turned into a museum and cabins. While the camp was deserted, we filled our canteens and kept going. With rumors of a great camp just ahead, we continued north.

We soon discovered the camp, but it was so exposed in the howling wind that we decided to keep going, looking for something a little more sheltered. Half a mile turned to a mile, turned to two. Exhausted and wind beaten, we settled for a flat-ish spot next to a stock tank. The whipping wind made getting the tarp setup extremely difficult. As I went to drive the first stake into the ground, I felt a little prick on my hand and thought nothing of it. Until I saw the little translucent scorpion run away. “It’s just like a bee sting,” I said, “It’ll be fine…”

We contined to setup the tarp and get our camp setup as best we could given the circumstances. The spot was riddled with sun-dried cow patties, that turned to dust in the wind, constantly blowing into our faces, food, tea etc.. In the beam of the headlamp, you could see just how thick it was in the air. This was about the time my hand began feeling like it was being crushed between molten anvils. But the feeling didn’t stop there. It began to move up my arm past my elbow, shooting with erratic pain at every movement.

Our good friend – Centruroides sculpturatus

With a little research, we discover that I was stung by the only poisonous scorpion in North America – the Arizona Bark Scorpion. While I never had any swelling, I did not sleep that night and the pain rendered my arm useless the next day. After 2.5 days the pain faded, but even as I write this 5 days later, a portion of my stung finger remains totally numb. Needless to say I’ll be looking under every rock for a good while to come.

looking north to stump mountain

Near the end of the Santa Ritas lies a mountain that is very special to our family. My grandfather would climb this mountain well into his 70’s and this love of hiking is something he passed on to me at a young age. In 2014, we scattered his ashes here, along with his two sons, who passed before their time. A couple hours of bushwhacking from the trail brought us here just in time for grandpa’s birthday and a little Stump family reunion. With family on the otherside of the moutain, we made a quick decent down the north face to my grandmother’s house. Here we will wait out the anticipated winter storm expected to bring more snow to the mountains around Tucson. Looks like our next section will be a cold one.

Cheers from Santa Ritas!

Stump & Mandalynn