The Dry & Beautiful

We picked up the trail north Tucson, near the town of Oracle, off hwy 77. Knowing that water would be scarce in this section, our packs were both laden with food and drink.

This section of trail was a great reminder that the kindness of humanity is still intact. While we hit the trail with close to 10lbs of water each, we soon found that every other road crossing had a few gallons of water that some kind soul had left for hikers. While we try to avoid these where we can, their presence always made us smile.

However, at a certain point, even the water caches became scarce, and the only sources of refreshment to be found were green stock tanks. Occasionally we were lucky enough to access the float valve to the tank, and got fresh hot plastic tea water instead. Life of a desert rat…

Yet it seems that the drier it gets, the more flowers we see. Whole hillsides have begun to turn yellow, with streaks of purple lupine running down the slopes. We are even beginning to see Mexican and California poppies in gregarious quantities as well. The diversity and density is like nothing we’ve ever seen here before.

almost lost Mandalynn amongst the lupines!

Though spring is off to a great start, temperatures still drop below freezing at night here and there. Nothing quite beats freezing condensation on top of your sleeping bag when you wake up in the morning. Thankfully a nearby collapsed windmill made a great clothesline, and our bag dried out relatively quick.

For half a dozen miles the flowers lulled in their intensity. But a few hours into the following day, in the distance, one could see a drainage with gold ribbons stemming out in long waves, running up the hills on the other side. One particular patch was so dense, it could be seen from miles away. Like the soil had turned to gold. When we finally got down to the drainage, we couldn’t help but bushwhack through the cholla cactus and under a fence to find the heart of it. Never before have we seen poppies like this, nor do I think we will for a long time. After taking more than enough pictures, we contined on for another hour to our next stock pond.

The sea of poppies!

We finished the day with some of the first big trail magic that we’ve seen. A man by the name of Sequoia, hosted us in his camp, stocked with beverages, fruit, chairs, cookies and company. We met several other hikers here from the Grand Enchantment Trail, and had many great conversations with the people we met there.

We woke up surprisingly early, everyone getting their move on making coffee and breakfast. Sequoia dished up some amazing scrambled eggs and grits that we gladly disappeared.

We hiked 20 mikes the next day in order to get to a decent water source (plastic stock tank with accessible float valve!) and onto beautiful campsite on the mountain top. We fell asleep to a gorgeous sunset, and a warm breeze blowing at our feet. But with just our luck, the wind not only picked up significantly in the early hours of the morning, but also changed direction by 180°. As a result we found our quilt being inflated like a balloon in the night, stealing all the warmth we went to bed with.

Our camp upon the mountain

Eager for change, we awoke early and skipped down the mountain before stopping for breakfast or to catch our breath.

The wild flowers started to pick up once more, with the addition of blooming globemallow once we finally hit the Gila River. We hiked past the river a short ways to Mineral creek, where we found a spot in the shade by the clear water, and rested for several hours. Here we met Frank, the local who grew up here, moved to Scottsdale, but still works for the county running a road grader. We talked for the better part of an hour, and he informed us that mineral creek comes down from the mine and we probably don’t want to drink it.

do you see our trail?

We played the next 30 miles like a game of chess, avoiding the midday sun as best we could, planning our days based on the presence of shade and water.

We spent an interesting night on the river, filled with crying cats and obnoxious neighbors. We suspected there was a den opposite of the river, where we could hear the crying in the night and into the morning. Mandalynn even spotted one in the night from our tarp! Meanwhile a large group of hikers we shared our camp with got up real early and real loud, making sure we knew just how fast they were and how far they were hiking… Luckily they should be far ahead of us now.

Home on the Gila

It was a lovely time following the Gila, almost 16 miles in all – its flowers and canyons ever changing. The following night we even met some wonderful bike-packers that reconciled our neighbors from the night prior. But alas, the time had come for us to leave waters of the Gila, even if they were full of silt and hard to filter.

One of many needles

Determined to beat the heat, we rose well before the sun, and left camp by 6:40. Our timing was great as we climbed up the east side of the canyon, and were shaded in the early morning sun. We climbed a couple thousand feet over a very well graded trail, knocking out most of our exposed climb before noon. From the high pass, we descended into a beautifully rugged and and extremely dry canyon, with many vertically stark rock formations. We even passed right by the “needle” shaped rock we saw on the horizon so many days ago, somewhere in the Rincons or Catalinas.

At midday we hit a surprisingly large water source behind an earthen damn that supplied us with the rest of the day’s water. We filled our canteens, but did not linger long, as there was little to no shade to be found. A couple miles further, and we hit a wash that provided us with the shady relief we were looking for. We took a long and enjoyable afternoon siesta there, as we waited out the heat of the day.

Picket Post Mountain

Around 3:00 we continued hiking, anxious to hit the highway on the horizon. We pushed out another 9 miles in record time, and arrived at the picket post trail head as the sun began to set. In the morning we caught a ride into the small mining town of Superior, where we are resupplying for the next stretch. 300 miles down and 500 to go!

Cheers from Superior!

Stump & Mandalynn