My hiking partner Misty and I also hiked a different version of this loop last December (the Super Trail) with a similar pace. That hike is a little longer at over 15 miles, but it’s ever so slightly less steep. My hiking pal Jack and I will be hiking this trail this coming Friday. This will test something even more amorphous: my muscle recovery rate. But I feel pretty good right now.
Saw very few other hikers today, odd for such conditions (no snow on the ground for one), but it is a Monday. Perhaps people are a little depressed by the sudden plunge we are taking into a fascist dystopian apartheid theocracy. Or maybe they've just got better things to do at the mall during this Christmas season in end-capitalism.
Weather was pretty great today—clear skies and temps around 50º at the start around 8:30, rising to 70s at hike's end at 3:00 at the trailhead, which is around 5,000 feet in elevation. However, on the way up, it got cold enough for gloves, perhaps 40º. Wonderful day.
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A lone birder near the trailhead as we started out. |
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Looking north toward Tucson. |
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One of many observatories down here in Southern Arizona (tippy top of the next peak). |
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Misty, upbeat as anyone would be after hiking up 4,000 feet in 5 miles and having only downhill in her future. |
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| A rather vague trail toward the top really focuses the brain. |
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| Our trail ahead as it wends its way around the mountain. this is my favorite part of the hike and I we discovered a sign from the forest service that they will not be maintaining the trail in the future, allowing it to become wild. It was really noticeable with all the encroaching flora, much of it prickly. No trail for shorts. |
