Author: kaulua26

Tuesday, Feb 4th 2025, 0630-1300Mm82 to Arizona City, end section 113 miles. I woke up around 4 am hearing repetitive noises. Finally I realized it was somebody firing a gun. It wasn’t rapid, more like someone target practicing. But I couldn’t figure out how that could be done in the dark? It was still going on when I packed and started walking. Sadly, it seemed to be in the direction I needed to head for a cross country bit through the Sawtooths. So I checked my map and found a short dirt road alternate instead. My morning was pretty easy and very pleasant, with views of the prominent pinnacles of the small mountain range. After only an hour, I left[…]

Monday, Feb 3rd 2025, 0700-1900Mm56 to just past Sawtooth guzzler mm82, section 126 miles. As great as the day before was, this one was kind of a dud. I started with a walk along an old railroad bed, which was ok except that there were deep cut-outs where washes came through. Long ago there were bridges, but all had since collapsed. So it was some effort finding a way down and then up through the cuts. Still, it was kind of cool to be following such an old railroad bed. Along the way, I heard a rooster crowing, so there must have been a ranch nearby. Then there was a lot of dirt road walking, where I went past a boondocking couple[…]

Sunday, Feb 2nd 2025, 0710-1740Saturn tank to wash near mm56 , section 123.5 miles. The silence overnight was mind-blowing. There have been few places I’ve been with such an utter lack of sound. I heard a handful of cow moos and planes flying over, but that was it. I really felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. So much for being afraid of migrant or drug running activities in the area. Other than really old discarded items like backpacks and water bottles, there was no evidence of recent activity, nor did I hear anything suspicious. I packed in the dark and was just hitting the dirt road as it got light. Out of an abundance of caution, it[…]

Saturday, Feb 1st 2025, 0640-1820Just outside SNP to past Saturn tank, section 1 mm 33.23.5 miles. I woke early and started walking a series of paved roads that turned into dirt toads, all leading west across the low valley. At times I was even following roads to the SW, which was slightly demotivating, since eventually I needed to start heading northwest. I entered the Ironwood Forest National Monument area…there wasn’t much to see other than a few boondockers, initially. There were also some 4wd vehicles out and about, and even a guy on a gravel bike. One of the 4wds stopped to report that he’d had to turn around at a locked gate that had private property signs posted. I[…]

Friday, Jan 31st 2025, 0640-1710Romero Canyon pools, Section 1A mm 3.75 to Catalina SP fee station, then some jockying around to get back to the El Camino del Cerro trailhead, then hike through SNP.14 miles. I’ve never done a thru-hike where I “officially” started the hike in some fashion 3 days in a row. It had been kind of fun each day, but I was also starting to feel like I was stuck in a holding pattern around Tucson. Today was the day I finally broke free, making forward progress west along the official route. First I needed to finish the last few miles down Romero canyon. I packed so early that it was still quite dark, and I had[…]

Wednesday, Jan 29th, 2025, 0750-1700Catalina SP fee station to El Camino del Cerro (Sweetwater) TH SNP, Section 1A mm 8.5 to 27.519 miles I stayed up way too late trying to sync all my last minute plans and then had a terrible time trying to sleep. For some reason, all the negative thoughts I sometimes get before a hike flooded my mind. It had been awhile since I struggled with so much anxiety. I barely got more than 2 hours of sleep before I had to get up. Josh generously offered to drive me to Catalina State Park before he had to go to work in the morning, so we left bright and early at 6 am.  Once I got[…]

I flew from Miami to Tucson on January 28th, just in time to welcome the rain and cold sweeping in on a front. The forecast called for a 60% chance of rain the next day, planned start of my hike, plus snow up to an inch on nearby Mt Lemmon. As was typical, this left me scrambling to change my plans. But I wasn’t at all put-off by such weather; in fact, I welcomed it as a positive sign. I was hopeful it was the start of the usual winter precipitation patterns returning to the SW. The region had been hit by a very bad drought since the previous spring. The summer monsoons had been weak to non-existent and the winter[…]