This is my third section and longest yet! Knowing I was only hiking 9 relatively flat miles out of Colossal Cave today I didn’t worry about getting out of the campsite early. I had already stayed 3 nights in the lower La Posta Quemada Ranch campground and soaked up as much relaxation as I could. Sadly there was no shower, but I was able to use the sink to clean up, wash out some clothes. I even tried to wash my hair – it wasn’t real successful! There was a resident cardinal and vermillion flycatcher in the campground. Both were striking red and even the female counterparts flaunted a vibrant orange. After telling myself I did indeed need to leave this comfortable nest and hike on, I indulged in two coffees I made and really took my time packing up before I even left at 12:15. It was an enjoyable lazy start I completed those 9 easy miles arrived at my campsite by 5 PM. Today’s scenery highlighted some of the best saguaro I have seen; each is so unique with their many arms and growing little nubs that are shaped in so many ways. Sometimes they grow off of the old dead looking arms. I feel like everybody should see this cactus once in their life. I read that they can grow to be over 250 years old!! Vanessa, who was also staying at the campground, told me that the Native Americans believe that the saguaro inhabit the souls of with their ancestors. I could 100% see that. So mighty and tall. Tonight’s campsite is right outside the entrance to the Saguaro National Park East. There are only two places that you can camp within the park, using the prepaid the prepaid permit required by the park specifically for Arizona Trail hikers. One is a little over 9 miles from my ending point today and the other is 13 miles ahead. Both routes head up Mica Mountain. I knew I wanted to take the first couple days of this section a little easier so I’m only going to the first campground tomorrow, another 9 miles. Now that has a lot to do with elevation and the fact that it will be warmer down at the second campground as compared to the top of Mica at 7,936 ft tall. But tonight I have the most amazing campsite. I walked a little offtrail into a meadow surrounded by spring blooms, cactus of all varieties, and a 180° view of the mountains. The sunset is fantastic as I on the edge of my tent, feet hanging out, eating my dinner at 6:30. Such a good moment that I decide not to reach for the camera. My hands still have the slight fragrance of sage on them from rubbing the leaves of the aromatic plant I hiked through all day. It’s one of my favorite scents in the entire world.

I slept with the tent fly off that night as there was no wind and the temperature was very mild. It’s been two weeks on trail and I still haven’t been able to sleep like that because it’s been so chilly. One of my favorite things about this tent is that it’s all mesh except for the very bottom and I can just look at the stars and the moon as I lay snuggled at night….if the conditions are right. And believe me, the sky is stunning out here in the desert. Well, I woke up at some point in the middle of the night because my sleeping bag was wet from a heavy dew. Fortunately, my Western Mountaineering bag is so great that even when it gets a little wet on the top it still keeps me warm on the inside. When I finally poked my head out of my bag at 7:15 the following morning, I knew I needed to let my tent and sleeping bag dry out before I could even begin hiking. Not being in a rush this morning, since I had another short day, I made a coffee and designated myself Camp Host of the area. Walking in my thermals, socks and sandals, coffee in hand, I walked over to the tent of a girl I saw when I entered this camping meadow last night. She mentioned she was feeling nervous about the climb today and I was curious how she was feeling this morning. Fortunately, Scott (another hiker at the Colossal Cave Campground), hooked me up with a homemade coffee mug insulator and I was not at risk of losing the precious heat I used from the limited supply in my fuel canister for the week. The lightweight mugs we all use are single wall titanium and lose heat quickly. He made this insulator himself out of a sunvisor that you put in the dash of your car. I was telling him how quickly my coffee was getting cold and before he left he gifted it to me. He also made one that fits around the backpacker meal pouches as a sleeve to keep it nice and hot and help cook faster. I know I’ll be at the dollar store buying a sunvisor to retrofit and outfitting myself some custom-made gear now that he shared this hiker tip with me.

The first half of the day was jaw dropping and made me feel as if I was walking through a forest of Saguaro. That’s how dense they felt in the wide open desert. They resided with the usual suspects of cactus, juniper and blooming manzanita as I hiked higher in elevation, climbing the south side of Mica Mountain.  Arriving to Grass Shack campground before 4, I did my normal setup and dinner prep routine and was snuggled in my bag by 5:20. I intentionally set my tent up next to a creek with a good amount of white noise in the background. There are close to a dozen other hikers coming out of the Colossal Cave area and camping here tonight. I’m trying to drown out all the noise. I generally prefer camping solo so I don’t wake up to someone else’s noise. I wake up later than the average hiker.

I have been wearing the new shoes that Rob shipped me and my feet are back in shape and feeling great. I’m not thinking about them all day anymore which makes a ‘desert’ of difference in my daily experience. All my blisters are gone!!

Day three’s summit up to Mica Mountain was about 500 feet per mile, not a terrible ascent. At approximately 7,000 ft I was rewarded with Alpine landscape: pine trees and snow patches. There was still the random cactus that would surprise me. I detoured from the trail to locate a nice grassy area for lunch and laid out my tent and sleeping bag to dry while I fueled up and rested for a bit. My tent dries in about 5 minutes of sun, but my feet prefer a lot longer to be outside of their sock and shoe armor for a midday reprieve. Coming down the north side of Mica after lunch I stumbled upon a miraculous 180° view. It didn’t matter that I just took an hour break. I instantly threw down my bag and took another respite. There is just no way to capture the intensity of the vista or depth of field in a photo. I am constantly disappointed when I look through my photos. Quite frankly, I enjoy the entire day hiking, but sometimes you have a blow away moment, and this was one of them. Strangely there are no saguaro on this side of the mountain and haven’t been for many miles before even summiting Mica.

I met a local (who also hiked the AZT) on trail yesterday who said this is one of the wettest years on record. There is so much water flowing that there was even a double tier waterfall on the way up the Mica. In the middle of the desert!!! It’s really such a blessing to have this much water available. I only drank 2 liters of water today because of the cooler temps at the higher elevation. Compare that to the 5 liters I drink the day before on the exposed and hot desert floor. That’s over twenty 8 oz. cups. The descent was steep and rocky, but it was easy for me in my new shoes. The scenery today has been so mind blowing that I almost didn’t want the day to end, but alas, my feet have told me I am done. They don’t hurt. They’re just tender and after 14 miles I don’t blame them. I ended up camping in a cow pasture a little before six. My dinner tonight is a cheap bag of mushroom stroganoff mix that you get in the grocery store for two bucks plus a dollar pack of a mushroom sauce mix that I add for extra flavor in lieu of the butter and milk that the bagged pasta calls for. It is so freaking delicious. Processed, yes. And full of sodium. Would I eat this normally? Absolutely not, but when you’re hiking, you have to throw all that out the window. I need calories, carbs and protein. And I need them now! Last night I made a cheddar broccoli version of the same thing, but I added too much water and it ended up being basically soup with noodles in it. I ate it and didn’t even mind because I knew it would fuel me the next day. I also knew I wouldn’t make that mistake again. I’m not really sure I have enough gas to make myself a hot dinner tomorrow night so I’ll be stopping at two campgrounds that are in the backcountry on my route and asking the camp hosts if anybody’s left behind a bit of fuel. Worse comes to worse I can cold soak mashed potatoes, but that will taste about us disgusting as it sounds. I am so detached from the enjoyment of food when I hike, I just want it to be easy and fueling.

It’s 6:51 AM on day four and I am in my tent watching the sun come up over the hill while the dew dries off the fly. When I arrived last night and set my tent up, a group of approximately 8 cow of mixed size and intimidation started to make noises that got me a little worried. They were staring at me and huffing. It was at that exact moment that Rob called me and I told him what was happening. He instructed me to make a lot of noise and tell them to shoo. I did just that and they all ran away. Phew! I almost never have my phone out of airplane mode and it was strange that the ringer was on, but totally meant to be at that moment. I was about to get my hiking pole and keep it with me ‘just in case.’ That’s the most scared I have been ion trail, and honestly, that wasn’t that bad. The cows just wanted my food!!! I’m pretty sure I heard one cow eating grass right outside my tent at some point early the next morning. Chew chew chew. And you should hear a cow take a pee. It’s a waterfall. Today the terrain is undulating on the desert floor and I’m really just looking to cover some easy miles to get as close to Romero Pass as possible. I’m moving towards the summit of my second peak this week, Mount Lemmon. I am really hoping not to have snow on the mountain, but have micro spikes just in case.

As expected, the following morning I woke up with the cows, washed my face in the little bit of water that was running down some rocks, dried my tent out again from a heavy dew and then got on the road singing a song. Literally. I was feeling a little depleted today so early on I decided to take it easy and slow and take as many breaks as I needed to. The miles would be relatively easy for the day, even though there were many of them. With the days getting longer there was just no need to rush. Spoiler alert: turns out I was wrong about some of the easy miles. Climbing Molino Basin at the end of the day with the sun right on me felt harder than climbing Mica Mountain earlier in the week. But persevere I did and then strangely ended the day at a public campground that intersected with the trail. I fell asleep to other campers’ music and headlights and noise. Somehow that felt a little comforting. Falling asleep to that medley of campground sounds I knew that I had done enough miles today to set myself up for success to start the summit of Mount Lemmon tomorrow. There ain’t much in the tiny town of Sumerhaven atop the mountain, but there is a restaurant where I (and practically every single hiker) plan to be as they open their doors at 10:30 AM. I haven’t had a real meal in two weeks since Patagonia and a little different food sound pretty good.

I was gifted with the easiest descent down Sabino Canyon the next morning and gladly put myself on cruise control for 5 miles. In the depths of the canyon I was delighted to find a long rushing creek. Now this was a welcome find for two reasons. One, I needed water to drink. Almost more importantly, I really wanted to bathe! I have cleaned myself, but not taken a shower in two weeks and the thought of stripping down and getting into this snow melt water was so appealing that I didn’t even hesitate. I broke out my eco-friendly Dr. Bronner soap and gave myself a full cleaning. I was already having a great day getting through my miles much easier than expected, but now I was having a stupendous day. To top off my good luck I ran into someone on the trail coming in the opposite direction. Immediately asking whether they just came from Mount Lemmon, and whether there was any snow, he responded, “no!” A couple patches but nothing to even think about. Woohoo!!!! No snow is a dream right now! Who cares about that microspike I lost coming down Mica! At least I had it and I shouldn’t need any more snow gear going forward. This day is amazing.

Shortly after that I ran into two separate ladies who each told me I was an inspiration for hiking out here on my own. One of them wanted a photo with me. I made sure to tell them that at least 50% of the people out here are women hiking solo.  After a hugely successful day completing nearly 16 miles with nearly all of the ascent of Mt Lemmon covered I camped near a seasonal stream with Slowpoke and Daddy Long Legs. Only 6 miles to get up to breakfast tomorrow morning in Summerhaven! That hike up Mount Lemmon was so much easier than I expected and I was feeling really confident and strong. Given that I had spent the last few days hiking towards the mountain and prepping to have the most successful hike up in potential inclement weather, I was really pleased to have a snow free trail ahead of me.

I felt like I practically ran up the trail today because I was carrying so little water due to the fact there is so much flowing everywhere. Barely having to carry water is making the difference in my life right now. Shaving pounds off my back. The day took a left turn from being fantastic when it came time to make my dinner. I indeed did have enough fuel for one last boil and now I see that these tiny canisters really go along way. I was gonna make a quick fettuccine Alfredo, but I had this vegetarian chili seasoning that I never used for mashed potatoes and had the outrageous idea to add the two together. It was unbelievably disgusting and spicy, but it was what I had to eat for my meal. I love spicy food but this was overboard and thankfully I had one tortilla left because I had to put the noodles inside the tortilla just to eat it and try to scrape off as much sauce as possible. This meal would go down as the worst one this week.

Friday morning found me up early, washing my face in the nearby creek and popping off to Summerhaven for the last 6 miles. The miles hiking into town ALWAYS FEEL SO LONG! The anticipation is too much! The last mile was a road walk that took you off the trail next to a public campground. First of all, I have to say Summerhaven is very literally a haven for the summer. At nearly 8,000 feet with pine trees, in cooler weather this is the place to come when the desert floor is scorching. It’s very pretty up here and the town is the size of a postage stamp. I easily pass through town, stopping at the general store where they offer a free coffee to hikers. I made myself a beverage buffet at 10:30 AM with my free coffee, a split of sparkling and a mango nectar. These acidic carbs never tasted so good. I don’t get a lot of acid taste on trail and it was welcome to my taste buds. Somehow this ascent felt like a celebration and I rose to the occasion. I sipped and spent a little bit of time connecting on my phone and charging my battery pack on their very lovely patio with benches. I chatted with a few hikers and then walked across to the few shops in town where I bought a couple postcards and finally ended at the Sawmill Run restaurant. Lions Mane tacos hit the spot. I spent four hours in town doing nothing but relaxing, people watching and hanging out. By 2:30 I decided I needed to make some effort to get back on trail so I could get in the rest of my miles at a reasonable. I was skipping, singing and dancing down the trail for another 9 miles on my way to Oracle. The descent was really steep and rocky but it couldn’t deter my good mood. Towards the ends of the day I had the most incredible view of the sun setting over the wide open desert. I checked to see if I had service and when I saw I did I immediately FaceTimed Rob to show him. The photos don’t capture the desert well so I was hoping the video would. It worked!!! He could see the desert islands sitting in the sunset haze. I searched out the perfect spot for sunset and landed on a beautiful ridge to for my final night of the stretch. I felt really positive about the miles I hiked and the way things went. All I had to do was hike another six miles in the morning to the American Flag Trailhead and a trail angel would pick me up and take me back to her place in Oracle. She is about the only person in this town housing hikers so I’m thankful to have the resource! I need a shower, laundry, a good coffee and my final resupply box I dropped off before starting. 194 miles complete!!!!!