[Day 27] Sky Island Hop

I’ve been seeing sky islands since I dropped off the Colorado Plateau, but down south, I find myself hopping between the clusters of peaks using the trail highways in the desert below. The term “sky islands” refers to the isolated mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona and Northern Mexico. From a viewpoint, these ranges span the skyline culminating in a singular peak. Add in a bit of haze above the desert floor, there is the impression of numerous separate archipelagos rising above a drained, desolate sea. Coniferous forests of ponderosa and Arizona pine mark the 7,000 to 9,000 foot high points of these islands. The washed-out barren, wilderness desert oceans consist of prickly pear cactus, ocotillo whitethorn acacia, and saguaros. In between, transition zones of agave, yucca, manzanita, oaks, and pinyon pines ascend the granite boulder slopes.

Today’s walking was a move from one island to another — the Santa Catalina’s to the Rincon Mountains. I rolled through the desert valleys of the Pugh Ridge Wilderness. A couple miles beyond the first water cache of the day, I came across two bikepackers who started a day ahead of me at the northern terminus. We had met on the Colorado Plateau a day before Flagstaff. Bikers are restricted from wilderness areas, so our paths diverged considerably near the town of Pine. But, here we were, reconnected. It sounds like they had taken a couple days off in Tucson, so our timelines weren’t quite one-to-one. But, it seems feasible (neglecting edge cases — the AZT bike race and FKT hikers) that the AZT can be backpacked self-supported about as fast as it might be bikepacked.

What is a feasible amount of time to hike the AZT? I think my walk thus far, and plenty of capable hikers before me, show that the trail can be completed at a comfortable, self-supported pace within a month, plus or minus a few days. The other documentations of month-long AZT excursions I found took place in the spring season — it’s hotter, but the days are longer and water is much more ample. The few people attempting FKT’s (fastest known times) typically favor the fall season for the cooler temperatures; daylight hours are not as critical since such people expect to be going late into the night anyway. What was my biggest hinderance to finishing in 30 days? I suppose the four to five hour loiter time to recharge my battery packs in town stops. If doing it over, I’d carry a smaller battery bank and a 5W solar charger, even in the southbound direction. Alone, that would have cut my town stops to one to two hour events.

The days are succinct. In mid-October, the sun rose at 6:30am and set by 6:30pm. Now, sunrise is 7am and sunset is 5:30pm. I rolled my way through Coronado National Forest en route for Mt. Mica and Saguaro National Park, hitting a water cache before heading towards the park boundary. As is the case with hiking overnight in national parks, a backcountry campsite permit is required. Since I’m not staying overnight, I decided to camp at the boundary. For Saguaro National Park, a day use pass is required as well, and I luckily purchased mine in Summerhaven.

I made it to the boundary of Saguaro National Park by 7:15pm, finding three other AZT hikers parked there as well. Somehow, they knew of Zeppelin — “some kid going fast as hell.” I suppose the bikepackers told them of me.

Signing off,

Zeppelin

“Freak on a Leash”