Being southern Arizona, water is scarce, especially this time of season. Though, this morning, where there was some amount of moisture in the arid soil, crunchy frost sprouted. The winds were potent all night and even worse this morning. I had a slow pack up, largely due to obstruction from my whipping tent.
I made for Summerhaven, the community at the base of the Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley — the southern most ski resort in the United States. It was a windy walk along the Oracle Ridge, but certainly a great show of desert scenery.
| 🗓️ Date | November 12th |
| ⇢ Mileage | 21.0 |
| 📍 Trip Mileage | 623.8 |
| ⛅️ Weather | Frosty morning on the Oracle Ridge with 30mph wind gusts, high of 55°F in town leading into a pleasant evening |
| 🏞️ Trail Conditions | Mix of dirt road and single track to the highway into Summerhaven, steep single track down the south side of Mt. Lemmon |
An interesting compound was visible southwest of me. A look on Google Maps should it to be Biosphere 2, an artificial enclosed building of ecosystems. It was originally built to test the viability of humans existing in an ecological system in outer space. Scientists lived in the biosphere for closed-system experiments from 1991 to 1993 and again in 1994. The experiment ran into a significant issue though — the organic rich soil supported bacteria that consumed too much oxygen, killing off other parts of the ecosystem and creating dangerously low levels for the crew involved the experiment. Later experiments, though, indicate to have resolved oxygen consumption issues.
I made it to Summerhaven before 10am. The general store was the only spot open, and ice cream seemed the only calorically dense item available for breakfast. This is my last stop before I hop off info Tucson, so I charged up and lightly resupplied. Summerhaven sits a couple hundred below 8,000 feet in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Town isn’t much — two restaurants, post office, general store, rental cabins, and many private mountain residencies. It’s a bit like the trail town Wrightwood of the PCT, except ten times smaller.
After loitering at the general store charging my items, I started heading out of town around 2pm, but fell for the Cookie Cabin tourist trap. After a couple slices of pizza and eight-inch diameter brownie cookie, I made a true 3pm exit from Summerhaven.
The trailhead at Marshall Gulch was bumping with partying people doing cookouts and what not. It seems Mt. Lemmon is a weekend destination. Luckily and quickly, I was well away from anyone within a couple miles of walking. Ponderosas returned on the south side of Mt. Lemmon and rock features of granite stone reminded me of the Southern Sierra and Mt, San Jacinto.
The south side of the mountain had some big steps and technical footing due to the bouldered terrain. The 5,000-feet of descent to camp was felt by my ankle. I rolled into camp at Hutch’s Pool around 8pm. I debated dinner and decided to skip it. I get the feeling cowboy camping near this stagnant water source will bring about some bugs tonight.
Signing off,
Zeppelin
“Freak on a Leash”
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