[Day 33] Miller Peak

Despite the many close-call visitations from a skunk last night, I fortunately started the day only smelling of body odor.

I made my way up towards Miller Peak, hitting my last water source at Bathtub Spring. On my final approach to the peak, I saw four or five white-tail deer (they have been plentiful since Tucson) and tiny splotches of snow on the trail. I was hoping for a bit more winter out of Arizona, but I suppose winter isn’t official yet.

The view atop Miller Peak, at 9,470 feet above sea level, capped off the Arizona Trail in fashion. These miles from Utah to Mexico have been an extraordinary show of one of the most biologically diverse mountain-desert ecosystems in the United States. From the subalpine grasslands of the Colorado Plateau, to the otherworldly gorge of the Grand Canyon, to the saguaro forested valleys and pine-decorated sky islands of the Sonoran, Arizona impresses beyond expectation and deserves national scenic recognition.

The trail steeply descended towards the Mexican border and Coronado National Memorial. As with the previous sky islands, the terrain dropped out of the forests, through semi-arid shrubland-covered ridges, and into grass-covered arid desert. Soon enough, I made my last miles to the Mexican border — the obelisk delineates the finalization of this 800-mile southwestern journey.

The Boundary Monument 102 marks the southern terminus of the Arizona Trail. These century-old border monoliths, standing about nine feet tall, were the product of surveys conducted after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase in the early 1890’s to improve upon and increase the small stone mounds that previously marked the border and often saw destruction. At this geopolitical line in the sand, a warning from the NPS advised of previous smuggling activities at this particular area of the international boundary. A small, awkward, 400-foot section of new wall construction extended west from the monument. I supposed the mountains of Coronado National Memorial steeply at the border, or maybe regulations regarding preservation of land within national memorial sites, prevented extension of the wall from the east. Actually, the change in presidency halted the construction which intends to build over the steep mountains of Coronado National Monument, connect with the small section at the obelisk, and continue building west towards the Patagonia Mountains. I’ve never cared too much for any of these terminus monuments, but the border of the AZT terminus is in an interesting, developing state.

I hiked back out from the border to Montezuma Pass in the Coronado National Memorial. The Coronado National Memorial commemorates the explorations of Coronado and Aztec allies who scoured the southwest even as far as into Kansas for cities of gold. The explorations and the clash of European and indigenous peoples created a resounding crucible of cultures that defines the southwest today. It was in the valley east of Miller Peak that Coronado’s party crossed the then nonexistent border of the U.S. and Mexico.

And, after 700 continuous miles of Arizona down to Tucson, a month away, and a finale of 100 miles to the Mexican border, I completed yet another national scenic trail. My journeys along the backbones of the American backcountries have only just begun. To paraphrase John Muir, going out into the wilderness truly is going in. I’ve merely scratched the surface — both of my introspective understandings and the amazing wildernesses of the land of freedom.

The American landscapes I saw this year have truly spoiled me. God bless the United States of America.

What is next for Zeppelin? We shall see…

Signing off,

Zeppelin

“Freak on a Leash”