February 15, 2023
The Sonoran Desert is one of four deserts in the United States. It lies within the states of California and Arizona, as well as in portions of Mexico. The Sonoran is the hottest desert in the U.S. and is also distinct in having two seasons of rainfall. This rainfall pattern means that the Sonoran Desert has the most diverse vegetation of the four deserts. It was also the location of our latest section hike on the 800-mile Arizona Trail (AZT).
Because temperatures can get above 90°F in the spring (and become even hotter in the summer), we decided to trek this 90-mile section in the winter. Two years ago we created our own traverse in Joshua Tree National Park during the winter and had to contend with short days, cold nights, and gusty winds. So we were prepared for similar conditions, plus long carries between water sources, for this hike. We tried to maintain a sense of adventure as we timed our trek window for six days in early February.
The Arizona Trail has an amazing group of trail angels who are available to assist hikers with pickups, home stays, laundry, and meals. Using the trail’s Facebook group page, I found a trail angel who was willing to drive us to our starting trailhead (located about 35 miles north of Tucson) and pick us up at our completion trailhead close to her home in Superior, Arizona (about 60 miles east of Phoenix) in six days’ time. MJ also offered to let us park our car across the street from her place while we hiked.
So on a Thursday morning, we drove about five hours from our condo in Palm Desert to Superior. After checking into a hotel, we walked over to MJ’s to meet her and arrange a time to leave in the morning. She invited us for breakfast, and we agreed on a time. We then left to eat dinner at an excellent saloon on the town’s Main Street.
A Blustery and Pointed Start to Our Trek
In the days before we left home, I monitored the weather for our hike. Things looked good, with some cool day time and evening temperatures and no rain in the forecast. When we arrived at the hotel in Superior, I decided to check the forecast one last time. It now showed a different picture: high winds gusting 30 to 40 miles per hour on the first trekking day, followed by a significant chance of rain on days four and five of our hike.
We decided that the conditions were still acceptable, so we made our final gear preparations before going to sleep. During the night the wind blew so strongly outside our room that it kept waking me up, even though I was wearing ear plugs. It was still extremely windy as we checked out the next morning and drove the short distance to MJ’s house.
After enjoying a nice breakfast of freshly-baked blueberry muffins, bacon, and coffee, we left our car and climbed into MJ’s vehicle. During the one-hour-and-10-minute drive to the trailhead, we could see dust storms off in the distance. We tried to stay confident as we drove south, as we would be hiking in a remote area with the first available water (and camping) 12 miles down the trail.
The wind was so strong that we had trouble opening the car door when we arrived at the Tiger Mine Trailhead. We struggled out of the car with our gear and posed for a quick picture. My jacket was not zipped and blew open during the shot. After thanking MJ and waving goodbye, we were off on our section hike.
Because of the long drive to the trailhead, we didn’t get started hiking until about 10:15 am. Most of the stage took us through the Black Hills as we climbed into and out of a series of washes. The wind was strong, but the ascents and descents provided us with breaks from the continual gusts. Fortunately, the temperature stayed cool (in the 50°s F), because there was no shade.
As we continued walking, several cactus varieties appeared, including prickly pear, barrel, beavertail, and cholla.
It wasn’t long until we saw our first saguaro cactus. The iconic saguaro only grows in the wild in the Sonoran Desert. It is the largest cactus in the United States, reaching about 40 feet tall, and is typically found in elevations up to 4,000 feet. During our U.S. National Parks journey in 2017, we visited nearby Saguaro National Park to day hike among these giants.
Part of the allure of this Arizona Trail section was that we would be treated to seeing thousands of saguaros in the coming days.
As we passed by the teddy bear cholla cacti, it didn’t take long for us to encounter the “jumping cholla.” To propagate new plants, cholla pieces attach themselves to passing animals or, in this case, hiker’s shoes and pants. Typically, the pieces are carried until they drop off at a new location to root. We walked around many pieces littering the trail, but somehow still got cholla attached under our shoes and on the sides of our footwear and pants.
Unfortunately, Darren had several instances where the spines came right through his insoles and painfully into his feet. That necessitated stopping to remove the pieces, including using tweezers to get the spines out of his shoes. This greatly slowed our progress. I was fortunate because I have carbon fiber insoles in my shoes, which the spines could not penetrate.
The trail steadily climbed in the afternoon. Every so often we would have grand views of desert landscape in every direction.
After about 12 miles we crossed a dirt road and could see a large tank to our left. We turned down the road and walked for about a quarter of a mile to Mountain View Tank, the first reliable water source of the day. The tank itself required climbing up a ladder to access. Darren went up, but the low level of the water in the tank made it too difficult to retrieve. Instead, according to the crowdsourced trail app for the AZT, there was another source on the property. We headed there.
As these tanks are used by ranchers for their cattle, we prefiltered the water first to remove some of the sludge before running it through our regular filter. In the end the water filtered clean and just had a slight aftertaste.
It was now about 5:00 pm, and we wanted to find a campsite and get our tent up before the sun began to set in an hour. We retraced our steps on the dirt road to the trail and continued north along a level section of terrain. After a few minutes of hiking we found a site that was acceptable. Working together, we put up the tent and made dinner before it got pitch black outside.
As we entered the tent for the evening, the wind finally abated. We could hear the sounds of coyotes in the distance as we drifted to sleep in temperatures in the low 40°s F after the eventful first day.
A Welcome Water Cache Among the Cactus
One advantage of hiking on shorter days is that we got to witness the sunrises and sunsets each morning and evening. When we woke up to begin our second stage we were treated to a beautiful sunrise from our tent. Darren ventured outside to take a photo before we got ready.
As we hiked the first few miles of our 15.6-mile stage, we noticed that the ascents and descents were longer and steeper than the multiple wash traverses of the previous day. At the top of the climbs we were rewarded with views of hillsides full of saguaro cactus.
Ending another ascent, we came upon a view of hundreds of saguaros ahead of us. We still had to stop and contend with more “jumping chollas” and occasional stabbings from “wait-a-minute bushes,” a thorny shrub also known as Cat Claw. Some of the bush thorns penetrated my long pants and caused me to bleed in several places along my leg.
As we continued north, Antelope Peak (elevation 4,547 feet) came into view on the horizon. It was significant to us as we needed to traverse along its right ridge before ending our day.
Later, we hiked downhill to a large wash called Bloodsucker Wash. From there the trail began to climb.
Our next reliable water after the Mountain View Tank the night before was a solar-powered source called Beehive Well. It was only about seven trail miles from one source to the other, so we didn’t have to carry too much water between them.
As we arrived at the well we had an important decision to make. According to the app, the next reliable water was 20 miles down the trail. It would be the next day before we would reach that source. While we hiked to Beehive Well we discussed how much water we needed to carry to cover that distance, including our needs for both dinner and breakfast in the morning.
Fortunately, we came across a man and woman, hiking in the opposite direction, who were also filtering water at the well. As we both exchanged water reports we were happy to discover that there was a cache just eight miles further up the trail, near where we planned to camp for the night. This information enabled us to carry much less water for the upcoming climb along the Antelope Peak ridge.
The ascent around the peak took the rest of the afternoon. Earlier in the day we had briefly encountered some hail. So we left our waterproof pack covers on in case the weather took an abrupt turn for the worst.
As the sun began to drop in the sky, we reached the cache and quickly replenished our bottles. It was about 12 miles to the next reliable water tank, so we took enough to get us through the evening and half of the next day.
Just as we did at the end of the prior stage, we walked a few minutes further to look for an appropriate campsite. The terrain was somewhat rocky, so it took us a while to find a site. We raced to get things set up and get ourselves fed as the sun set on the day.
A Long Stage with a “Golden Hour” Finish
Our third stage was scheduled to be the flattest and easiest of our section hike. With the iffy weather report we had received for the fourth and fifth stage we planned to go further than the 16.8 miles that we had planned. It was a clear and warmer day with temperatures in the 60°s F. The miles came quickly in the morning as we continued to enjoy the variety of flora while we hiked.
In the early afternoon, after covering about 12 miles, we turned off to a dirt road to find the next water source, located at a rainwater catchment. The app directions were a little confusing, so we walked close to a half-mile before finally arriving at a structure. Darren climbed down under the top of the catchment and used our portable bucket to filter water from one of its two large tanks. After filling our bottles, we walked back toward the trail and found a flat spot on the ground to eat a late lunch.
After lunch the trail continued along some undulating dirt roads before returning to a dedicated path. A short time later we came to a confusing fork on the trail, but confirmed that the GPX on my phone and Darren’s watch pointed to a left turn rather than continuing on the straight path. After battling an overgrown trail for the next 20 minutes, we discovered that we had taken a wrong turn. The app had a newer version of the trail than the GPX I had downloaded a year ago from the Arizona Trail website. So we hiked cross country to rejoin the correct route, picking up more “Jumping cholla” spikes and wait-a-minute bush thorns in the process.
The only good thing that came from our detour was seeing an antelope jackrabbit just ahead of us.
Back on the trail, we began a gradual descent along hillsides filled with saguaro cactus.
We weaved through the foothills of the Tortilla Mountains and down into a wash. Our next source, which fed the water through a pipe, was located in the wash. It was 4:40 pm and just 1.6 miles to where we originally planned to camp for the night.
We were feeling good and decided to continue two miles further from the campsite (totaling 3.6 miles from the water source) to complete 19.3 trail miles for the day. As a further motivation, the trail app described some amazing campsites on top of a ridgeline where we could end our day.
To arrive on top of the ridge we needed to complete an exposed climb up a series of switchbacks. We figured it would take about two hours to hike the remaining distance, with an 850-foot elevation gain. Although we would arrive after sunset, we surmised we would still have some light from being up on top of the ridge.
After descending toward Ripsey Wash, we began the ascent up the so-called “Big Hill” to the scenic ridgeline.
As we began the climb we came across the most expansive vista yet of saguaro cactus.
The light turned to the “golden hour,” referring to the time of day shortly before sunset or after sunrise. Both the trail and hillside were bathed in sunlight around us.
Even though we were carrying enough water to last us 11 miles until the next source, we didn’t feel weighed down as we marveled at the magical scenery around us.
We made great progress and arrived on top of the ridge at about 6:20 pm. it was pretty windy at the top, but the campsites were as advertised, with incredible views. Darren dropped his pack to scout the best place to pitch our tent to minimize the wind. He found a suitable spot, and we set things up as darkness set in.
After eating dinner we had no trouble going to sleep after walking close to 21 actual miles, taking into account the extra distance to and from the catchment and the “bonus miles” we traveled during the wrong turn we took earlier in the day.
A Descent to the Gila River in Cold and Windy Conditions
When we woke up the next morning, we were able to better appreciate the ridgeline vista from our campsite. Our view was to the south, taking in the 47.2 trail miles we had trekked over the three previous days. While eating breakfast, I used our Garmin InReach satellite communicator to obtain an updated weather report. It showed significant rain beginning at 11:00 am and continuing off and on for the remainder of the day. With a forecasted high of only about 50° F, we knew it would be important to keep moving and stay warm.
As we reluctantly left our campsite and took in the view for one last time, we could see the sky was already growing dark to the south.
We were about seven miles and 2,300 feet of trail descent from the Gila River. But rather than climb down immediately, the path stayed high as it continued along the ridgeline. After about 45 minutes the rain came, which was much sooner than the late morning forecast. We changed into our rain jackets and pants and kept moving as a brisk cross wind blew at our left sides.
The weather changed to hail and freezing rain as we walked. The left side of my face and leg became numb from the cold wind and wet conditions. Our goal was to keep walking so that we could finally get off the ridge and begin our descent to the river.
After about an hour we finally began descending from the ridge. At almost the same time the wind abated and it stopped raining. With the sun peaking out, it became warmer, allowing us to dry out a little.
We reached the river at about 12:30 pm. Just off the trail was a paved road with a water spigot and plastic table and chairs for hiker use, courtesy of Arizona’s Pinal County. We sat and ate lunch and drank our share of water.
Just as we were ready to leave our lunch spot, it began to rain again. The Arizona Trail now turned from north to west to follow the river for the next 15 miles. The trail alternated between climbing up to ridges above the river and dropping down to water level every few miles. While on the ridges we could barely make out the river as it was covered by a series of cottonwood trees.
The temperature dropped and the rain and wind picked up, chilling us once more. We began to hear thunder coming closer.
Darren surprised me by saying that he was actually scared. His rain jacket began leaking, and he was getting very wet and cold. So, due to the hypothermia risk, we decided that it was safer to keep walking (and stay warm) than to stop because of thunder and potential lightning.
To take my mind off the conditions, I focused on the scenery. It was spectacular as the path wove between the saguaros.
There are a series of mines in the area and a train track runs along the river to transport material from the mine. We passed a railway bridge as we continued hiking in the rain and cold.
Our hope was to hike past our scheduled campsite for another three miles to put us in a better position for a difficult day of hiking during the next stage. Tomorrow’s path would leave the river and turn north as it climbed steeply up a canyon for a couple of thousand feet to enter the Tonto National Forest.
When we reached the campsite at about 4:00 pm, the rain had stopped. Given an opportunity to set up camp in dry conditions, we pondered whether to call it a day. It was a tough decision. Rain was coming again (and the temperature was dropping), making it certain that we would be wet and cold if we continued to hike. But given the challenging stage the next day, we felt that we needed to complete more miles.
While we debated the pros and cons, Darren looked up into the sky and pointed out multiple rainbows right above us. We took it as a sign to stay.
We were able to set up our tent and get inside before the rain began to pour down. Our 13.7-mile day ended with us nestled in our sleeping bags in warm and dry clothes, protected from the raging elements outside.
A Rainy and Windy End to the Trek
Before going to sleep we agreed to wake up at 5:00 am the next morning to check the day’s (Tuesday) weather report, and then get an early start heading into the difficult fifth stage. A little after 5:00 am I retrieved the weather forecast from our device. We were not happy with what we saw.
A concerning weather report from our Garmin inReach
Not only was heavy rain in the forecast, but the strong wind and extreme gusts made us pause. The ascent from the river would be on an exposed trail with no water and very few camping options during a 10-mile climb. We were in a remote location, having seen only three other hikers the entire time. Darren’s rain jacket was leaking. And there was the continued threat of hypothermia from the cool and wet weather conditions. Overall, we felt that the risk was too high to continue.
Instead, we decided to reset my phone alarm for 7:30 am and fell back asleep. We had a leisurely breakfast and then broke camp at about 9:45 am to walk 6.7 miles back to the paved road and water spigot where we ate lunch the day before. As we hiked, the strong winds came, validating the forecast we had received. Fortunately, the rain was not scheduled until later in the day, so we stayed dry.
As we were only a 20-minute drive from our car at MJ’s home in Superior, we were able to give her a call for a pick up. After retrieving our car, we began the five-hour drive home.
Although we were disappointed to have completed just 61 miles of new trail (67.7 miles in all) out of the 90 we had scheduled, we were satisfied with our adventure in the Sonoran Desert. We found the trail challenging, especially with the spine and thorn obstacles that we encountered. During our four full days of hiking we experienced some incredible natural beauty. The weather also kept us on our toes. And our stage 3 ridgeline campsite ranked as one of our all-time favorites.
We have now passed over 5,000 trail miles while Trekking the Planet during the past 11 years. Drawing from this latest Arizona Trail hiking experience, we are excited to apply the lessons learned to the other treks we have slated for 2023.
We will share those plans very soon.
Take a look at the recap video from our trek:
That is such a beautiful part of Arizona. It was quite the little adventure, given the weather and all, but glad you had a wonderful time. Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for the comment. John. It was quite the trip, but we learned a lot about ourselves and our gear that we can hopefully apply to our upcoming treks.