AZT Map Miles 598.0
Miles Hiked 587.7
Elevation 7,808 feet
Miles Hiked Today 13.6
Regretfully, I say goodbye to the RV, Resting Oak, and back to the trail. But first I must pickup a provision box at the post office. The new provisions are going to be heavy. I made a strategic error by not having the provisions sent to the Summerhaven post office, which is at the summit of Mount Lemmon. Today, there is an over 3,000 feet elevation gain. That will be tough with new provisions in my backpack. I asked the Oracle post office clerk how many days it would take to bounce the box to Summerhaven. The answer was two to three days, which is too long.
So up the mountain I go with new provisions and 3 liters of water. There is water 4 miles into the climb, but nothing after that until Summerhaven. My pack must weigh close to 40 pounds.
On the way up, I stopped at Hijinks ranch (a tip from Carolen Merkley). Neat place. They had an old buckboard on display that Liz Taylor rode in a movie. There were also a bunch of chairs so hikers could sit and rest. They advertised camping, and I probably would stay if I hadn’t just started hiking that day.
The climb was near tortuous with the heavy backpack. But wait! It gets worse. At 4 PM, I start looking for a campsite. Nothing. I keep going. It gets dark, so I stop to put my headlamp on and while doing so, Scott walks up. (He cached water for me). I thought he had finished the trail. No, he had got off a bit to take care of a few things.
It was good to see him. He offered to night hike with me, so off we went. Scott said there really were no campsites until we get just outside Summerhaven. We ended up getting to Summerhaven about 8 PM. Scott found a good campsite and we both setup. The night went better than expected thanks to Scott, and now I get to explore Summerhaven first thing in the morning.
