Wednesday, April 03, 2013 – 22 km

After a steady slog upwards from Hutch’s Pool to Romero Pass, the AZT transitioned into a truly grim slog up the Mt. Lemmon trail. Eventually it levelled out and reached the trail junction for the Wilderness of Rocks, my favourite part of the trail to date. It’s a beautiful area of bulbous rock formations and tall trees and streams, one of those places that makes me sad to be a thru-hiker since I could spend weeks wandering around it. Short trails along a ridge led to gorgeous viewpoints.

From Wilderness of Rocks, the trail passed into Marshall Gulch and out onto the road leading to Summerhaven. I saw many established campsites in the Santa Catalinas and some sick stuff: human feces directly beside a stream, garbage, a tampon. Seriously?

I arrived in Summerhaven around 4:30 PM. I was eagerly anticipating a giant cookie, but the Cookie Shack had closed early for the day. Nooooo! My cookie! But a woman still on the property generously gifted me two leftover cookies for free. Yay! My two free cookies! I got water at the community centre and made camp near the Oracle Ridge trailhead.