Passage 4: Temporal Gulch, Part 2

Town of Patagonia to Gardner Canyon Road Trailhead
21.8 Miles

Day 6 – 5/12/17

Last day for this trip. I got up a little after 6AM and made my coffee and had the Mountain House granola with blueberries for breakfast. I still had plenty of water and was at about mile 10.5 of this passage. I had a long, committed climb ahead of me.

I wore my long sleeve shirt to start out the hike because it was still a little chilly in the morning. That went away very quickly after less than 30 minutes of uphill hiking, I stopped to take off the long sleeve and unzipped the bottom halves of my pants and then sprayed my pasty white skin down with plenty of sunscreen.

The climb to the top of this high point was pretty tiring and slow going, but I felt strong and energetic and just wanted to get to the Jeep. The trail/road was rocky and at points so steep the trail circumvented the slope through the trees. I made it to Walker Basin at about 8AM. At least, I think it was Walker Basin, or maybe Upper Walker Tank. I never really knew exactly where I was on the trail most of the time. It’s not like there were signs at most of the places coinciding with the maps. According to the sign, I only had a mile to go to the top!

Walker Basin

Shortly after I passed through Walker Basin, I came to somewhat of a Y in the trail. There was a wooden post with one of the small, square, metal AZT arrow signs completed faded from the sun and hanging by a piece of cattle guard wire that someone had used to keep it attached to the post. But it was just dangling there. Someone had also scratched an arrow into one side to make up for the faded sticker. It was very confusing which way it was pointing. Another scarecrow pointing in opposite directions. So, I went left.

What the shit is this?

I hiked on for a while, maybe half a mile, before I second guessed myself and turned around and went back to the Y. I kept thinking I was on the wrong trail again. This time I went right of the Y, but that only led to a small camp spot encircled with Junipers about 15 yards up that hill. Turned out I was on the correct trail. So I had to triple back. But before I left, I built a pile of rocks to mark the correct way. I also noticed that there were sun bleached branches laid across the path to the camp site someone had put down so people like me could avoid going that way. I think I was too concerned with the mangled sign to notice the branches.

Notice the branches across the path? I didn’t.

After that little faux pas of double guessing my pathfinding decisions, I increased my pace so as to make up for lost time. I finally reached the saddle that connects to Trail 136 at about 9:45AM.  The high point of the trail! Approximately 6,560 feet. I could look back at how far I had come and see Patagonia, the Canelo Hills, the Huachuca Mountains, and Mexico. It’s hard to explain what that feels like, to see all those hills and mountain tops where you were traversing just days prior. The word accomplishment comes to mind, but that’s not right.

I sat here and rested for about 15 minutes, took off my pack and hung it on a branch on an oak tree and ate jerky and trail mix. I afforded myself in drinking a little more water than while hiking, because according to the rusted metal AZT sign, I only had 5.5 miles to go! That knowledge gave me so much energy. I was so excited to get back to the Jeep I didn’t even write down trail notes. I obviously took pictures though.

From here, Trail 136 will bring you to higher elevations at Josephine Peak and Mount Wrightson, but for the AZT it drops in elevation. There was much more pine on this side of the mountain as the trail  descended and switch-backed down into Big Casa Blanca Canyon. I came to a sign marking Bear Spring (Hey! That’s on the map!). There is supposed to be a dependable water source here, but I did not see it, unless it was off the trail a ways.

The land evens out a bit after this and it was quite pleasant walking through the woods. I did cross over a few creeks that had water, but it was pooled and stagnant. By the second one I found I dipped my cooling towel in one that looked clean enough and wrapped it around my neck. It was becoming incredibly warm. I didn’t see any more water after that.

The trail seemed to be getting longer and hotter. I thought I was never going to finish this thing. I almost stepped on a small snake at one point. I was so exhausted and dragging ass that it was hard for me to stop my momentum, but the little critter slithered off the path out of my way and I had a mini panic attack. No rattler, so that was good.

I stopped at one point to eat a little and take a few sips of water near where the Casa Blanca canyon portion comes to an end. I was running low on water. I used too much when I tripled back on the trail when I was going the right way and thought I wasn’t.

After that, the trail whips around a hill and brings you to a historical sign talking about the old mining days in the Santa Rita Mountains. There was an old mine shaft beyond the sign. I took a picture from the trail but did not feel like exploring it. After that, the trail dropped down to the Tunnel Spring TH where it met with Gardner Canyon Road. The trail follows this road for the most part all the way to the passage 5 trailhead.

Old mine shaft.

It was a nice walk in this area. A lot of campground sites surrounded by mature oaks. It was very shady and the road even, but after a short while the shade went away and I was walking in the sun again as the big oaks became sparse along the sides of the road. The trail left the road and followed the contours of the hills parallel to the road. I realized it was just adding steps to my aching feet, so went back to the road where it was a straight shot.

The road intersected with the trail again, and then brings you through some fenced off cattle grounds of grass and soft red sand. I saw some deer grazing in here, but no cattle. The trail comes back to Gardner Canyon Road and down to the next trailhead. I was so close. But I ran into a carsonite AZT sign pointing up more hills away from the road. For a moment I thought I was lost again, or that maybe I overshot where I parked and was a ways into the next passage.

I looked around and couldn’t see any other landmarks or signs. I would have thought the road would send you right back to the trailhead. I figured, I’d just stay on the road and keep going. I decided to follow the road and hoped to find Apache Ranch or other drivers. But as I walked about 50 more feet and crested the road a little I saw the back end of my Jeep where I parked it under some trees. The sun was gleaning off the back window and it looked almost black in color. Such a foreign sight in the surrounding wilderness, and it was beautiful.

I immediately went to the back hatch and shed my pack. I left a full Hydro Flask on the front seat with a clean set of clothes for my return. I had finished my Camelbak much earlier and was down to about a quarter of a liter in my Smart Water bottle. I finished that water and then drank about half of the Hydro Flask.

I took a victory selfie of the end of this 75 mile trek. I finished at about 2:20PM. I felt so good to have finished, but I was in a lot of pain, and sweaty and dirty and tired. I then changed into the clean clothes I had in the Jeep and fired it up and drove home. First gas station I saw coming back, I stopped and bought a Snickers, a coconut water, and the largest fountain drink of Powerade I could.

It was quite the adventure and a great learning experience. I have another long stretch of the AZT planned, but it will be in the north sector this time, in Flagstaff, due to the heat. But I definitely plan on coming back and picking up where I left off at the beginning of passage 5.

The high point!

What the shit is this?

Notice the branches across the path? I didn’t.

Patagonia way off in the valley.

I’m super excited.

Rock formations in the Big Casa Blanca Canyon.

Looking out towards Sonoita, I think.

Old mine shaft.

Tunnel Spring TH.

Passage 4: Temporal Gulch, Part 1

Town of Patagonia to Gardner Canyon Road Trailhead
21.8 Miles

Day 5 – 05/11/2017

Walking out of Patagonia midday with a full pack might not have been the best idea, but I really wanted to get to my Jeep. Sure, I could have stayed at the Ovens of Patagonia and popped up my tent in the back, or stayed at the hotel, got a good night’s rest before I left the next day, but I live dangerously. Or stupidly. Probably the latter.

Passage 4 of the AZT, Temporal Gulch, is approximately 22.3 miles with an elevation gain of about 2,500 feet from 4000 to 6500 at its highest point near Mount Wrightson Wilderness. The incline is gradual for the most part, then really climbs around mile 10.5.

I hit the trail out of Patagonia about 1:20 in the afternoon and did a zig zag through the neighborhood to get to 1st Avenue, so I never saw the official trailhead. Once I got onto 1st Ave, it was pretty easy going from there. It’s a paved road up the hill out of town, and then turns into Forest Road 72, which is a maintained dirt road. The only hardship was the heat. I had five liters of water on me, plus that bottle of Gatorade. By the time I was up the hill by the landfill, I finished the Gatorade.

I took another detour at the landfill. Again, the ATA felt it was unnecessary to put up signs pointing which direction to go. Also, the folks back in Patagonia told me I needed to pass the landfill, and the only sign I saw was pointing left at a Y in the road towards the landfill. Turned out, that was wrong. That road was taking me back towards Patagonia. There went another mile lost. Once I got back on track, following the road straight where I went left, it was pretty smooth sailing.

Remember how Bonnie said I’d see stuff stashed on the sides of the road? Sure enough, not far past the landfill, I saw a camo backpack, a blue hoodie, and a few cans of tuna in a neat pile on the side of the road. I just walked past it. Could have just been some necessary supplies for an illegal alien to make it through the desert, or it could have been filled with cocaine. I’ll never know.

I made it to the Temporal Gulch trailhead at about 4pm, which meant I just hiked seven miles from Patagonia. Well, eight because of that stupid wrong turn. I was very elated to see that I only had 15.3 miles left to go to Gardner Canyon road trailhead. I originally thought it was 22 from TG trailhead. I was pretty fucking jacked at this realization. I stopped there for about ten minutes and took off my pack to eat some trail mix and drink water before I hit the trail again.

Only 15.3 miles to go!

I pushed myself pretty hard from there. Uphill too. I had the intention of getting as far as I could before sundown so that I had less to hike out in the morning. More today. Less tomorrow. I was repeating that over and over as I hiked up that road.

FR 72 changed from a maintained road to a rugged, off-road, Jeep track at the trailhead, and it only got worse from there. There were plenty of cattle on the way, which of course meant any clearing of ground was covered in shit. Also meant I had a few moments where I had to shoo them out of the way so I could get by. The only good thing about all of my future steak getting in my way and stinking up the place was that I was in mountain lion country. I’m sure a mountain lion would rather eat one of those tender, innocent calves than a smelly hiker.

But still, mountain lion country…

I had pushed myself up to the decision point of making camp before nightfall, or keep going just a little bit further. There was a nice, high, flat spot off the side of the rugged jeep road in a wide clearing that had a massive mesquite tree in the center of it, dead logs laid out like benches near the camp fire, and pieces of sheet metal pierced with bullet holes lying about. It looked like this was where all the local yahoos would come out and camp and drink and shoot. Of course, the ground was covered in cow pies.

I went up the trail a little further keeping an eye out for a better spot. More today. Less tomorrow. I kept repeating that. I needed to make up for all the lost time during the rain and hail and getting lost.

My feet were hurting pretty bad. Most of the moleskin stayed in place, but some of the pads fell off and balled up in a gummy lump at the toes of my socks. My legs hurt as did my back, but I wanted to get further. Just past the possible camp site of sheet metal and cow pies, there was a rusted metal sign showing the various trails and distances. I misinterpreted the sign. It looked like the AZT arrow was pointing at the Temporal Trail arrow indicating to follow that. Turned out to be the wrong turn. Again.

Misread sign.

The Temporal Trail eventually turned into a canyon with high walls of boulders and rocks to each side of me, and maybe about 20 feet at its widest point. There was some stagnant pools of water, but nothing I’d drink from. As I was pushing through this draw, talking to myself, cursing, repeating my mantra, I passed a cow at a turn and hopped over some large rocks. I kept thinking this didn’t feel right.

I came to a wide point that had a nice spot for a tent underneath some oak trees just past a cattle gate that stretched from each side of the canyon wall. I went through the gate and stopped for a moment. I should be going up, I thought to myself. I looked up to Mt. Wrightson Peak that I could barely see from this point and realized I should be going that way. I looked around this little, shady quiet spot in the canyon. There were clothes on ground. A baby’s small, pink sweater lay out flat and dirty. There were some empty food cans.

I turned around and made my way back. Once I got to the point where I passed the cow and had to hop over the large rocks, I saw a serape poncho on the ground I didn’t see on the way in. I also saw what looked like human feces on one of the rocks. Fresh. I first thought it was mountain lion, but it didn’t look gamey. And beyond that, a can of tuna with the lid pulled up and still had scraps of food stuck to the inside. I think there was someone in that canyon with me. He probably heard me cursing and talking to myself and hid.

You might be thinking I didn’t notice this stuff the first time I passed, but I would have had to step over the poop coming in because it was right in the middle of the trail. And there was no way I could have missed the poncho and discarded tin can. The trail was too narrow, and they were right off the side of the trail. A chill ran through me as I stopped there for a second and listened and looked around for anybody. It was eerily quiet. I then got out of there as fast as I could. At least tried to get out fast. I had to make the cow I passed earlier get out of my way, because now she was standing in the trail chewing grass and staring at me.

That’s the other thing that makes me think there was a person in that canyon. The cow was obviously used to people and not threatened by me, and wouldn’t have been threatened by anyone else. I think she would have run away if it were a mountain lion.

Probably lost only a half mile this time down that mistake. I looked a little more closely at the rusted metal sign and figured it meant to keep following the rocky road. By this time, the sun was going to set behind the mountains and going to be dark soon. I went back to the camp spot with the sheet metal and set up camp for the night. I ate my leftover pizza from The Velvet Elvis, which was nice not having to cook anything.

I couldn’t shake the thought of someone in that canyon with me, which meant they could still be in the area. There were probably illegal aliens all around. Sign of them were up and down the trail, but this was the only time I really felt uncomfortable about it. You never know what a desperate man is going to do for food and water.

There was a full moon that night and it illuminated the inside of my tent fairly well. I laid there listening, trying to sleep, until I saw a shadow pass over the the outside of my tent. I couldn’t hear anything much past the sound of the wind in the trees. I didn’t have any weapons on me except for a small pocket knife. I had the Gerber collapsable shovel, which I left open and had it in the tent with me. I gripped the handle and slowed my breathing and listened for any footsteps, and at one point, I could have sworn I heard something. But it was probably my imagination.

I only got a few hours of sleep that night.

Trail companions.

Where I’ve been.

Where I’m going.

Cow Pie Camp

 

Patagonia, AZ: Gateway Community, Part 2

Day 5 – 05/11/17

After I cleaned up, I put my pack in the storage closet next to the bathroom and took a walk around town and snapped a few pictures. I then walked across the street to the grocery store next to the gas station. Inside I bought two 1-liter bottles of Smart Water, another Gatorade, an Amp energy drink, and Advil.

Outside of the store I stood on the porch next to the ice box and popped open the energy drink and sipped on it while I watched people drive by. Next door was a trellis of vine and I peeked through the vines to see a patio of tables. I walked around to the front and it was a pizza place called The Velvet Elvis. It wasn’t a thick, juicy burger, but pizza would do just fine.

I walked into the patio underneath the arbor that had vines that spanned and connected to the pergolas and curved and rounded up on each corner of the patio. I sat in a corner under the shade of the vines and the waiter came out and brought me a glass and a large bottle of cold water. I ordered a pizza called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It was delicious.

I sat there and enjoyed the nice weather in the shade while I drank a full glass of water and then refilled it from the bottle. I watched the beads of sweat fall down the sides of the bottle and thought to myself I will never take water for granted again. I finished drinking that whole jar of water, ate most of the pizza and saved a couple slices for dinner, finished my Amp, then headed back to the Trail Angel’s to get my pack.

There I pulled my pack out of the storage unit and readjusted some stuff. I had to tighten the straps around the waist because I had lost some weight the past four days. I removed my leftover pizza from the restaurant container and put the two slices into a Ziploc bag. I then refilled the Camelbak from the garden hose. I went inside and my phone was fully charged, and wouldn’t you know? No service. T-Mobile needs to get their shit together.

While packing up, I talked with the owner of Ovens of Patagonia, a nice woman named Bonnie. I talked about all the Border Patrol presence and she said it’s something you get used to. She told me most of those people coming through Patagonia weren’t bad. It’s the drug running that’s the problem. She told me I’d see stuff stashed on the side of the trail and to just leave it alone. She told me if I saw anything happen, any exchanges, that I didn’t see it happen. And to make sure they knew I didn’t see it happen, if you get my meaning. Happy hiking.

Just then, two women came walking up to the patio wearing packs and hiking attire. They said they’ve been following me for a while, my tracks at least. We exchanged some hiking stories of the trail, like how I got stuck in the rain, and how they have been doing just fine. One of the girls introduced herself as Sauce, like hot sauce, and the other as Fun Bags. I told them I didn’t have a fun name. Just Dave. They asked where the good places were in town. I told them about Velvet Elvis and of course, Ovens of Patagonia. I then told them I didn’t have any service and needed to get a hold of my girlfriend. They asked what service provider I had and I told them T-Mobile. They nodded like, there’s your problem right there. We then said our goodbyes.

I thanked Bonnie, grabbed my pack and headed out of town to start Passage 4. It was about 1:20 in the afternoon. It was a little warm, but I felt rejuvenated and strong, and my pack was heavy again with water. I was looking forward to finishing this hike.

I didn’t see the Passage 4 trailhead out of town because I took a zig zag through the neighborhood to get to the trail. You basically follow 1^st ave, which turns into Temporal Road, and you stay on that until it turns into FR 72, and stay on that all the way up the mountain.

The old Patagonia strip.