Spring Break Hike/ New Gear

My plans for a 187 mile hike fell through due to illness, but after sleeping for three days, I was still able to do some hiking.  The Guino ended up hiking three awesome nights in the Santa Catalina mountains, north of Tucson, Az.  The Pusch Ridge Wilderness is a special rugged place bordering a metropolitan area which holds over a million people.  Hiking in this wilderness though, the hiker does not feel the proximity of civilization.  Only on the ridges and mountains where the view of Tucson spreads out below the hiker for miles does one notice that he is near a city.  Otherwise, the only evidence of civilizations are the metates left behind in the granite by Native Americans grinding mesquite beans and other grains and nuts for flour.

The 48 miles that I ended up hiking took me from Saguaro lined desert floor, to the lands of 100 ft tall ponderosa pine trees.

Three very lovely natural pool areas were located along my route; Seven Falls, Hutch's Pool, and Romero Pools,  all carved from granite by crystal clear warm Arizona water.  Hutch's Pool is about 100 feet long 20 feet wide and deep enough to not see the bottom.  Overall Hutch's is an excellent swimming hole, and is a popular day hike destination for hikers who want to cool off from the desert heat.

Yesterday I put in my order for my 9.1 oz Hexamid tent from Zpacks, and well as my 4 oz 43 liter Blast Pack.  My goal is to have a base weight, for my pack, just around 5 lbs on the Appalachian trail this summer.

I also purchased a Western Mountaineering High-lite 35° down sleeping bag which weighs in at 16 ozs.  This is the one that looks like a blackberry, and is very popular amongst the hikers.  Babbit's Outdoors in Flagstaff gave me a little discount on one, since I asked, bringing the total with tax for the bag to a mere $265.

This weekend the plan is either to head to the Grand Canyon for a three nighter, or to hook up with the lovely WildChild and her husband Dash.   This awesome couple is on there way from Berkely to Georgia, where they will begin the Appalachian Trail next week.  Hopefully the three of us can all go to the Canyon to do some pre Appalachian Trail training, and some much needed socializing. (Turns out they showed up and we had a great time, we even went out for a stroll on the Arizona Trail.)