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| Hiking | 21.23 Miles |
3,475 AEG |
| | Hiking | 21.23 Miles | 8 Hrs 20 Mns | | 2.55 mph |
| 3,475 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | | This hike continues the AZT south of the Tiger Mine trailhead. There's a big contrast between segment 13 and 14. Segment 14 is low to upper desert and Segment 13 transitions from upper desert to the Santa Catalina mountains. This section of the AZT can be done easily as a day hike. As soon as you pass though the gate by Tiger mine road / SR 77, you cross under SR77. This crossing give an advantage to shorter people. You need to duct to cross under the road. As soon as you cross, you're in the Oracle State park. The park is now closed due to state budget issue, but the AZT is open. You're allowed through the Oracle park as long as you stay on the AZT. There are signs at every intersection reminding you of this. About 2 miles in I ran across you guys who were backpacking across the entire AZT. We talked for a bit and I gave them some updates on the Black Hills segment. They were prepared for the lack of water until the beehive well. The guys were glad to be out of the Catalina mountains. They were tired of the snow / cold and were excited about the long and boring, but warm pipe line road. I had some excellent views of the snow covered Catalina mountain. The AZT goes through washed and passes through the Oracle state park. At the windmill, there was a trailer with a 100 gallon container of water. There was a cold wind blowing whenever I was up on the ridge lines. In less than 5 miles, I made it to the end of the Oracle State park. Shortly after leaving the park, you cross a paved road and the trail more or less parallels the paved ( then dirt) road. You drop down into the American Flag TH, which Is the end of segment 14. By this point I had a little less than 7 miles and the views of the snow covered MT. Lemmon was calling out to me. I haven't hiked down in the Tucson area in years. So I decided to hike just a of mile or so and turn around. Shortly after I started up segment 13, I came across a couple of snowbirds from Minnesota. There asked me if I knew where the HighJinx's mine was. I pulled it up on the GPS and it showed that we were about a half mile away. I decided to make that my turn around point. I keep on climbing and the wind was getting colder and stronger. I looked at my GPS and discovered that the trail veered away from the mine. I did see a road coming up on the GPS and decided that was the turnaround point. I had just broken 5,300 feet and my tolerance for the cold was wearing thin. I had not packed enough cold weather clothes and I'm not a cold weather person. I made to dirt and had enough of the wind. I headed down and this time I made a point of finding the HighJinx's mine. I saw a spur trail that lead me to the HighJinx's hotel. The mine was about a tenth of mile beyond it, but it was private property. This old hotel is a historic site. I turned around and ran into the couple from Minnesota and they told me for a low price of $350K I could buy the mine and the hotel. What a steal! I head down hill as fast s I could to return to the warmer temps ? |
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"Everywhere is walking distance...If you have the time"
-Stephen Wright |
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