Arizona Trail/Bathtub Springs to Parker Canyon

 

Day 2:

About 16 miles

We awake to fog, and wind.  Water drips from everything like rain.  It feels freezing, but our thermometer reads 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold enough.  We eat, drink a cup of Joe and pack up as fast as we can, which isn't fast at all with our glove clad frozen fingers.  Then down the hill we go.  

Ouch.  Houston we have a problem.  My knee is seriously hurting.  I develop a weird limping gait  that only hurts a little and we proceed slowly through the patchy snow down the sometimes steep trail. The snow clears and the fog lifts and we have expansive views off and on as we descend.  

 About 2000 feet lower and 5 miles later we come to the charming Sunnyside Canyon that has water and the trail a more mildly descending grade.  The pain in my knee mostly disappears . Yay.   We meet a hiker heading south and chat a while.  

There is a daypack laying ripped in the trail with items strewn all over.  All the labels are in Mexican and there's a Mexican blanket and a diaper and other baby stuff as well as some clothes and sandals.  Illegal immigrants we suspect.  Hard to imagine traveling in these mountains with a baby and without our high tech camping gear.  

The trail meanders lazily down the canyon and then later we enter Scotia Canyon and it has water too.  It's a really nice day and we startle many deer who run away gracefully with their white plume of a tail over their rump.  We also see grey squirrels, and many varieties of birds.  

Entering the Canelo Hills looks a bit like we are hiking in an African Savanah and we expect to see giraffes sauntering amidst the tall golden grass.  

Camp is at Parker Canyon tonight  making it a 16 mile day and a bit over 3000 feet in elevation loss.  It's peaceful with the water in the creek singing a tinkling melody.  It's a comfortable temperature too with no winds. Quite a stark contrast to last night up on the mountain.  That was pretty intense.  We've had dinner and I took a sponge bath in the creek and are now enjoying a small fire before bed.  

The trail miles today were mixed.  Coming off Miller was steep and loose although it had plenty of switchbacks, the canyons were gentle downhill.  I think if my knees had been good we would have sailed down. 

 

Today's biggest takeaway was the variety of  ecological zones we traveled through in a short time.   We went from snot snickles and frozen fingers in the snow and high mountains with its various trees and plants and down into a more desert landscape of cactus and sycamore trees along a creek just a few hours later.