Mark ended up wrapping up his trip with me and flying out of Phoenix. Had a great time with him and since this is just a part of HIS trip, I thought I would let you all know he got out fine and give a taste of what I experienced with him.

Monday December 26

I ended up getting parking my Jeep at the Gordon Hirabayashi T.H. and getting a ride to the area near Rincon Cr. I had hoped to meet Mark around 3pm, but a leaky valve stem and trouble finding the right spot to jump on to the Arizona Trail caused some delay. I ended up finding a T.H. about 1.5 miles down Pistol Hill Road and at 4:20pm, with about 3.5 miles to cover, I started hoofing it to Rincon Creek. Not knowing what to expect, I started with about 12 pounds of water (5 liters) When I got there, nobody was around...so I yelled "Mark" and got a response. Somewhere around 5:30pm Mark showed up and we introduced ourselves to each other and spent the night on the bench above Rincon Creek.

Tuesday, December 27

Woke up to a COLD morning. This ended up being the coldest night of the trip with the tent screen being completely frosted over and the canteens frozen almost solid. Apparently all the cold air from Rincon Peak and Mica Mountain come down Rincon Creek at night. Been to a few other places like that, but with all that snow, it was pretty cold. Rincon Creek was dry near our camp, but did have signs of recent flow.

Sign post just inside Saguaro N.P.




Hope Camp



One of the seasonal water sources we found on our way up.



Still morning of the first day, climbing out of the Rincon Creek valley.





After a while on trail, it became clear that we were the first people up here after the snow storms. Animal tracks in snow and mud were abundant; bobcat, cougar, javalina, coyote, bear, elk, and deer. I saw more bobcat prints than I have seen in my entire life on that section of trail (1.5 to 2" range). Saw one set of cat prints in the 4 inch range. Cat prints are generally wider than "dog" prints, and have a "double peaked" pad. Also found two paw prints the size of a small house cat's; possibly Ocelot or maybe a cat cub?

Picture of trail in front of us covered with tracks.



More shots on the way up. Rincon Peak.






Wednesday, December 28

A "snow day". Maybe six miles of snow covered trail. We capped out at the top of Mica Mountain (no real view as it is well forested). Much of the way had over 1 foot of snow with much of it being 18" deep fluff w? 0.5 inch crust. This was the most challenging day; needed good trail finding skills and to set the right pace. Lots of switching leads to cut trail. Could have used rough terrain snowshoes.

Ice on the trail up.



Manning camp.









Sorry...still a work in progress. That is all for now. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year!