AZT 2019 Day 7: Cienega Creek (mile 113.0) to near Saguaro National Park border (mile 126.5)

13.5 miles

I didn't get much sleep last night. I didn't realize it when I set up camp, but Cienega Creek was directly next to very active railroad tracks. On a fairly regular basis, and all throughout the night, I would hear a roar increase in volume, feel the ground shake, and then encounter the banshee-like shreaking sound of the train hitting the tracks next to me. The people who had commented about it making a lovely campsite clearly didn't spend the night there.

Since I was up anyway, I packed up and started down the trail. I crossed those awful train tracks and immediately saw my first saguaro cactus. Soon after, many more followed. The area was thick with them and all I had to do was cross the railroad tracks.

Early morning on the trail. 

Morning light on the saguaros.

Saguaros saying "Hi."

I reached the trail junction that would lead me to Colossal Cave, a business near the trail that generously acted as a mail drop for hikers. I took the trail up to the cave which was full of saguaros and yellow flowers. When I arrived it was near a tour time, so I purchased a cave tour. While I was waiting, I saw my first coatimundi.

The trail to Colossal Cave.

Coatimundi!

It was just me and one other person for that first tour of the day. I was really happy about that because I was on my fourth day of hiking without a shower. The subsequent tours were full, or near full, and the small caverns probably did not disperse my stink very well.

View from Colossal Cave.

Map of Colossal Cave.

As the tour guide was giving an introduction in the first chambers, several coatis came in the gate behind us. Then, several more. The guide explained that there is a troupe of about 20 living there and I am pretty sure I saw all 20 stream through. She also had to pick up “coati trash” which was stuff the coatimundis had dug out of trash cans and brought into the first chamber. Apparently, one time they had gotten into the prickly pear margarita machine and tracked blue footprints everywhere.

The cave itself was a dry cave and hadn't seen water in thousands of years. It was also hotter than a lot of other caves at 71 degrees, but still had all the cool cave things like stalagmites, limestone flows, etc.

Inside Colossal Cave.

After the tour, I went to pick up my resupply box. My mom had also sent a box of treats. The staff could only find my box of treats. I have had trouble with resupply boxes getting to their locations on time before, so I thought, “Here we go again.” This was a location that prepared food but didn't sell anything you could pack in a bag.

I went to the courtyard to charge my phone and external battery. The outlet was in the sun, so I plugged everything in and went to sit in the shade. A family then came and sat in the sunny part around the outlet. There I sat for an hour and a half, sitting with this strange family surrounding my phone.

When the family got up for their tour time, another hiker came in named Cool Breeze. I chatted with him for a little while and mentioned that my box never came. He then gave me the extra food that was in his box. As we both started to pack up to get back on the trail, I decided to check on my box one more time. They had actually found it! It was on the merchandise shelf and not with the hiker boxes.

I gave Cool Breeze back his food, but I still had too much food in my bag. Considering I was almost about to go with too little food, I would feel weird about chucking it out. I wasn't able to eat some of it down right away, because I had just had a big meal from the snack bar thinking I wouldn't get enough food in the next couple days. I decided to carry it with me.

I severely regretted this decision about a mile and a half down the trail. My pack was very heavy, and it was making my feet hurt much more than they had been previously. And previously they had been hurting a lot.

I limped my way down the trail, making frequent stops. I saw Cool Breeze at one of those breaks and chatted about other trails we had done and other hikers we had encountered on this trail. We were both headed to the same area today.

Heading towards the park boundary.

A couple miles ahead was the border for Saguaro National Park (East) and dispersed camping was not allowed inside the park. You could only camp in designated sites with a permit. We both decided to camp just outside the boundary, then hike through it tomorrow.

When I was less than a tenth of a mile from the border, I found a nice, flat spot that was the perfect size for my tent. I set it up, still having a couple hours of daylight to eat some of my giant bag of food. Hopefully this extra rest helps my feet recover tomorrow too.