AZT Day 5 Apache Vista trailhead -> Sahuarita area

Arizona Trail Day 5 11/5/25

I have been very impressed by the brightness of the moon at night and I have been inspired by how it illuminates the desert landscape. I decided to start the day very early and go for a night walk by moonlight. I left camp around 2:15am and was walking without my headlamp. It was quite a surreal experience. Everything was silent. The moon cast strange shadows around the cacti and mesquites. I could hear coyotes howling in the distance and heard at least six different great horned owls throughout the night. I saw a couple of bright meteors, one of which had a green burn.

I leisurely walked through Kentucky Camp, a restored 19th century gold mine camp, as there were people staying there. As the night began to give way to dawn, it was magical to watch the light change from moonlight to the colors of the morning dawn. I took a break to watch the moon set under a ridge behind me and as the moon set, the sun began to rise over a ridge on the opposite horizon. I felt like I could feel the earth turning.

I ran into a southbound hiker named Aspen. We chatted for a while and exchanged information before continuing on our way. My plan today was to walk until 11 and then take a nap before finishing my miles for the evening. However, something came over me, I was feeling strong and I thought that maybe today would be the day I could break my personal record for walking the most miles in a day. So I continued walking and had covered 20 miles by lunch time. I took a quick 30 minute nap after eating, but was walking again by 1:15. The path crossed an extensive mass of cactus trees. They were everywhere around me.

The trail became challenging at times today with some sections that were full of loose debris, but I kept going until the halfway point of the 20 miles. I was really working hard to keep going, but the thought of doing a 30 mile day helped me keep going. Around mile 28 I could see another sunset behind me. greeted by the rising of the moon in front. A full day of sun and moon cycles has passed. I scared a Javelina who quickly scurried away. I hiked 30 miles on the nose and walked again in the moonlight trying to find a place to camp. At mile 30.2 I found a spot and that was it for the day. I had officially walked the longest day of my life! I set up my cowboy camp and started preparing dinner when a huge pack of coyotes started howling very, very close. I probably could have thrown a rock at them and hit them. I just yelled, «Are we going to have a problem here?» and they all stopped and that was the last I heard from them. What an epic day!

Statistics

Apache Trailhead Vista -> Sahuarita Area
GPS miles 30.8
Trail miles 30.2
Accumulated 104 miles
Ascent 3622 feet
Descent 5124 feet

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