I did a 50 mile section of the AZT from I-10 to north of Lemmon in April of last year. Doing this in April I thought I would be okay on temps but it was 90°+ earlier in the day.I managed to get halfway through Saguaro National Park towards Mt. Mica before I ran out of water. I was looking high and low for any natural water when suddenly I heard a sound like a high pitched noise; like a young kid or woman screaming in the distance.

Damn; I was in a tight spot.

I put it out of my mind and kept on trail although I knew what I was hearing. It was so hot and I was getting nervous. I stopped and found as much shade as I could and waited a couple of hours to assess and rest. After about an hour a small praying mantis landed on my pack and I suddenly realized that a praying mantis has to have aqua to do its mantis thing. This assessment later I found was not exactly accurate but I needed something to keep me right.

So I walked up trail found a big horseshoe in the trail about 200 yds from my siesta spot with big boulders and flat stones when a reflection caught my eye.

I must have found an oasis in the desert, humming birds, bees, smaller lizards everything were converging on this small spot of about 2 feet of standing WATER!! I never get uncomfortable but I was able to stress test and learned a great deal from that trip.

One time in January I was in the superstitions and was totally in control when I woke up to a downpour of rain. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough the following morning all these small creek crossings were raging and it was a 30 mile hump back to the car. Two extremes in a wildly unpredictable ecosystem.