Friday November 17, 37.2km/23.1mi

Santa Rosa Canal exit (112.2/1385ft) to Base of Black Mountain (136.7/2100ft) (AZ) -1.4mi Alt shortcut

We had some rain overnight, and woke up to a wet tent. The humidity was very high, so there was plenty of condensation inside the tent. We finally departed camp at 6:15, and hiked into the cloudy morning.

Table Top mountain, which I had staring at for a few days now, was barely visible thru the humidity! Bizarre. We hiked along the boundary of the Tohono O’Odham nation for an hour, in a wash with a bunch of trash. People really need to stop buying balloons, they always end up someplace they shouldn’t be.

Eventually the wash ended, and we crossed a road where there was a welcome sign for cars.

We didn’t enter the nation’s lands, and instead followed some power lines for an hour, entering the Sonoran Desert National Monument. Cool.

We stopped for lunch at a guzzler, filled our water bottles, and then immediately entered the Tabletop Wilderness.

The clouds had begun to clear, and we could see Tabletop more clearly now.

We followed a very old abandoned road, which was probably closed in 2001, when this area became a national monument.

Along this cross-country section, I came across a very old Huffy children’s bike …weird.

The sun was fully out now, with only a few clouds to give us shade. The nearby volcanic peaks were pointy!

We arrived at the Tabletop Mountain trailhead, which surprisingly had picnic tables and a toilet. Nice spot for a break!

For the rest of the day, we hiked on the Lava Flow trail. It was a very nice singletrack, a rarity on the WTH!

After watching the sunset behind the Saguaros, we started looking for a camp spot.

The whole area was pretty flat and non-rocky, so it was pretty easy. We settled in to our spot, as the setting sun turned the surrounding hills a nice orange color.

There is more rain forecast for tonight, but for now I’m sleeping with my tent door open.