Thursday November 30, 34.0km/21.1mi

McMullen Valley (344.5/2080ft) to Rawhide Mountains (365.6/2160ft) (AZ)

We were hiking at 6:15am as usual, and used our headlamps for 30 minutes before we saw this amazing sight.

It was getting lighter! We could see the mountains we were about to climb over.

It was a gradual uphill on an old mining road, with our familiar Saguaro cacti friends.

After a couple of hours, we were on the final push up to the top of the ridge. It was super steep, and it took like 30 minutes to go a half mile.

But once we were on top, it was great! It was also noticeably colder and windy.

After a quick break at the top, we escaped the wind and descended the other side, using a nice ridgeline.

That part went faster, but we kept getting separated so that added some time. Finally, we were at the bottom, and found a dried up water source.

The solar well didn’t seem to be running, probably because it’s for cattle, and there weren’t any nearby. After another 30 minutes of hiking, we came to a guzzler with plenty of green-ish water.

As we were leaving, we met a quail hunter, he was curious what we were doing way out here. The feeling was mutual. We hiked some old dirt roads for an hour, and then climbed up another ridge, this one was much shorter.

The descent off that ridge was speedy, and then we were back in a flat valley with the Saguaros again.

Towards the end of the day, we crossed a paved road, which was very unusual. It was the road that led to Lake Alamo State Park, where we will be tomorrow!

The last hour of hiking for the day was in nice gravel washes, and we even found a very nice burro trail to use. Sweet. And at the end of the day, we randomly stumbled upon a perfectly flat spot for camping, pretty much exactly where we hoped to find something. Perfect!