Saguaro NP, Jumping Cholla, & a Gila Monster

April 8, 2023 Day 8

mile 132.7-151.1 (18.4 miles)

Woke up early to try to get some miles in before the extreme heat. Hambone made us a Mountain House breakfast skillet to split while I packed up the tent. It was only a couple miles before we entered Saguaro National Park. We saw quite a few mountain bikers, a naked man?? and a giant spike ball lodged itself in my leg. (The naked man was chilling outside his tent, balls swinging- the giant spike ball I later learned was a jumping cholla). I screamed when it lodged in my skin, not out of pain but because I thought it was either

1. rattlesnake teeth lodged in my skin or

2. a giant hornet with the stinger lodged in my skin.

I screamed so loud that Hambone himself panicked and then we both started laughing when we saw what it was. The spines on a jumping cholla are barbed and pulling it out was actually pretty difficult and painful.

The saguaros were huge and beautiful. They tower over everything and some have small holes burrowed into them where birds fly in and out. There are colorful wildflowers popping up everywhere, I stopped every few steps to take pictures of a new find. We had a huge 10 mile, 6,000 foot climb up Mount Micah. I spotted our first horny toad right in the middle of the trail, as well as a small snake and Hambone excitedly shouted A GILA MONSTER!! Gila monsters are incredibly rare and we could not believe we were lucky enough to see one. They are the largest and only venomous lizard in the U.S. and spend 98% of their time underground so the chances of us seeing this one lumbering up the trail was so small.

The excitement from our wildlife sightings fueled us up the trail. Around noon we found the perfect swimming hole and I dunked my body under the cold water twice, coming up feeling like a new person. Afterwards I had to peel off all of my foot tape and replace it with dry but it was well worth it. It was *hot* today and exposed but I just took plenty of breaks and before I knew it we were at a cold clear creek near the top with only about a mile to go. We soaked our feet in it for as long as we could stand, it was bone numbingly freezing snow melt. Ate our last snack before pushing on and reaching Manning Camp at the top.

The view coming down the other side was beautiful and expansive. There were still some patches of snow in some sections of trail. At golden hour we exited the national park and were now free to camp anywhere. We found a nice flat, exposed spot amongst some rocks with the most beautiful 360 view surrounding us.