Matt Chamberlain carries the primary blame for the initiation of the following boondoggle. On the 19th of October, Matt sent an e-mail to the TTR group with the idea of a double range crossing of the two major mountain ranges surrounding Tucson, the Rincons and the Santa Catalinas. We have all been running up and down and around these ranges for decades and telling stories. What hasn’t happened except in pure idea and speculation was how to traverse both ranges in one day. I recall speaking of a similar plan in 1998 involving something like starting in Happy Valley at Miller Creek and ending up at Catalina State Park at the end of Romero in the vicinity of 48 miles. Sure, anyone could pull this off with enough help and the right weather and maybe another runner in the same physical condition and mindset. I have heard others chat about such things but the chatter never went beyond a dream and then the subject was dropped.
I responded to Matt’s e-mail and then waited for the proposition of trail routes. In the meantime I drummed up other parties that are known for their boondoggling abilities. Jerry Riddick is always good for a double or triple range attempt. I know this by hearing him talk of Santa Rita, Patagonia, and Huachuca crossings. Chris Fall and I drew up a plan called the “Four Headed Monster” four years ago involving the ascension of all four major peaks surrounding Tucson in one day. We had finished Mica and Wrightson on the hottest day of that year so far and scratched. Matt completed his first 100 mile last summer at Lake Tahoe on a double out and back 50 mile course. Mike Wilke and Matt have both attempted the double range crossing in previous years and were held up by snow and injuries. I had just finished my first 100 mile at Western States this past summer after a DNF at Angeles Crest in 2003. Raoul Erickson said he was in. I had never met Raoul until now but he looked like he was capable of doing anything he set his mind to.
We got together one week out to finalize logistics and the route. We had determined to start no later than 7am on the 25th of November. I went home and told my wife Trish what the plan was and it might involve 18 to 24 hours. Since Thanksgiving is a four day weekend I could afford to kill a day. She said “Why don’t you guys quit planning and talking, and finish something for once.” Good point.
We showed up at Raoul’s “DON’T EVER PARK IN FRONT OF” door by 4th Avenue Saturday morning at 5am for transportation in his Suburban out to Happy Valley on the eastside of the Rincons. Steve Olsen from Oro Valley showed up for the first half of the run as well as Jerry Riddick. Those two both agreed to wear dresses because of the shortened route. Chris then showed up and said he was only going halfway so we let them off the hook because we didn’t have a third dress. Raoul had “company” from out of town drop in late so he had to opt out completely. He also had to arrange last minute transportation due to the Suburban being unserviceable.
We headed out in two pick-up trucks being driven by Raoul and his friend Oscar. We made it to the Turkey Creek trailhead at 6:40am. You can start at the 6.2 miles to Deer Head Spring sign or drive 4WD into the 4.6 mile option. We drove in. By 6:55am we had donned our packs, took photos and were up the trail before sunrise.
Basically a run of this magnitude, whether stopping at Molino Basin or going the whole way to Oracle involves early caloric intake and continuous hydration. All of us were well stocked with 100+ ounces of water and energy drink and plenty of snacks, gels and energy bars. The plan for aid was as follows: At the 5 to 6 hour mark Tom Kittle was meeting us at Redington Pass at FR 37 with drop bags and water as well as Ross Zimmerman with water and Gatorade. Ross wanted to come out and scout around on his mountain bike for next weekend’s 50K. From here Tom, and it turned out Ross and Pam also, were to drive over to Molino Basin Campground with more drop bags and water. Jerry’s wife Cathy was also scheduled to pick himself, Chris and Steve up for a ride back to town and home. Mike, Matt and I had drops ready for Tom to leave at the fire station at the Control Road at mile marker 25 on Mount Lemmon. That was our assisted plan. We had back-ups like chemical treatments for spring water and the old dependable spigot at the Palisades bathrooms. Also, we were still uncertain of a ride home from Oracle that night or next morning or Sunday afternoon.
As I write this I know Matt is putting together a more technical description of the route and splits so I won’t go into as much detail. (At this point in time none of us owned a GPS watch, we did have cell phones though). I’ll give a brief overview of the route and describe the highlights of the day as I witnessed them. Like I said, we started at Turkey Creek TH and climbed up to Deer Head Spring and went north toward Spud Rock then through Mica Meadow and on to Italian Spring Trail. We decided not to go through Manning Camp or over the actual top of Mica Mountain. Steve and Matt have never been to the peak so we took a short break before heading down Italian Springs while they took the detour to bag the peak. The temp at the start of the run was near 50 degrees and the skies were clear with light winds. By the time we reached the top the temps were near 40 and the scenery was the best I have ever witnessed in my several trips to this mountain. There was some frost in the shady areas and Deer Head Spring was green and beautiful. The trail conditions were quite immaculate in comparison to others we would cover later that day.
After a short rest while Matt and Steve looked at the 8,666 sign on Mica Mountain we headed down the Italian Springs Trail. So far most of the trails we covered were virgin to me. I had never been on any of the trails on the east and north side of the peak before so this was a real treat. The views from Italian Springs upon first descent are expansive to the east and west. The rock formations along the trail a couple of miles down are similar to Texas Canyon east of Benson. The trail is rough in spots but it appears that the Forest Service is in the process of working on many areas. As we got to the lower elevation we had to go through a couple of different gates. Trying to figure out accurate mileage through here is like taking the average of several different stories. Anyway, as we ran toward Redington Road I looked to the northwest at the immensity of the Catalina range in the distance and realized that we had a very long way to go.
We hit Redington at five hours, almost an hour earlier than we estimated. Ross was here already on his bike and met us on the trail. He had water and Gatorade at the Trooper. We filled up and ate food out of our packs. Tom was expected around six hours so we figured we had enough water that Ross could give him the message to go to Molino. Just as we crossed the road to the trailhead Tom came driving up. At least now we could grab some more food and change into t-shirts. The portion of trail through Redington and Bellota Ranch is very runnable as it gradually descends for six or seven miles before coming to West Spring Tank. From there the trails climbs steeply to East Saddle before dropping over the north side 1.2 miles into Molino Basin. The entire section from Redington to Molino is advertised at 10 miles.
The pace and banter through the mid-day was very casual. The temperature never seemed to get above 70 degrees and there were wispy clouds to take the bite out of the sun. Every couple of miles we stopped and snacked and talked. Someone mentioned that the reason they had decided not to run the whole thing is that they hadn’t done enough training to get ready for it. I said “This is what you do to get ready for other runs.”
The 10 mile section took us about 3 hours. The climb up to the saddle was slow going but the reward was you could see the world below on both sides of the saddle. We arrived at Molino before 4pm and ate dinner.
Dinner for me consisted of a thermos of still warm mashed potatoes and bacon, a cold chicken burrito, cantaloupe, salt and vinegar chips all washed down with an Ensure. I really felt good after that. Chris, Steve and Jerry were elated to be finished while Matt, Mike and I were watching the sun drop by the minute. We spent 45 minutes or so socializing and packing warm clothes and flashlights for the night traverse. Eventually we walked out to the trail and ascended our way to Prison Camp.
By the time we reached the Sycamore Reservoir TH the sun had set with a pale glow in the background of the Arizona Trail sign. With the wispy clouds the sunset was awesome as a backdrop to the many rock formations in the front range of the Catalinas. It was still dusk as we descended to the reservoir and luckily just light enough to manage our way up to the Bear Canyon intersection without turning on our lights. We began the descent to Palisades with adapted night eyes but nothing could prevent some trepidation crossing the landslide ruts that crossed the trail. Maybe the drop-offs below looked worse because of the darkness. Right after crossing the first slide Mike slipped off the trail and I thought he was going down. Just as I was reaching down to grab his hand he caught a foothold and steadied himself. Hmmm, good time to pull out the flashlights.
We reached the Palisades junction sign and discovered there was a washout right at the bottom where trail used to cross. We climbed up over the boulders and searched for signs of trails in the bushes and overgrowth. Matt turned out to be the best route finder in the night and once again was on while Mike and I were getting poked in the head with sticks and Cholla branches. Here again maybe the darkness exaggerated the poor condition of the trail but I found it to be overgrown so badly that our pace became a slog. It wasn’t pitch black due to the city lights which became lighter as we got higher. The moon was unsubstantial at about less than a quarter darting in and out of light clouds. We finally reached the bench rock overlook and took a snack break and broke out some warmer clothing. The trail from here to Mud Springs never improved except through the large boulder section where the weeds are less. As we approached the gully leading up to Mud Springs we could look off to our right and see the black abyss of Pine Canyon. I felt like we were headed into the belly of the whale as we crawled through the rocks and trees in the gully. Except for several matchsticks across the trail after the springs, the trail was easy to follow on up to Showers Point Campground. About a mile from the campground is where I began to feel chilled as the wind whipped up.
We stopped for a bite to eat just before the dirt road leading to Mt. Lemmon. I had already donned my light shell jacket over my long sleeve Coolmax shirt. Due to the Camelbak making my back wet from sweat I couldn’t get warm sitting there. This is the first time the thought crossed my mind about hypothermia. Oh, I wasn’t even close, but conditions would get worse being it was only 10pm. Doubt crept in so I got up and moved out briskly to the restrooms at Palisades. Palisades is where our run plan first encountered a symptom of failure. The water spigot was capped. We had gone the last five and a half hours without a refill. Due to the extraneous weight carried in our packs it is hard to accurately determine how much water remains in the bladder as you are going along. Each of us pulled our bladders out of our packs and were reminded of a bad dream during Christmas. We each had around 20 ounces to carry us five miles up the road to the fire station. This was doable. Unspoken thoughts start to occur when fear creeps in. I went into the bathroom out of the wind and put on my pants and stocking cap and wondered if it made any sense to call Trish to ask her to drive up and get me. It felt good in the bathroom with no wind and I could sip my water but I was low on food. I knew we had our food and water drop five miles up a paved road. How long could it take; an hour? Mike was in the other bathroom and Matt seemed just as calm as ever. We rallied up and fast hiked up the hill till we got warm. The wind was blowing at our backs as we watched the city lights. Once we topped the hill above Spencer Campground there was renewed motivation to shuffle down to the Butterfly TH.
One drawback to wearing pants to stay warm is that when sweat is generated through body heat then all the cuts and scrapes from earlier shiggy get reinvigorated. This happened several times through the night. We reached the fire station at midnight and found the stash that Tom dropped earlier in the day. There was light from a lamppost to see so we huddled behind the building to avoid the wind and eat our dinner. I had a Rockstar Juiced in my bag which provided the equivalent of about four cups of coffee. I also had a chicken chimichanga and more cantaloupe. We finally realized we had better get our butts off the ground and get moving to stay warm. Unspoken thought number two occurred as I watched Matt and Mike putting on more warm clothes. “Why didn’t I pack more clothes?” “I wonder if they have anything to spare?”
We reached the Oracle Ridge TH and read the sign that said 12.5 miles to Oracle. At three miles an hour we’ll be done by 4am, cool. Not quite. I never realized there could be so much uphill on a gradually descending ridge. There were several other criss-crossing road options and since the route used the road at times it was sometimes uncertain where we were. At times we would veer off trail onto cattle trails until they died out and we backtracked to the real trail. At least twice I felt sleepy and wanted to fall down into the weeds near the barbed wire fence and take a nap. I occasionally wondered why it looked like Mike and Matt never got sleepy. Maybe they were but I just couldn’t tell. Unspoken thought number three occurred at this time. “Do you guys want to stop and take a 10 minute nap?” But then I thought, “What if we wake up and the sun is shining overhead?” “Trish will definitely be worried because I didn’t call.” I last talked to her at East Saddle and joked that I would either be home in time for dinner if I opted out at Molino or in time for breakfast if I went all the way. It had been twelve hours since I talked to her last so I figured she was already wondering where we were; so the nap was out of the question.
There was not much talking. We took turns leading trail depending on when one of us would get off and the one behind became the new leader. After 5 hours we finally reached the AZ trail intersection that drops to Cody Loop Road in 1.8 miles or Mt. Lemmon Highway in 2.4. We had our hearts set on the 1.8. I called Steve Olsen at home to give him a heads up and his wife answered the phone and said he was already at the trailhead. I called his cell and he answered and said he was at the end of the 2.4 mile section. Luckily he was amenable to finding the other trail and we shuffled our fastest 1.8 mile split for the entire night. Steve was there when we finished and took our pictures. It was just after 6am and there was distant light in the sky. Steve took us to Circle K for cappuccinos and then brought us back to Raoul’s place to our cars. We grabbed our stuff from Steve’s truck and exchanged congratulations. I told Matt, “I’m not crazy; you’re the one who’s crazy." "Wait at least a month before announcing the next boondoggle so we have time to reminisce about this one.”
In the end we spent 23 hours and 12 minutes traversing 60 miles on ‘pointless, unnecessary work.’ Thank you to Tom Kittle for spending his day with his kids driving around the mountains; Ross and Pam for being out there especially at Molino with cheerful faces; and especially to Steve for his generosity and sacrifice early in the morning to help out our wayward souls. For future double range crossers who want to raise the bar I would suggest an extra jacket and start two to three hours earlier as you will still have light up to Mud Springs on Palisades. The extra daylight would enable a Box Camp trail option letting you out further up the road past Spencer Canyon. Another idea would be to start in Oracle and get Oracle Ridge and it's myriad option of trails done first. If anyone is up for an adventure let me know, I am an official boondoggler.
Happy trails,
Chase
