{"id":5130,"date":"2019-03-12T01:55:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T01:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thethousandmiler.com\/?p=5130"},"modified":"2020-01-19T20:22:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T20:22:10","slug":"arizona-trail-day-8-saguaro-national-park-evacuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thethousandmiler.com\/arizona-trail-day-8-saguaro-national-park-evacuation\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Trail Day 8: Saguaro National Park Evacuation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.22&#8243; custom_margin=&#8221;0px|0px|0px|0px&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;0px|0px|0px|0px&#8221;][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter=&#8221;on&#8221; make_equal=&#8221;on&#8221; disabled_on=&#8221;off|off|off&#8221; module_class=&#8221; et_pb_row_fullwidth&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.25&#8243; width=&#8221;89%&#8221; width_tablet=&#8221;80%&#8221; width_phone=&#8221;&#8221; width_last_edited=&#8221;on|desktop&#8221; max_width=&#8221;89%&#8221; max_width_tablet=&#8221;80%&#8221; max_width_phone=&#8221;&#8221; max_width_last_edited=&#8221;on|desktop&#8221; module_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;0px|0px|0px|0px&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;0px|0px|0px|0px&#8221; make_fullwidth=&#8221;on&#8221; custom_width_px=&#8221;500px&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.25&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Content&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.0.11&#8243; link_option_url=&#8221;5&#8243; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>Big fat evacuation bummer! So I heard mid-afternoon yesterday about the rain and snow coming. And how everyone was getting off the trail. Except me, <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-5131 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/thethousandmiler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/fullsizeoutput_487e-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Giant saguaro cactus on Arizona Trail near evacuation route off Mica Mountain.\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/>apparently, who didn\u2019t get the memo!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Last night <a href=\"https:\/\/thethousandmiler.com\/a-crazy-hike-along-the-arizona-trail-azt\/\">the rain began<\/a>. I was snug and warm in my tent. But it didn\u2019t stop. At 6 a.m. it was still coming down. Not hard, but steady and drenching. No way was I going to hike 18 miles up and over the mountain, going from 3,500\u2019 to +8,000\u2019 and from rain to more than a foot of snow. I had no rain or snow gear; for once I was trying to pack light like everyone says! And post-holing is no fun. Plus, it&#8217;s dangerous, especially solo.<\/p>\n<h2>A Conundrum: How to Arrange an Evacuation<\/h2>\n<p>Thank goodness my itinerary listed lots of passage stewards and other contacts. I called them all. Dan, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/sagu\/index.htm\">Saguaro National Park<\/a>, gave me a three-mile route to hike to a non-AZT trailhead, then said a ranger would pick me up and take me to the visitor center. Then he called back and said no, the visitor center doesn\u2019t pick up people anymore, so I\u2019d have to hike 10 miles there in the cold rain.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0Not the worst thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Luckily Ken, a passage steward, called right after I spoke with Dan. He could get me if I backtracked 2.1 miles and forded a creek. That sounded great!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Less than an hour later I was in his Suburban, all warm and cozy and enjoying my evacuation off of Mica Mountain.<\/p>\n<h2>Crazy Weather<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ken brought me to his home so I could figure out what to do. Long story short: I\u2019m back at Sandy\u2019s, where I dried my tent and washed my clothes. Two of my friends arrive tomorrow to hike with me for a week. But where will we hike?<\/p>\n<p>The rangers expect Mt. Mica and Mt. Lemmon to have 18\u201d of snow. Post-holing through that would be awful. I have some appropriate gear, but not enough. Plus, again, it&#8217;s dangerous. The winds are supposed to be strong tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>So far on this hike I\u2019ve been stymied by snow, a prescribed burn and now more snow. Ken said Tucson already had an inch more rain annually than normal, before this last rain \u2013 and it&#8217;s only March. Plus, Tucson only gets 10\u201d a year normally, and they\u2019ve just had 36 hours of more rain.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What Happens Next?<\/h2>\n<p>I guess I have to decide how much of a purist I want to be. Yes, I want to hike every inch of the trail. But I\u2019m not retired and so don\u2019t have unlimited time. Normally, trails offer detours for Mother Nature events. There was one around Miller Peak when it got socked with snow. But there apparently isn\u2019t any easy detour here, around these two mountains.<\/p>\n<p>Guess I can sleep on it. But the real takeaway from this: there are an awfully lot of nice people in this world!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Snowshoe<\/p>\n<p>These mile totals are now going to be all skewed, but life isn&#8217;t perfect, is it?<\/p>\n<p>2.1 miles today<br \/>131.6 miles to date<br \/>668.4 miles to go<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Big fat evacuation bummer! So I heard mid-afternoon yesterday about the rain and snow coming. And how everyone was getting off the trail. Except me, apparently, who didn\u2019t get the memo!\u00a0Last night the rain began. I was snug and warm in my tent. But it didn\u2019t stop. At 6 a.m. it was still coming down. Not hard, but steady and drenching. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,74,55,2,62],"tags":[1755,1952],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Arizona Trail Day 8: Saguaro National Park Evacuation - The Thousand Miler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Big fat evacuation bummer! So I heard mid-afternoon yesterday about the rain and snow coming. 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