Santa Catalinas

  • AZT 2020 Day 8, March 16, Monday
  • Start mile 148.8 near Italian Trap Trailhead (passage9mile22.3)
  • End mile 173.7, half-mile to Cathedral Rock Trail (passage11mile9.4)
  • Miles walked: 24.9

At the next trail junction I meet “Boomerang”, who bikes or hikes a section of trail, backtracks, and moves his van to the next section, hence the name.

The trail passes by a small lake, named “The Lake“ on maps. Is this the only natural lake on the AZT?

After climbing up and over a saddle, I descend down to Catalina Highway, past a couple of very busy campgrounds, and enter into a series of remarkably deep canyons with steep rock walls.

I meet “Detour” (PCT2018) and a PCT personality I met before on that trail who is travelling incognito. I walked with “Incognito” a few miles, short of Cathedral Rock, since it appears several hikers were camped there and level ground beyond that point is scarce.

Finished audiobook Tom Sawyer Detective, by Mark Twain.

Author: Jim, Sagebrush

Jim (trail-name Sagebrush) codes audio software for Windows, Linux, Android, and embedded systems. When not working at sagebrush.com, he enjoys backpacking, which this blog is about.