More heat and the desert is completely monotonous. We all got a bit bored and decided that a trail angel’s offer of a ride to Kearny was too good to turn down!

Got a room at the General Kearny Inn and a decent Calzone at the local Pizza place.

Really friendly little town, everyone wants to talk.

An even day of undulations on the desert floor. Lots of, err, cacti.

Our day was determined by the position of the two water sources – both algae filled huge tanks used to water cattle. Thank god for our filters!

Very hot (hit 30°+ with little shade), which made the water crucial.

Got picked up at Oracle for some lovely food and a visit to the Biosphere 2.

Just a short few miles into the ski resort village of Summerhaven. Pretty tired after the exertions of the last day, so pleased to find ‘Beyond Bread’ at the Mt Lemmon Lodge open early for coffee and a pastry.

More free coffee at the general store followed, and then a great burger for lunch at the Sawmill Restaurant.

The perversity of the trail then meant that we had to sharply descend to then have a late 2500′ climb to contend with, but the burger took care of it!

Camped at over 7000′, the wind was cutting but we found a sheltered spot on the ridge. Still, the night was very cold.

The hardest day so far. Due to logistical issues, we rejoined the AZT via a side trail, the Romero Pass Trail. Downside is that it was 4000′ ascent and 6 miles.

We then did a further 4 miles and  2000′ ascent making it easily the most climbing in one day that I’ve ever done.

On the bright side, the trails were very pretty, including the aptly named ‘Wilderness of Rock’!

Also, the snowmelt meant that there was lots and lots of water. I mean more than the previous 180 miles and then some

Zero day at Green Valley, much needed.

Simple mile up the Romero Pass trail to find a camp spot.

Nice site and a long night’s sleep, but windy and raining. Picked a dry spot to pack up, but the wind and rain continued for the morning. Pretty chilly.

Thankfully it brightened up a little, just for us to face a fun, sharp little 1100′ climb before a descent to the Trans Catalina Highway and a pickup from Fleur.

Quick trip to REI (new hat and tent pegs) and back to Green Valley for a wash and well deserved zero.

Following our hot traversal on the desert floor yesterday, rain arrived overnight, and quite a lot.

We still had well over 3000′ to climb to Manning camp to perform, and it turned out that everything just a few hundred feet above us was snow covered to a couple of inches.

Unlike the sweating temperatures of yesterday it was sub zero a good part of the day, and never really warm even after we descended thousands of feet to the valley.

Definitely the toughest climb since the first day.

Most of the day we traversed a vast desert plain with numerous saguaro cacti some measuring 4 or 5 times my height! Lots of pictures taken.

We entered the Saguaro National Park and not too long after entered a long, tiring climb.

Our day was determined by national park regulations which stipulated two possible campgrounds (literally just flat ground we are allowed to pitch our tents on), and we went for Grass Shack.

For some reason we all hit a bit of a wall and the last 2 miles was tough!

Into Vail for a near zero – food and a visit to Colossal Cave.

Camped in the La Selvilla picnic area – water and flat ground!