We’re not in Washington anymore!

For five days we stayed with Amos’ brother Sam and his wife Lynné in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. During our stay we prepped gear and food for our first stretch of the PCT and hiked in Saguaro National Park, thanks to a stellar recommendation from a Triple Crown thru-hiker and employee at the local gear shop.

Below are photos from the 8-mile trek to Wasson Peak (elevation 4,687 feet), on the ancestral lands of the Tohono O’odham people.

We were very lucky to see the desert in bloom after an abundance of winter rain and snow.

Here’s one of my favorites, the desert Mariposa lily.

pink hedgehog cactus

Prickly pears cactus

buckhorn cholla

Staghorn cholla

The day before the trail we experienced a bit of an unexpected adventure… Sam’s initial plan was for us to have a chill first half of the day in Tucson, and then at noon we’d drive from Arizona to California to camp 20 minutes from the trailhead. That would set us up for an early start the next day, our first day on the PCT(!), and Sam would get to see Scout – a trail angel he knows from thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail last year.

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