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I wasn’t doing anything this weekend so at the last minute I decided to camp out and do a hike.

Late on Saturday afternoon, I threw my inflatable bed, sleeping bag, some food, my guitar, and Sonora in the XTerra and drove up Reddington Pass. After I crested the ridge into the next valley and was out of sight of Tucson, I took a random right on one of the roughest, rockiest roads I’ve ever been on. The XTerra’s 4-Lo gears got a workout on this road as I climbed over boulders and tried not to test my skid plates. After a while it dead-ended at a ridge looking out over the valley. Perfect! I got a fire going, cooked some dinner, and played some guitar & harmonica.

That night dropped a little below freezing, but I was nice & toasty in my sleeping bag. Unfortunately, poor Sonora kept tossing & turning out from under the covers that I threw over her to keep her warm. Occasionally through the night I’d wake up to her shivering against me, and once she even nudged me awake. The next morning I couldn’t cook my eggs & oatmeal because I forgot my mess kit, so I went home & did the cooking there.

After breakfast at home, I headed back out, leaving Sonora at home. I decided to do a loop hike, going up La Milagrosa Canyon, up & over the ridge on the La Milagrosa Ridge Trail, and coming back down Agua Caliente Canyon. These canyons get technical in places, making it difficult with dogs.

The hike is well-described over at HikeArizona.com, so I won’t go into those details. I will say that it’s days like these that I love living in Arizona. It’s the middle of winter, and I’m out hiking on a beautiful sunny day in shorts. There was water flowing in both canyons (likely snowmelt from the higher elevations) and I only ran into one other group while in the canyons. It was a perfect day full of hiking, scrambling, and even a little bouldering. I can’t wait to come back in the late spring/early summer & go for a swim–I saw a few potential cliff-jumping opportunities!

Check out all the pictures!