Hi everyone, and welcome to the beautiful Saguaro National Park here in Tucson, Arizona.

I hope you are ready for a hike full of cactus and lots of different ecosystems.

I'm going to be backpacking here in the Rincon Mountains, which is in the eastern section, of Saguaro National Park.

It's kind of separated into two different areas, one on the western side of Tucson and this area on the eastern side of Tucson.

We'll be hiking up into the Rincon Mountains.

I'm going to be spending the night at a place called Manning Camp.

This is about 25 miles round trip, and I'm really excited because we're going to be hiking through a lot of the different ecosystems that you can find here in the Sonoran Desert.

And it's been a long time since I've been back here to Tucson.

I'll tell you a little bit more about that as we hit the trail.

I'm Alice Ford and we're back in Northern Norway.

This is the Garden Island, Kauai, Hawaii.

As you guys can see, it is absolutely beautiful down here.

The views are just already stunning.

We are on our way to Antarctica.

So right now we're having a traditional tea here.

Wow.

This part of the park sits at the base of the Rincon Mountains, one of Arizona's sky island ranges.

What makes this place remarkable is that it's not just a cactus garden.

It's a living landscape that climbs from desert floor to nearly 9000ft of forested mountain wilderness, all within one national park.

The area that we're hiking in, this part of the Saguaro National Park Wilderness Zone, it actually became a wilderness zone way before this became a national park back in the 1970s, and backs up to the Coronado National Forest as well.

So it's a really big protected area of wilderness, which means there's no roads in this area.

So where we're heading up to Manning Camp, the trail that I'm on, which is called the Douglas Spring Trail, is about one of five different trails that you can take to get up to this area in the Rincon Mountains.

I chose this one just because it was really accessible via the road.

I just drove down Speedway parked at the trailhead.

Super easy.

A lot of the other trailheads actually start down 4x4 roads, so they are a little bit more of a challenge to get to.

And this one made it easy so that I could just stay on the eastern side of Tucson and get to the trailhead in about 15 minutes.

So a really easy way to begin.

This trail is a little bit longer than some of the others, but I'd rather have that easy in and out in the car.

And add a few more miles on foot.

Heading up the Douglas Springs Trail towards Manning Camp, you move through five distinct life zones.

Desert scrub gives way to grassland, then oak woodland, then pine forests, and it's one of the most dramatic ecological transitions you can make on foot in the American Southwest.

Just starting to kind of go up in elevation here.

And as we are, we have this expansive view over all of the Saguaro cactus and lots of the other cactus species that are here in the desert that are just beautiful, a lot of them starting to bloom behind me.

If you can see these little orange up here, this is actually ocotillo, which in the springtime and it is March, just blooms and spreads orange all across the landscape.

So it was super beautiful.

Definitely reminiscing about how much I love the desert.

I actually went to college here in Tucson and, bringing back a lot of memories being out here in the desert.

If you're wondering when the best time to hike is, it's spring from March to April.

That's the sweet spot.

Temperatures are tolerable in the lower desert.

The wildflowers are out, and the higher elevations still hold enough moisture to keep the trail for giving.

Summer monsoons make mid-July through September genuinely really dangerous at lower elevations, and winter brings cold and snow above 7000ft.

Definitely appears that there has not been rain in some time.

This is a mesquite tree so you can see there's really no foliage on it.

You know the grass is quite yellow.

So where we're heading up to Manning Camp, there is supposedly water there year round, so fingers crossed that there is, because I definitely did not bring enough for two days.

So I'll be conserving a bit on the way up just in case.

I am almost half way now.

So a little bit farther and we'll stop for lunch.

The landscape is changing again as well.

We've got a lot more trees now.

These are actually called emory oak, species of oak tree that grow in kind of higher altitude desert environments.

So you'll find these throughout this national park, also in Big Bend National Park and throughout some parts of New Mexico and Texas, too.

All right.

It's 12:30, so I'm stopping for lunch.

And I've made it to the halfway point here at the Douglas Springs camping area.

There's three sites that you can camp at here.

There's also a bathroom, which is fantastic.

There is not water always year round here.

So if you do plan on just camping here, you'll want to make sure you do have enough water for your entire trip.

And, today I brought a muffin from my breakfast that I'm going to have lunch.

Water is the non-negotiable on this route.

Depending on rainfall and season, natural water sources along the Douglas Springs Trail can be completely dry.

Manning camp has a spring that is generally reliable, but you cannot bet your life on “generally.” The NPS recommends confirming conditions before you leave the trailhead.

Always carry more than you think you need.

Treat everything you find and understand that in this desert, dehydration moves faster than most people expect.

This is not a trail where you improvise water strategy.

This is a trail where you come prepared or else.

All right, that was a nice little break there.

Had a snack, refueled a little, definitely have some soreness in my neck already and my feet.

So those little breaks are just really beneficial so that I can keep going on the trail.

We are only halfway.

So six more miles to go and about 3000ft in elevation as well.

So lots of climbing from here on out.

The cactus has pretty much all gone away now as well.

We are definitely more in this, like scrubland.

This trail is full of beautiful quartz.

There is tons of it just everywhere you look.

Now, Arizona and neighboring New Mexico have a tons of minerals in the soil, and a lot of mining goes on here.

And I'm sure when Native Americans lived here, they collected a lot of these as treasures.

Oh all right.

We are at what's called the Cow Head Saddle, I believe.

And there's a trail junction here where you can go one of four ways, up to the Tanque Verde trail, which is over there.

We're going to go up this way, which goes up to Manning camp.

And there's also another trail that goes this way.

I'm not sure where that one goes, but I will show you on the map where we are right now, we have, just under four miles from here.

So I'm taking a quick stop here to put some electrolytes in my water, get a little bit rehydrated, and then we've got a big push up the mountain here, to get up towards the camp.

Passing Cow Head Saddle, the desert is behind you.

The air cools noticeably, the light changes, and then you see it.

The first dusting of snow on the trail.

And suddenly you're walking through tall ponderosa pine.

Within a few miles, you've moved from one world into an entirely different one.

This is what the Sky Islands do to you.

They compressed geography and season into a single climb.

So let's just do a quick chat about wildlife.

So up here in the foothills, in the Rincon Mountains, throughout Tucson, you can find a lot of wildlife.

There are coyotes, there are mountain lions, there are rabbits, lizards, Gila Monsters, and a variety of other creatures as well.

I haven't really seen much so far on the hike today.

A couple of birds, one squirrel, some really small lizards.

So not a ton of wildlife, but it has been a really dry winter, and I'm sure that has really affected not only what all these animals eat, but where they're living right now for what's supposed to be kind of the time of year when there is more things to eat.

So we'll see.

We'll see, what we see as we continue on the trail.

Okay.

We have officially one mile left.

Hooray!

I'm definitely ready for a break.

And I'm very hungry.

Quite cool now, but I'm probably gonna hold off on adding a layer until I get up to camp.

Also, we've gone up a lot in elevation.

We started at around 2300ft and camp is at 8000.

So big gain in elevation as well.

Can you see the full moon?

Awesome.

Okay, I can just see the cabin.

The old Manning camp.

We will not be staying in the cabin, but I will tell you a little bit more about it when we get there.

Okay, cool.

Fabulous.

Im so cold.

First thing my number says three.

Okay.

Im so cold.

Okay.

So number three.

That's me.

Well, there are actually quite a few more people up here than I was expecting.

I just met a couple of people that were coming up on the Arizona Trail.

So they were coming up from this way, the opposite way of me.

I met two guys when I came in as well, so I honestly thought there wasn't going to be anyone up here.

So that's really nice because it's actually always a little bit more comforting when you are sharing the campground with some other hikers and backpackers.

All right.

I am just waiting for my dinner to finish cooking.

Tonight I'm having a Pad Thai and I also just made a hot chocolate.

So, as the temperature is quite cold tonight.

That really hits the spot.

Delicious.

Well.

I've, packed up all my stuff in here.

It is still raining or snowing.

I'm not sure, but I'm going to, I'm going to get out of this tent now and, we're going to see what it looks like out there.

So I had a lot of snow on the roof.

I can definitely see it piled up out here.

So let's see what it looks like this way.

Whoa.

Still snowing.

This is why you always.

Pack appropriate clothing.

I came to the Sonoran Desert expecting heat, dust, and cactus.

I did not expect to wake up to snow on my tent that moment.

Reset everything I thought I understood about this place.

The Rincon Mountains don't care about your expectations.

They will hand you winter in the middle of your desert trip and remind you that preparation is not optional.

I think we're going to forgo breakfast today.

And coffee.

I, have one of these little caffeinated chocolate pieces, so I'm going to have that and a Twix bar.

Breakfast of Champions.

And then when I get out of the snow line in about a mile, hopefully I'm going to maybe stop and have some coffee.

All right.

We are on the move out of camp.

We'll be heading back down the same trail we took up yesterday.

Before we do that, I did want to show you Manning camp, which is right here.

And hopefully you guys can hear me because I don't have my microphone on today.

So we're at just below 8000ft.

This camp was built in 1904 by Levi Manning, who was, I believe, the land surveyor for the city of Tucson.

And he built this for his family as like a summer cabin.

They would come up here, they spent a few summers.

And then in 1907, this became the Coronado National Forest.

And when that happened, he stopped using this structure because it actually fell within the bounds of the park or the forest, so wasn't used for many, many years.

And then this became a national monument, and they started using it kind of as a park building.

And now when this became a national park in 1984, it's been used on and off by park rangers and other park staff.

So you can see they got a lot of firewood here.

You can't actually go in this building or stay in it.

It is just for the Rangers and lots of places to have your stock, horses, or meals up here, also.

Looks like some turkey tracks.

And I did also just see some deer.

As I was packing up the tent to.

Following some deer tracks and there they are.

Well, I just stopped for a photo and have been kind of jogging down the trail, and I realized I should probably check to make sure my tent poles were still on the back of my backpack.

And they are not, and neither is my water bottle.

So unfortunately, I've lost both of those things.

Somewhere between here and the top.

I just checked back some footage to see if I could tell where I maybe still had them.

And it was a long time ago.

Losing gear on a mountain is not something I usually do, but I will own that completely.

It happens, and it's a useful reminder that ego has no place in the backcountry.

Every mistake out here carries a cost, whether it's lost equipment, a wrong turn, or poor preparation, Leave No Trace matters not just as an environmental ethos, but as a mindset.

You pack out everything you bring in, you store food properly to protect wildlife and yourself, and you treat the wilderness with the respect that a place this powerful demands.

The mountain is not punishing you when things go wrong, it is simply indifferent.

That distinction matters because humility and preparation are what bridged the gap between indifference and survival.

I think I can pretty confidently say that this is probably not the view you expected from a park full of cactus.

We definitely got in all the seasons up here today.

Oh my goodness.

Well, I have made it back to the Douglas Spring Campground, which means we are halfway down This morning was a little wild.

I really was not expecting the temperatures to get that low last night.

I mean, I did see the forecast for a teeny tiny bit of snow.

Definitely nowhere near the amount that we got up there.

I definitely feel for the other people that I saw coming into that campground that were in shorts and t shirts, that did not look maybe as prepared for the weather, but it is 11:30 so I've made pretty good time coming down, minus the loss of some of my things.

And I know that I am going to get some comments now about Leave No Trace because of these items that I have now left on the trail, and I am a huge proponent of Leave No Trace when it comes to food wrappers.

Trash.

Yes your belongings.

Unfortunately, I had no idea these things fell off of my bag.

If I had noticed sooner I would have gone back for them, but I had just done too much after losing them because I did check some of my footage and it appeared that I hadn't had either of those items for a while.

And because this trail is so long, 14 miles each way, I just don't have the time or the energy or the water to be able to go back, get those items, and then make it back to the car before dark.

Just wouldn't be smart.

So, I am going to call the Park service when I get back to the car and just let them know, those things are up there.

If somebody finds them, great.

Not a huge loss either way for myself.

So that's good.

There is something about backpacking that a day hike simply cannot compete with.

When you carry everything you need and sleep on the mountain, you stop being a visitor passing through and start actually inhabiting the landscape.

On this route.

In under 24 hours, you walk through what feels like multiple seasons.

You earned that pine forest by crossing the desert first.

That compression of experience is something you cannot manufacture in any other way.

All right, we are back in the desert.

There's been an outfit change as the temperature has probably gone up.

40 degrees since this morning.

I'm not sure what it is currently, but feels like mid 70s likely and it was definitely below freezing this morning.

So we are back with all the cacti and soon the Saguaro as well.

So one of the cactus that you'll see a lot of in Tucson is the prickly pear cactus, which is this one right here.

Now there are many different species of cactus here, throughout Arizona, especially here in the national park.

Prickly pear is edible and not the best time to harvest it right now because it's been really dry.

But if you ever go to a Mexican restaurant or like a more authentic southwestern restaurant, you may see on the menu something called Nopales.

This is actually this part of the prickly pear.

And you can sometimes find them in grocery store.

So they basically take out all of the spikes.

And then, you can boil them, you can grill them.

Really common to have them in tacos for a vegetarian taco.

And you can also eat the flowers of the prickly pear cactus when those are in bloom as well.

Look at this little guy.

That's one of the other really common cactus that you will see in the Sonoran Desert is the barrel cactus.

Because this guy right here, there are, I believe, three different kinds of barrel cactus.

And they can grow up to three feet tall, barrel cactus actually grow towards the sun.

You can see this one has actually fallen over and keeps growing.

And it is growing that way because this is the direction that the sun is the strongest.

So even though it's fallen over, it's still very much alive.

Okay, this isn't a good spot to stop because we have three different varieties of cactus right here barrel cactus, the prickly pear cactus, and the saguaro cactus, which, as I've already said, is what this park was named after.

Right now, the saguaro cactus is actually really special because it grows nowhere else on Earth but the Sonoran Desert, which is comes right through this park.

It also goes through New Mexico and California.

And these cactuses are not only giants because of how big they get, but also how old they get.

So I'm reaching up to 250 plus years.

So they're really one of the grandfathers of the cactus species as well.

And really, really beautiful seeing all of the ones surrounding us right now.