DWTH Day 21: Saddle Mountain to the Big Horns

Daily Miles: 17.9, Total Miles: 314.4

I enjoyed a gorgeous, colorful sunrise as I set out on my Saddle Mountain traverse. This area has been proposed as a wilderness area and I can see why. Saddle Mountain has rugged canyons, towering cliffs and rock spires in an obvious volcanic setting.

While on a x-country stretch, I happened to look down and see a perfectly formed, small arrowhead, a reminder of past occupation in this area. In the old days I suppose I would have snapped up this treasure, but not today. Good luck finding it!

Speaking of treasures, I have seen a few people out in the boonies and out of their ATVs with their eyes on the ground. I wasn’t sure what was up until I spoke to a camper on BLM land. His reason for being here – looking for chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline quartz gemstone and more specifically, fire agate specimens.

Another observation in the last several days – the amount of target shooting that occurs out here on public lands. The leftover targets and gunshots in the distance have been common.

I picked up an undisturbed water and food cache and had lunch near the end of Section 3 before the I-10 underpass.

I next followed high voltage powerlines for over five miles, also crossing another big canal, the Granite Reef Aqueduct, a feature of the Central Arizona Project bringing Colorado River water to the interior of Arizona.

I camped on the edge of the Big Horn Wilderness with the rugged mountains as a backdrop. Conveniently, a fenced wildlife guzzler is nearby with two water troughs, both holding water.