DWTH Day 5: Roskruge & Dos Titos Mtns

Daily Miles: 18.0, Total Miles: 68.8

I was looking for a break in the warm weather, and yes, it’s starting already. Time to do another leg of the DWTH. Besides, it’s so-called Liberation Day and what a great day to be away from the OGK’s (Orange God King) constant barrages and self-starting crises.

I had to choo away some longhorn cattle to get into the Ironwood Forest National Monument (IFNM). I will be hiking the full length of the IFNM for the next 45 miles. Until recently, I didn’t realize the extent and vast size of this national monument, encompassing 189,600 acres. Complete with ironwood trees (which can live 800 to 1,500 years), mesquite and palo verde trees, creosote and saguaros blanketing the monument floor beneath rugged mountain ranges.

I started in an easterly direction in the IFNM on a cool, clear, breezy morning. Skirted the east flank of the Roskruge Mountains as it was warming up. First encountering a cattle trough full of greenish water then a few miles later, my first wildlife guzzler of this hike. In this case, probably mostly used by quail or for anything else that can go under or over the fence. The guzzlers are artificial rainwater catchments mostly funded and built to improve habitat and hunting in dry lands. These will be my primary water sources on the DWTH.

I finally turned north through the Dos Titos Range, a great desert landscape. Not only with the desert trees and saguaros but also large, flowering ocotillos. Being mostly grazing land, there was a series of working and mostly full stock tanks, some just large tires with float mechanisms.

Pretty windy in the afternoon but fortunately not a lot of blowing dust. The route today was varied – primitive roads, trails and some cross-country. I called it quits on the approach to Agua Dulce Road. My feet are sore and legs tired, not unusual after a long break.