Miller Peak via Lutz Canyon

Just as promised from last week, I hiked up Miller Peak via Lutz Canyon at sunrise.  ChuckF from Tucson was the only other hiker who joined me when I asked around for hiking buddies for this hike on Facebook. He was already waiting for me at the mouth of Ash Canyon.  We started at 6:31am from the trailhead.  It was 48F and partly cloudy.  Against my better judgement, I wore cotton as a base layer with two long-sleeved tshirts, a nylon shirt, and a thin cotton hoodie.  I didn't warm up until we were back on the return hike and off the peak

We hiked at a steady pace, stopping only for water.  We checked out the Lower Bear Mine with its equipment and didn't really stop for snacks until we got to the Upper Bear Mine   We got to the Crest Trail in 2:53 hours and to the peak in 3:29 hours.  That is better than I thought I'd do.

There was still some snow lingering from the December storms!  (We are due some rain Monday, with possible new snow on the peaks)

This was Chuck's first time up Miller Peak.  He stopped to take photos for his hiking photo album.  We met only one man going up to the peak.  He had started at the Montezuma's pass and beat us to the peak.  He was still at the peak, bundled in a puff jacket, when we left and three military guys started up the spur trail to the peak.  We met three more people further down the trail.  All started from the pass.  Once we got back to the Lutz trail, we were the only ones around.  We stopped again at the upper mine.  A black plastic bag and sun-burned backpack were near the cave, neither which was there last week when I hiked through.

Clouds had moved in as we were on the peak and higher winds were forecasted.  But once back at our cars, the sun came out again.

The hike took us just over seven hours.  We hiked 8.55 miles, although Chuck's tracker said close to 10.  Neither of us had any slips or falls going down, but we also took our time. We spotted a few birds, one butterfly, but no wildflowers.  We were both very hungry when we got back to our cars.

We had a late lunch at the German Cafe.  I  This was Chuck's idea.  "We don't have too many German restaurants in Tucson" he explained. I had my usual Swabian Cheese Spaetzle with a salad and cucumber salad and iced tea and my meal was $23.38!  The prices have gone up quite a bit at the cafe.  I didn't even get any refills on my iced tea.  The cucumber salad was an extra $4.  It was a good meal and very filling, though.

We stopped for a beer each at the Taphouse in town.  I had a mellow Raspberry Wheat (4.4% ABV).  At 4pm we went our separate ways.  I got home at 4:30pm and was too tired to walk the dogs at the river.  Maybe tomorrow I'll take them down to the border, as it's going to be chilly all day.

***

The United States had its first Covid-19 death near Seattle.  A man in his 50s with underlying health issues succumbed to his illness.  The confirmed cases world wide has now doubled since February 11th.

(from AlJazeera.com:)

February 29 saw South Korea report its highest daily number of confirmed cases yet, 813, bringing the country's total to 3,150 with 17 deaths. Iran also reported the number of its cases had jumped 388 cases to 593 in 24 hours, with the death toll reaching 43.  

Meanwhile, Qatar confirmed the first case in the country. 

Senator Joe Biden won the South Carolina primaries today by a landslide.  This is his first victory.  I'd feel more comfortable with him as president than frontrunner Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont.