Ventana backpack part 3

The fall of 2017 was a very very dry one in the mountains, so the mountain streams are nearly universally dry with few exceptions, Hutches Pool being the exception.

As a consequence, it was necessary for me to carry up some of our water for this 2.5 day backpack two days later.

I hauled about 14 pounds of water and found a spot where a large rock was near the trail where I could cache some water and the dayhike pack.

By having cached one days' worth of water, we only had to haul up 1.5 days' drinking water.

With the extra water we were able to make it a 3 day 2 night backpack, with the cache being the water necessary.

Jason and I had made a previous unsuccessful attempt on Cathedral Rock 2 weeks earlier by crossing wilderness of rock, and then hike down Romero saddle, then hike up Cathedral Rock, and go down Sabino canyon.

We didn't think we could get down to Hutches pool to get water and get back to hike up Cathedral Rock with the amount of food we packed for the trip.

So for this trip we decided to hike Ventana, and then camp at the top of the canyon, and then Dayhike the 4 miles over to Cathedral Rock, and then hike back down the canyon the next day.

Friday morning we left the house at about 11AM, and drove to Ventana trailhead.

We carried the water needed to hike up the mountain, and for half of the next day, when we planned to hikeup to Cathedral Rock. Then with the cache water, we would have enough for that night and then the next day hiking back down the mountain.

The hike up the mountain with our 40 pound backpacks was uneventful, except that we didn't get up the mountain until about an hour after dark. We pitched our tents each with headlamps.

We ended up pitching our tents right on the trail where it went over a "hump", where it the ground was flat for about 20 feet by 10 feet, which was more than enough for us to pitch two tents.

The plan was to get up after we were rested, and then dayhike over to Cathedral Rock. The forecast when we left was that it would be overcast, but no precipitation. The sun was up and bright the next morning, but it was somewhat cold overnight.