We were all up and moving fairly early this morning, knowing that we had a full day of hiking and a lot of climbing ahead of us as we really hit AZT Passage 1 in earnest today. After driving back up to the Montezuma Pass and making final preparations, we started hiking towards the trail. Just as we were leaving the parking lot, we noticed a sign that said a permit was required from the Visitor Center for overnight parking. What? This was the first we’d heard of that. We debated a bit, and ultimately decided it was best to play it safe and go get the stupid permit. I decided to hang out and do some bird watching while Jerry and Cheetah went to get the permit. They returned 45 minutes later only to report that the sign was old and they no longer required the overnight parking permit. How frustrating. I just about took out my multi-tool and removed the sign myself.

Oh well, minor delay. So we set off, keeping a moderate pace knowing full well that we’d be spending almost the entire day going up. I was seeing a surprising number of birds, but I didn’t stop as often as I would have liked to look at them because I didn’t want to slow us down too much. I did stop to check out a Greater Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) I saw on the trail. I also saw a Yarrow's Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii) with a forked tail that was interesting. Very likely, his tail got partially severed or broken but stayed attached and a second tail grew out at the location of the break. I don't think it's unusual, but it's the first time I'd seen it. It was a really windy day and at times the gusts were severe enough to make me lose my balance and nearly push me off the trail, making the climb a bit more challenging. There were times though when the wind was rushing up the slope, providing a tailwind that none of us complained about.

The dogs did great, and though we weren’t making great time, we just kept plugging along. There had been a few hikers near Montezuma Pass, but we hadn’t seen any other hikers for miles, so I was a bit surprised when, as we approached the trail junction to Miller Peak, two large trains of hikers passed us going south. There must have been at least a couple dozen people total between the two groups. It was a bit strange. They were day hiking the passage, which is fairly impressive, though I personally can’t fathom the point or the joy in rushing through such a beautiful place as the Huachuca Mountains. Personally, I always long for MORE time to look around and enjoy the world by the trail side.

It was late afternoon by the time we got to the junction with the spur trail to Miller Peak, the high point of the Huachuca Mountains. I’ve been up to the peak before, but was looking forward to going up again. I was surprised when not even Jerry wanted to go up to the peak. I’ve never known him to pass up bagging a peak, so he must have been pretty darn tired. I didn’t particularly want to go up there by myself and hold up the group, so we continued on.

Eventually we got to Bathtub Spring, where we topped off our water supplies before continuing on to find a place to camp. Jerry and Cheetah wanted to put in as many miles as possible today to make the hike out tomorrow a bit shorter, so we continued for a mile and a half past the spring to Bear Saddle before putting our packs down for the day.

The place we stopped wasn’t ideal, being in a narrow saddle with very little flat ground, but we felt that if we continued on, we would have to hike quite a while before finding anyplace even remotely suitable to camp on. The wind was still strong so I moved down off the lee side of the saddle as much as I could. Fortunately my tent is really narrow so I can fit on rather small flat spots. There were at least some nice large logs to sit on, and we made that area into our kitchen. Not long after dinner, we all retired to our tents. I read for a bit, then crashed.