After an interesting day of looking at a Land Rover belonging to a young woman who also owned a bunch of dogs and a camel (really, a damn camel!), I set out for the Chiricahua Mountains. My plan was to drive into the mountains themselves and most likely camp at the Rustler Park campground before returning to the national monument for a hike of the 'Big Loop.' However, given the time and the enormity of the hike facing me the next day, I decided to see if there was any camping available in the monument itself.

Fortunately there was camping, and it was quite nice. The way it was occupied upon my arrival I had the choice of setting up next to either a small family enjoying a campfire, or a raucous group of young people playing acoustic guitars and loud music out of pickup trucks. I chose to be nearer the family, and what an enormous mistake that was. At 8:00pm exactly the guitars were put away, the music turned off, and everyone began to enjoy a campfire talking in low tones. Around the same time the children in the family were apparently stricken by demons and pretty much spent the night moaning and convulsing in their unusually 'swishy' sleeping bags...

At 60F and clear skies, it was the perfect day for an afternoon hike. Leaving a buffer to ensure it didn't get dark, I had about 3 hours of hiking time once I finished getting ready and driving across town. I wanted to actually finish something (it's no fun to hike out to an arbitrary location on a trail and just turn around), so I needed a pretty short hike.

Fortunately I found exactly what I was looking for in the Babad Do'ag (wtf is that?) trail off the Mount Lemmon Highway. At 4 miles of length and 1100ft of elevation gain, it would be short enough but still provide some challenge for my heavy ass!

The trail continued alongside the highway for a little before breaking away and climbing up a ridge.