The end is important in all things.
I took the shuttle to the bottom of Sabino Canyon, spending way too much time charging my phone and drinking milk at the closest supermarket. I packed out another half gallon like it was the source of life, and climbed Sabino Canyon on foot.
Cyclists lined up at the top for the sunset ride, laughing with friends, going back to their cars and homes. I sat with the milk as the canyon grew dark. Watched them disappear in a line of blinking reds. No one looked back.
Higher up, the rock still held the day’s heat. I lay down where the canyon opened just enough to breathe, and for a while it felt like nothing had ended. Just another night. Same sky. Same quiet pressing in from all sides.
The hike was over for now. It was time to do something else.
The next day I hiked off the Arizona Trail, down Soldier Trail, to camp above Catalina Highway. A trail I’d never taken. A place I’d never been. Another night of coyotes howling. Another night with the city glowing low and distant, shimmering below me like a dream that belonged to someone else.
I lay there in the dirt. No longer following the red line, and I felt free.
#AZT #tucson