Trip Report

Milo interviews Brian about the T.E.S.T

🐕Milo
Good morning roomie, I noticed you were gone quite a bit last week, came home unshowered and were rambling a lot about some sort of TEST. Care to explain?

Well as a dog that has had two baths in his entire life I don't think you are in a position to comment on being unshowered, but I am happy you noticed I was gone. Last week I completed a route I am calling the Tucson Eastern Skyline Traverse, aka the T.E.S.T. The route connects two mountain ranges and most of the peaks you see when looking east from Tucson.

🐕Milo
Neat, did you meet any dogs along the way?

The route starts in Saguaro National Park East where dogs are not allowed so luckily I didn't see any on the first 30 miles, in fact I only saw three people on that section, but I did see a few near Molino Basin walking the Arizona Trail.

Crazy man describes Tucson Eastern Skyline Traverse to mountain biker Crazy man describes Tucson Eastern Skyline Traverse to mountain biker

🐕Milo
I hope you gave them your best sniff. What makes this route unique and why should people do it?

What I like about the T.E.S.T is it has a great blend of wilderness trails as well as trails accessible via Forest Service roads and Mt Lemmon Highway. Additionally to make these connections requires a bit of off trail route finding and some scrambling to access Airmen Peak. This makes the route a great option for fastest known time attempts but also makes it a great hybrid backpacking followed by slack packing trip.

🐕Milo
What do you mean by hybrid backpacking followed by slackpacking?

The first part of the route has no support opportunities so a traditional backpacking or long day running is required to make it through the National Park, but the second part could be supported by the van. For example, I could backpack through the park and meet you at Tanque Verde Falls then we could make our way through the rest of the trip together, Another plus side is I could switch to a smaller pack and just camp in the van while working our way through the Santa Catalina peaks.

🐕Milo
Well that sounds like a nice adventure. Where can people learn about the T.E.S.T?

People can learn about the Tucson Eastern Skyline Traverse by visiting: https://fastestknowntime.com/route/tucson-eastern-skyline-traverse they can also email us at info@milosadventurerentals.com while the route doesn't require a van, it sure does make it nice.