You just can't beat summer in the santa ritas

much needed day in the mountains. started at super trail and cut over to 4 springs on pipeline and kent canyon. very pleasant climb up to the high stuff. i was 50/50 on doing McCleary and when i got there i just didn't feel like thrashing through the thick overgrowth. took the lovely, though somewhat overgrown, crest trail to pine saddle and hit 88 Mac for the first time in years, then continued on to baldy saddle. shot up one of the nameless summits on the way for fun. got some welcome cloud cover for my trip up to wrightson, then had a nice hike down old baldy. a deer graciously pulled off trail just beneath the saddle, at a switchback, to let me hike by without much of a care.

great day up there. the springs were all flowing, everything off the beaten path was a little overgrown and tore me up, i got bit, i got stung, flowers everywhere...everything summer in the santa rita high country should be!

i wanted to do the mccleary/88mac loop using four springs and coming down burnt saddle but the weather forced a change of hand.

pipeline is a jungle

going up four springs reminded me this is probably the best trail in the santa ritas. i saw a twin spotted rattler on the way up

the route out to mccleary is really overgrown and the roughest i have seen it. i did surprisingly see a couple guys up there tho!! not long after i arrived the drizzle started and i knew it was time to bolt. it immediately started coming down harder and confirmed that the rocky and at times slippery ridge out to mccleary is not where you want to be in the rain

once back on trail i really wanted to continue my loop and actually started it but the rain picked up significantly and then a thunder crack and i was immediately heading back down.

still a great day but could have been super great.

Great day of peak bagging in the Ritas with Count Tacula. We hit McCleary, 88Mac and i went to the summit just south of Pine Saddle and JJ hit that one and the next one south as well. I was going to and realized how low on water i was...whoops. Ran out with 2-3 miles to go

hammered some tacos at BK on the way home. awesome time up in the points on the Santa Rita ridge

great hike with michelle's uncle dennis.

pipeline - kent springs - four springs - crest - wrightson summit - down old baldy

huge HUGE amount of flowers. running water and a small waterfall on the crest trail. twin spotted rattlesnake and mountain kingsnake sightings...yay for the santa ritas

i do believe i have such a love-hate relationship with the old baldy trail. i just wish it didn't hate me so much when i love it so... the last time i was up the old baldy trail (when i summitted wrightson with randy about a month ago), i counted the switchbacks from josephine saddle to old baldy saddle: 42 (or 43, depending on which way you count it). this made me feel a little better when i reached 37, but the cramps in my legs did not. it was nice and cool on saturday morning, making me drink less water than i should have, precipitating these cramps. i was so happy to finally be up at the saddle, since most of the work was done at that point - and then the clif gel shot of double espresso that bobby gave me perked me right up for the rest of the hike.

after a break at baldy saddle, we headed up the crest trail for about a half mile, then bushwhacked up to the ridge. oh my, what a view! but we weren't there yet. we had another half-mile of really fun ridgeline to follow before we found our mark. i was dubious it was even mount ian, but the gps didn't lie. i recognized the last names in the summit log: joel and belinda norby back in april. the summit register jar has shattered, and the mice have started in on the plastic bags - so that thing needs to be replaced (and might i suggest something other than glass? )

after my peak beer, we headed back down to the crest trail to the most malapropos named "pine" saddle. it was a nice meadow (no pines), and we cut off the trail here to go down to the four springs trail (and where we hit that trail, incidentally, was covered in pines). i was very pleased that we were going down this trail, as it was STEEP. then we finally hit the kent springs trail (an old jeep road, ugh), before finally taking the pipeline trail to the super trail back to the cars.

many thanks to randy for putting a bug in my ear about this peak, as it is definitely worthy. there are beautiful views, and a great hike. and of course, bobby (southpawaz), i couldn't have done it without you; you have the patience of job. what a great day!

two weeks ago, i just looked at josephine peak in envy. i wanted to mount her, but i wasn't sure it was the right time. i didn't have anyone with me or anyone who knew that that was my destination, and she looked like a hell of a hike, so i decided to do something that i thought would be easier - old baldy saddle.

for josephine peak i asked around, and i ended up wrangling three buddies to go up with me. wendy, who i knew would put up with my slow pace up, bobby (southpawaz), who i was bound to hike with eventually, and sirena, who asked to tag along with wendy. let me tell you now - this is not a hike that anyone should do alone, especially for the first time. the route finding was not easy. once you take off the super trail for josephine peak there isn't much of a route, let alone a trail. i was wearing pants and i still got scratched to hell with the catclaw i went through. the most wonderful part was a section through new growth pine, which was freaking awesome to walk through.

the section going up to the peak was steep and not well defined at all - a bit of a side slope scramble, which made it treacherous but not scary at all going up, and dangerous going down.

the peak was kinda anticlimactic after all that. there was a summit register in a glass container that we all signed - and no one had been up there since the beginning of july.

this is a worthy peak, most definitely. but i doubt i'll ever be back. it was too tough getting up with all of the scree and vegetation. the views were worth the climb, but i don't need to see it again.

the way back after josephine saddle, we took my new favorite route down, which included the super trail down to the spur route to roger's rock and the pipeline trail down to the super trail.

i had to make it up to the peak, and randy was bound and determined to make it up there too, so off we went. steady, but slow up the old baldy trail. and no picture taking for me on the way up. on the way back down, randy offered to make it more interesting, and i accepted. so at josephine saddle, we veered down the super trail until we hit a spur that met up with the roger's rock trail, then we made our way down the pipeline trail to where it met back up with the super trail to the parking lot. what a treat! the summer monsoon action made everything more wet. above old baldy saddle, there were quite a few seeps on the way to the peak. and that fantastic jaunt off of the super trail had lots of water flowing in the drainage.

went wandering in the santa ritas with dave. weather pumpkined up our plans but we still hit McCleary peak which is way cool. the weather rolled in and we had to go to plan b, then plan c...yada yada yada we are running down old baldy in a flat out monsoon!

we did see an elegant trogon, and wild turkey with a baby. plus got dave up into the high country on four springs and crest trails.

Got a late start, not taking off until 9:45am. We weren't too concerned, because our whole trek for the day was only going to be 14 miles and 5,500 ft AEG. The night before I checked the weather forecast to see how hot it was going to be to determine how much water to bring, and it said "30% chance of thunderstorms". Naaah...no monsoons yet, the season didn't even START until yesterday (June 15)! I did throw my windbreaker in just in case, but figured it was a waste.

Our plan was to bag 3 peaks...McCleary Peak, Peak 8853, and Wrightson...as one nice loop. On the way up we hear and see a beautiful Elegant Trogon, a tropical bird that is mostly in Mexico but is found as far south as Costa Rica...and as far north as the Santa Ritas. If you learn the call, you know one is around! It almost sounds like a crow, or a dog bark (here is a film of one in Madera Canyon a couple of weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGGQNr7fwBw). We then ran up on a mama wild turkey and a wee little one. I'm pretty sure that was what it was, it looked like one although it didn't make the sound of a turkey.

While admiring the first summit atop McCleary, we heard a faint rumble and looked around, and saw some storm clouds forming. OK, party's over, let's get moving.

By the time we get to the turnoff to Peak 8853, it's now storming a little to the south, and rain is falling. We decide we better pick between the two peaks and decide to bypass 8853 for the day to make sure we hit Wrightson.

Then we get to Baldy Saddle and look to the south...the wind is blowing in our face and a massive wall of water is almost on top of us and heading right for us, with thunder and lightning popping. I struggled for about 2 minutes and knew the Wrightson summit that was just 0.9 miles away was not going to happen...and the more time I sat there thinking about it, the longer I was going to be in the storm on the way down.

We took off for Josephine Saddle, and just as we pushed through the saddle the trickling started. Within a few minutes it was a downpour...then the hail started. Light hail, BB sized, but hail nonetheless. I think Nick and I made the all-time record for descent on Old Baldy! Well maybe not, but 32 minute to the car isn't bad.

We're already talking about going back after those last two peaks next weekend...yeah, that's right! It's ON!

I wanted to take the scenic route up to Mt. Wrightson via the Four Springs Trail, which I had yet to hike. Incorporating the Crest trail (one of my favorites) and hitting Mt. Ian on the way seemed like a no-brainer. Now I just needed some people to suffer with me, and I found a more than willing crowd: Joe, Bruce, Denny, Wally, Liz and Randy. Thank you all for joining me on a tour through some of the sweetest spots in the Santa Ritas. On Baldy, we met my dad and had a nice break on the summit (for once) before a very pleasant, though increasingly hot, trip down Old Baldy.

Thanks again, everyone, I had a blast and look forward to more