Mount Miguel - Catalinas, AZ

Overview
Mount Miguel is roughly a 3.6-mile hike up the very well-maintained Esperero Trail #25 in Sabino Canyon, followed by a 0.75 mile moderate bushwhack to the peak. After reaching the peak, I found it easier to bushwhack down roughly 0.4 miles to the east, and then eventually ran into a lower part of the Esperero Trail which I took to get back down.


Hike
Start at Sabino Canyon, either the main parking area or the overflow lot. I started this hike from the overflow lot and took the trails from there to the main road. Once at the main road, it's only a short distance to get to the Esperero Trail, in which you'll be turning left. There will be some hills to climb within the first mile of the Esperero Trail but the trail is very easy to follow. You'll pass through a gate within the first mile.After hiking a total of 2 miles, the trail will cross Bird Canyon. The trail will enter an unnamed canyon between Bird and Esperero. Continue until after you have traveled roughly 3.6 miles to Cardiac Gap. Once here you'll head roughly 0.75 miles to Miguel Peak. The bushwhack was not very difficult but route finding was a bit challenging here. I found myself having to switch to higher and lower planes to get to where I wanted to go. There's some uneven terrain here, so you'll need to be careful in planning your route and make adjustments as you get closer. I found a registry near the bottom of a large rock structure at the peak. The last entry was from 2013, roughly 9 years ago! There are some really great views of the city of Tucson from the top.

To get down, the easiest and shortest way from the peak would be to bushwhack to the east, following the slope down to the Esperero Trail using the most gentle route. This route down could also be used to get up to the peak faster and it would appear to save about 1 mile from the one-way route. From the peak, bushwhacking back north to Cardiac Gap is also an option but it's a longer more tedious bushwhack. Once at the Esperero Trail, follow that back down roughly 3 miles to your starting point.

2022-11-07 Mike_W