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| Hiking | 10.58 Miles |
4,269 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.58 Miles | 8 Hrs | | 1.32 mph |
| 4,269 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | After reading the description and triplogs for this off-trail adventure, we were expecting the worst! However, being experienced at bushwacking and route finding it really didn't seem as bad as the we were expecting. Remember it's all relative to your prior experiences!
Before we started our adventure, along the trail we checked out a crested saguaro, looked at the metates in the bedrock, and took a break at the dam.
We left the trail shortly after the dam and went up a gully on the west side of the canyon. The gully was dotted with prickly pear and shindaggers - but I had no problems getting around the majority of the poky plants. It was very steep and there were large rocks to scramble over - which also made the route interesting.
After the gully, we still encountered more shindaggers, but we were able to avoid a lot of them on the way to Table Mountain. We made our way through some sporadic Mexican Blue Oak. As we approached the top, we started to see Pinon Pine and a few old Juniper. We decided to follow the east edge for the most part - and I'm glad we did as we had a couple of great views down into Pima Canyon and up to Pima Saddle. On the top, there was an awesome campsite complete with a fireplace. There were a couple of spots you could hang your feet off the cliff and just look out at the glorious Catalinas. To the Northeast we could see Mt Lemmon covered with a dusting of snow, Samaniego Peak, and many more. To the West we could see Pusch Peak.
After our lunch, we went down and then over to Bighorn. We stayed mainly on the ridge line which gave us a nice rock-hop and scramble over to the peak. The peak is mainly just a large pile of rocks. We had a nice view of Cleaver and Pusch Peak. We also could see the steep cliffs that make up the side of Table. On the way back to the gully, we made a beeline to the gully along the south side of the ridge. It was coated in shindaggers. Next time I think I'd take the rock-hop back to avoid a bit of the pokes.
The way down the gully was just as steep as the way up, but for some reason it always seems worse when you have to go down. Towards the bottom of the gully, I ended up a bit high on the side and decided to bushwack from where I was on the hillside across the drainage to the trail - not a good idea! That was a real bushwack. I had to push my way through trees and bushes. But I didn't really mind. I do think I want to investigate a different way down next time - loops are so much more interesting.
We took a break at the dam and then headed back to the trailhead. Overall, I only had to pull about 3 or 4 stickers out of my legs. Not bad after 8 hours of adventure! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
