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| Hiking | 7.50 Miles |
2,542 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.50 Miles | 8 Hrs 16 Mns | | 1.78 mph |
| 2,542 ft AEG | 4 Hrs 3 Mns Break | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | After yesterday's massively fun adventure, I started out the day pretty skeptical. I was thinking that something was going to spoil the day. First off, I had posted this hike on Alt Meetup and had a few people sign up (I drafted Joel and Mark - it was too late Friday night to actually ask them if they wanted to go so I made an executive decision). One of the people who signed up for the hike had no history with the group, which made me nervous.
We got to Le Buzz and I got my normal pastry and espresso (I think I have an issue). Then we found our newbie. Shorts and a bag that looked like it belonged on a beach not a hike. I introduced myself to her and told her what I knew the hike to entail: 8 miles which included off trail hiking, steep, and poison ivy. I asked her how much water she had and she dug out of the bag a smallish bottle. I told her that at least 3 liters were required (stated in the description of the meetup). She then took off to Walgreens to buy a backpack and water. She came back a few minutes later with a backpack, water, and a cute floppy straw hat. She loaded up the backpack with her food and other items. Then we were off.
The entire way up the mountain I was nervous. She was riding with someone else so I didn't get to hear her history. Just the fact that she wasn't totally prepared seemed to be enough for me. I was cursing the fact that we were going to go downhill first so we'd be about a third of the way through the hike before I could see how she handled elevation gain.
Anyway, on the way down Box Camp Trail we cruised. We turned at the unsigned junction with Spring trail. At the saddle we ran into a couple with a Great Pyrenees. What a beautiful dog! He was sporting a fresh haircut and a shaggy tail. They asked about the area and we told them what we knew about Brinkley Point and also about our plan to go see Sabino Box and then hike up to the Aspen trail. Luckily, they had the old Rainbow Editions map so they didn't think we were too crazy. In fact they ended up following us down to Sabino.
From the saddle the route is hard going. It's practically straight down a drainage with a lot of downfall, loose dirt, rocks, and POISON IVY! We saw more poison ivy than I've ever seen in the Catalinas. There were spots where you really couldn't avoid it.
After a bit we made it to Sabino Creek. It was beautiful! There was a lot of water and it made a nice early lunch spot. We checked out the old sign and then made our way to the Box.
The Box was incredible. The water had moved in some large boulders and also cut paths through granite to make stunning curves. We found ourselves on a huge boulder that was slanted so you could get a good look down. After sitting there for a few minutes I couldn't take it. I had to see more. Other triplogs had mentioned a cave but I was thinking it might be underwater since I hadn't seen anything like that. I moved to the side of the big boulder and noticed that there were old cuts in the rock and it looked like if I went down I'd probably be able to make it back up. So, down I went. From there, I looked around and finally found the cave. Basically, it is some rocks holding the huge slab boulder that we were sitting up on up enough for you to crawl under. From here you can access the box and in the event you don't want to swim, you can still get good pictures. The rushing of the water into the Box made me leery of swimming so I abstained. Maybe next time...
After our long break at Sabino Creek we headed up to the Aspen trail. This time we had no start of a route to follow, so we just found the drainage the the old trail supposedly went up. The Cowgill Eber Catalina's book had mentioned that in years past before the road people used an old trail to get to the top. We didn't see any evidence of the trail - but we didn't look to hard. We just went where there was the least amount of buckthorn and went uphill. We were a ridge next to the drainage which worked pretty good.
We kept looking back and the view was amazing. You could see Brinkley Point, Rattlesnake Peak and much more. We also could see our progression based on the saddle before the death march down to Sabino Creek.
At one point we found a spot where we had to make several major choices. We saw a crack that went up a way and we decided to take it. From there we had a choice. One guy scoped up ahead following the contour of the drainage, while the rest of us looked up. We decided to go up because our newbie had a bit of an issue with the exposure in the crack and to contour we would encounter a bit more. Things looked clear above the huge rock that was most of the hillside so we proceeded. The other guy chose to go his route (he has mucho experience and had a radio so we didn't mind splitting up).
After we got above the big rock we found a fabulous view spot and some cairns! We wondered if maybe climbers accessed the area but we didn't see any bolts. Plus it was a long way from the Marshal Gulch parking area. We checked in on the radio and heard that the other guy was having some issues and having to back track. We decided to just meet on the Aspen trail.
We followed the cairns up to a ridge and then made our way along the ridge until it plunged down a bit to a saddle. From the saddle my GPS told us we were only 400 feet away from the Aspen trail.
When we got to the Aspen trail we were so happy. We practically collapsed from the energy that was spent climbing up to that point from Sabino. I looked at my GPS and it said we had only gone 4 miles total! Are you kidding me???? It felt like we had gone 10 and all up hill!
We sat around resting and snacking until we had a radio transmission. All of us were on the trail and so we'd head to Marshal Gulch. We finally all met up at the Marshal Gulch parking area and paused to hear about the horrible route that had been taken. We were glad we went the way we did.
From there we hopped on the Sunset trail. After reaching the Sunset trailhead we got on the route that goes to Bear Wallow. A bit up that route is another that goes to the Box Camp trailhead. This part of the route was new to us so I was distracted by the Maples which made me take note for when fall comes our way.
We were elated to make it to the cars. We made sure we told our newbie how great she did. I hope we get to see her again on another hike. We promised her that this was one of the tougher ones we've done recently. We all agreed that this was a great hike. The views plus Sabino Box will make this one of my favorite Catalina hikes. I hope to return there some day to actually swim! |
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