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| Hiking | 9.50 Miles |
1,100 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.50 Miles | | | |
| 1,100 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Did this trail as a nice little 2 day 1 night backpacking trip. It was the first time I'd taken my dogs on an overnight. Also, I had a good friend (a climber) in town, so this sounded like the perfect marriage of my hiking love with his bouldering love.
Day 1
Things started out rough--the dogs locked themselves and my keys in the car when we stopped to pay the day use parking fee at the east TH campground. The car had the sun directly on it and no windows were open. Terror for my terriers! Luckily there were some very nice snowbirds staying in the campground--traveling with wire hangers and a small dog of their own. They took pity on us and helped to get the car unlocked. It still took about 45mins to free the little suckers... another 20mins and I fear I would have had to break a window. Yeeesh. Once they were free we paid the fee for two days of day use parking, hit the bathrooms, and took off down the trail.
When researching this trail I paid more attention to the length and the description of how easy the trail is to navigate. I didn't really pay too much attention to the descriptions which labeled the climbs as tough... and they were, but they were not too bad. On day one (going east to west) it is a slow and steady climb up to the plateau and divide. The trip down to the west TH and "camping" area is quick with a lot of loose gravel and dirt in deep ruts, presumably caused by years of use by hikers and hooves alike. The boulders called my friend's name, but he'd have to leave them for the next day--we wasted any extra time we had for scrambling around on rocks trying to free the dogs from the car.
We reached the west "campground" just before nightfall. I was surprised, but there were 5 cars that I counted parked in the various rudimentary "spots." There was also a little bit of trash and I even found an opened uneaten can of beans--the stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me, as I had seen numerous piles of bear scat just off the trail at various altitudes along the hike. We found a good tree for our bear bag, a nice pile of soft leaves a fair distance away from the cars, and set up our little camp. The pooches were ready to eat some dinner and after they were full they settled down into the night. We had a tent because we weren't sure how cold it would get--in the end we were all perfectly warm with the rain fly secured and our +20 and +10 degree bags. I don't think it got under 35, maybe even 40, the whole night.
Day 2
We headed out of the west camp at around 9am, having gotten a very nice night's sleep. The dogs were just as frisky as they had been the day before, and they seemed much less daunted by the idea of the short intense climb up to the divide on the way back. As it turned out, although the climbing was tougher, we both decided we preferred it to the day before, but that might have been the combination of doing it in lower temps and with lighter packs (we had to carry in all our water, as the tank is dry at this time of year). The views of Rockfellow Dome are CERTAINLY better and more majestic when approaching from the west--that probably helped distract us from our huffing and puffing. We also saw a cocoon for what might have been praying mantis just near the overlook that is about 1/4mi from the divide gate on the east side. There's a photo of it in the photoset--does anyone know if that's what it looks like?
My friend finally got in some bouldering when we were about 1.2mi from the east TH. The dogs and I took a break and watched him chalk up and climb. The rest of the hike back was leisurely and peaceful. The pups started to lag behind, the midday heat started to get to them. When we arrived back at the east TH and campground, they jumped into the car pronto and passed out.
On our way back to Tucson we attempted to stop in Benson and try out Apple Farm, but they closed just as we pulled up. We settled on the Mexican place down the street and the dogs zzzzzzzzzzzzzz-ed it away in the car without a peep. All in all it was a really great way to spend 24hrs in a short weekend away from Tucson! |
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