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| Hiking | 7.40 Miles |
1,837 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.40 Miles | 4 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.56 mph |
| 1,837 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Wally and I hiked up to Wasson Peak via the King Canyon trail, returning via Hugh Norris and Esperanza in the east unit of Saguaro National park. At the trailhead, both the King Canyon trail and the Gould Mine trail start. A board with a map that shows all the trails in the park is about 200' up the King Canyon trail (why is this not at the trailhead?). There is also a trail register, which revealed that Pope Benedict XVI had just hiked there the day before. Funny that wasn't on the news.
We took King Canyon and worked our way up to the Mam-ah-Gah Picnic area. At this point, we actually got off the trail for a bit and went into the wash. Fortunately, not too farther up, the trail crosses the wash again and is clearly marked with a big metal trail marker.
From the Mam-ah-Gah picnic area to the junction with the Sweetwater trail, there were more saguaros, which were all in full bloom, making for a lot of nice pics. On the way up, the Sweetwater trail was very prominent across the valley, cut into the hillside and looking similar to the mid section of the Reavis Ranch north 109 just north of Castle Dome. At the Sweetwater junction, increasing views of Tucson and Mt. Lemmon were possible, although not very good due to the position of the sun and hazy weather.
From Sweetwater up to Wasson Peak, we began to notice the first of many abandoned mine shafts that were sectioned off with barbed wire, rebar, etc, all of which were tampered with to allow access if you wanted to enter. We did not. By the time we got to the peak, the weather was beginning to get hot, but not too bad. Just below the peak, we began to notice commercial jets flying into the airport just over the peak. Seems like every time Wally and I hike, we're getting buzzed by airplanes (see my triplog on Superstition Peak 5057 on 3/18/07). Once we got up to the peak, however, no planes came by until just after we left. Bad timing, or not. From the peak it was possible to see a lot more of the trails throughout the park, as well as mountain ranges all around. We picked out Picacho Peak to the north, but not anything much farther.
On the way down on Hugh Norris and Esperanza, we noticed a lot more abandoned mines. The biggest one was just before the junction of Esperanza and the Gould mine trail. A huge grate was over the shaft, allowing us to see in, but a barbed wire fence was all around it. There was also some small structure there built from rocks, almost like a little house. We noticed another one of these down by the picnic area that seemed to have a pit that was covered inside and wondered if it was used for mining. After seeing a trail marker that has the word "Restrooms" blacked out, it became apparent what this second structure was.
The real adventure on this hike began when it ended, as we tried to get home on I-10. an accident occurred south of Picacho just before we started our drive back. After sitting for a bit in traffic, I called my wife to update me with what the ADOT website said. At first it said closed from 1:30pm-2:30pm. At 2:40pm we were still sitting so I called again and the website said closed from 1:30pm-5pm. Time to bail. We turned around on I-10 across the median and headed back to Tucson. The traffic was already beginning to back up on the nearest exits going the opposite way from all the others who bailed. We ended up going all the way down to Ina Road and taking 77 and 79 back up to phoenix (mesa), after a couple stops at gas stations to find our way. There were also several frustrating stops at all except one traffic light and a particularly excruciating wait for a southbound mile long train that we first saw pass us while we sat on the highway. I think the total time it cost extra was only about an hour and a half to two hours, but at times it seemed like more. On the way up 79 I called my wife again at about 4:30 and the website said I-10 was closed until 5:45pm. Good call to bail. Later that night it said Ina Road was detoured for the I-10 closure, so it seems like something big occurred there, although I never found anything online or in the news. |
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Route Editor
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