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| Hiking | 2.00 Miles |
598 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.00 Miles | 1 Hour 30 Mns | | 1.33 mph |
| 598 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I only found out about this hike recently and I wish I knew about it sooner. It's fairly close to where I live. I was impressed by how easy the bushwhack was. I was able to follow some animal trails on the way up the North face. There really was not much in terms of brush that I needed to hike around, mainly palo verde trees, creosote, and a few saguaro cactuses higher up. I don't remember seeing any prickly pear at all which I thought was unusual.
I got to the peak in about 30 minutes without rushing at all. At the peak I found a rock pile with a small registry which I signed. There were views of the housing developments to the West and the cement factory to the North. I could also see Sombrero peak and Panther peak to the South. I could see Mt Lemmon and the Catalina mountains to the East/Northeast.
I continued following the ridgeline Southeast which was pretty rugged. There were a few spots where I needed to drop to the left or right to get around cliffs. I found a nice 10 foot wide shelter area under some huge boulders. I could imagine native Americans using this area for shelter or for hiding out. Just below this shelter area, I was walking across some rocks and I heard a soft rattle from a snake that sounded like it was coming from under the ground where I was walking. The rattle was very soft and I never saw the snake. I kept walking forward slowly and listened again, heard the soft rattle one more time, and then it stopped because I was far enough away.
After continuing I eventually got down to a saddle and then continued climbing up and shortly reached a 20 foot cliff. I traveled to the right and found a fairly easy way to get above the cliff, and within a few minutes I was at the secondary high point which was at roughly 2,405 feet elevation. Before getting to the peak, I found some lights that appeared to be installed pointing toward a tree. I thought this was odd and didn't know why these lights would be here. Further ahead, I found a lot of trash and items that were probably used by drug runners. Items include a metal grate for cooking, a pair of tongs, an empty box for binoculars which had a range of 1,000 yards, blankets, a sleeping bag, a medical reference book, a pair of scissors, several metal poles probably used to make a small shelter, and a lot of discarded trash in various piles, with some of it in a metal trashcan(?). One thing is for sure, whoever was up here using the binoculars was probably up to no good.
Next, I continued following the ridgeline down from the high point, looking for the trincheras that were mentioned in another trip report. I saw some places that looked like they could have been trincheras but these structures appeared to be disturbed over the years. I continued exploring the area and then when done I started heading Northeast toward the Santa Cruz river. There was not a lot of brush and I only needed to zig zag a bit to avoid the steep drops or larger rocks. When I got close to the bottom, the slope got a bit steeper but was able to weave and find several good ways to get down. Near the bottom I found some old Indian grinding holes that were filled with water since it just rained yesterday. When I reached the bottom, I ran into the bike path/walking path and took that North and Northwest back to the parking area.
All in all this was an excellent hike and I would do it again someday. Anyone who lives in NW Tucson who enjoys off trail hikes should do this hike.
Total distance = 2.0 miles
AEG = 598 feet
Strava Moving Time = 1 hr 1 min
Strava Elapsed Time = 2 hr 33 mins |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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