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| Saguaro Lake Bluffs Loop, AZ | |
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| | Saguaro Lake Bluffs Loop, AZ | | | |
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Saguaro Lake Bluffs Loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.90 Miles |
907 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.90 Miles | 3 Hrs 2 Mns | | 1.66 mph |
| 907 ft AEG | 5 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | With seven prior trips over the last 7 years this has become a favorite off-trail hike for me and a not-so-bad one for Tracey, this fit the bill for a cooler-weather hike close to home.
From a small pull-out just East of Bush Highway along Butcher Jones Road we began a counter-clockwise loop. I've only done the loop clockwise twice, enough to feel CCW is the preferred direction.
We stayed somewhat close to and parallel with Bush Highway before dropping down into the first drainage. While overlooking Bush Highway we could see a group of young adults taking photos while straddling the double-yellow centerline on the cattle guard, yes, in the middle of Bush Highway. All of which of course is why we heard honking horns for some time as vehicles approached and the young adults (stupid adults) moved off and back on the road each time. We never did figure out how the cattle guard played into the photos, but then again neither of us relate to the young-and-stupid.
Moving on...
We continued the up and down South toward Saguaro Lake before catching a somewhat used trail (game more than humans) East and up to the summit of Peak 1938, which will be the high point of the hike. From there we have an immediate 100'+ descent before beginning the myriad of ups-and-downs as we continue East along the bluffs. As usual, the one spot where some folks seem to have a problem figuring out how and where to cross the only segment of barbed-wire fence along the whole ridge, it was as simple as don't cross it, go around the left end where there is enough room between the fence post and the massive boulder to pass through, even with a pack on.
About halfway across, we come to the first spot which requires a quick recon to locate the hand/foot-holds before carefully dropping down the 20' or so. As is usual, having done the ascent twice I find it easier to step down in the opposite manner, backwards.
From there on it's just a matter of following vanishing remnants of game and/or human trails in the general direction, avoiding the worst of the cholla and rugged rocky areas along the way. We spotted a couple wandering Westward near the edge of the bluffs who seemed either to be looking for something specific or possibly have no idea where they were going, or even trying to avoid us, so figured we'd stick to our usual anti-social selves and avoid them as well.
Once we reach the steep 150' drop at the East end of the loop, it's time to scan for the best/most-used trail, which is not always the same thing. With a good-sized time gap since my last trip, between new growth and new detours it took more than the usual care as a number of the steps down were not friendly to these old knees. But between strategic placement of the trekking poles and other times simply using hand-holds, we descended safely.
Now it's just a matter of route choice for the 'return' leg, stick more-or-less to the wide sandy washes, take a more adventurous route seeking high and/or rocky points or something in between. This trip we managed to do a bit of a more-than-wished for 'adventurous' route almost immediately, so decided for the rest of the hike just stick with the easy stuff... thankfully the sand in the washes had a 'crust' so it was almost like the tread of a regular trail.
Why the immediately adventurous route you may ask? I was going to show Tracey some of the interesting and odd items I encountered on one of my previous trips, including vehicle parts from one which had left Butcher Jones Road and possibly had burned as there was melted aluminum.
(The vehicle itself had been recovered who knows how long ago.)
Unfortunately with no waypoint nor a clear memory of the location, it turned out to be a bust. (Upon checking previous routes after the fact I was off by just over a quarter-mile.
As a whole, it was a beautiful day for photos along with temps from low-50's to 60°. |
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