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| Peak 5471 - Catalinas, AZ | |
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| | Peak 5471 - Catalinas, AZ | | | |
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Peak 5471 - Catalinas, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.62 Miles |
1,690 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.62 Miles | 5 Hrs 15 Mns | | 1.26 mph |
| 1,690 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Note: stats are for BOTH Peak 5471 and Peak 5512.
I arrived around 11:45 am and had these 2 peaks planned and if there was time I would do a 3rd. I should have known better - there's never time to do a 3rd, or anything "extra". These hikes always seem to take longer than planned, especially when there's scrambling and a significant portion of off-trail hiking.
Peak 5471 was steeper than 5512, had more scrambling and more off-trail hiking. There were several possible routes. I was up there probably 10 yrs ago with Chris M. just exploring around. I don't remember if we actually tried to find the actual high point. We were not in peakbagging back then; we just wanted to see what was up there. I remember walking between and around many hoodoos and rock formations along the ridgeline going West and Southwest. I remembered the GENERAL route we took and tried to replicate it.
First I walked down the road to the campground area. Once past the host spot, I saw some construction. Looks like they are building some kind of new parking lot here. Anyway, I found a use trail heading up near the parking lot that took me right over to the Arizona trail. This was the trail that headed down to Molino Basin. I took this trail for a short distance and then after a few minutes found myself due North of the summit. Looking at the slope, I didn't see any EASY way to get up there. No matter what way I went, it was going to be upper class 2 and possibly even class 3 in some areas. I decided to aim for the summit and zig-zag where needed. Along the way, I found several animal trails that were probably made by deer and javelina. I was able to follow some of these trails UP, and there seemed to be many trails, so I had to pick which ones looked best. Looking at the slope from the bottom it was pretty intimidating, but as I hiked up, it wasn't so bad. We just can't judge the depth sometimes when looking straight at something. The slope looked much steeper than it really was.
I reached a point where I saw it flatten out a lot, and after that, I knew I was home free. Once on top of the flatter area I saw hoodoos around me and, at least in this area, they were not packed in tightly. There was plenty of flat ground up here. I also found a use trail heading East in the direction of the summit. According to my GPS, it was saying I was only 0.15 miles away from the high point, or roughly 750 feet. I kept following the use trail and it took me right up to the summit.
At the high point, there was a rock formation and I could see a registry from at least 20 feet away. There were a few rocks in front of it and it was completely shaded from the sun. I found a total of 6 pages including my own entry. The earliest entry was from April 2023.
After signing the registry, I ate half of my lunch and decided to head South/Southwest along the ridgeline to look for the same route I did 10 yrs ago. I didn't remember much of it and I don't even know if I went the same way, but I stayed on the top of the ridgeline and kept moving forward where it was possible. I found a few cairns leading me West and Southwest along the ridgeline. At one point, the cairns seemed to lead me North away from the ridgeline and down into a canyon. I wasn't sure about this route but knew I made it safely stay along the ridgeline 10 yrs ago so I stuck with what I knew. If I had to hike this again, I would attempt the other route just to see what it looked like.
Along the high ridgeline, in a few places I ran into drop offs and had to back track and take routes down and around the cliffs. I could see that I was getting near the end of the hoodoos and it was not possible to stay on top any longer. I could tell there were cliffs at the very end so I needed to drop down to the left or right to get down from here. I decided the route to the right looked a little easier so that's what I took. Once past the cliffs, I ran into some kind of trail running North/South. I decided to take it South toward a big saddle that I could see below. Once at the saddle, I found an unmarked trail heading North and then West. This eventually ran into Soldier trail. I took Soldier trail North until it ended at the AZT junction. Once at the AZT junction, I headed West toward my other peak.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 6.62 miles
AEG: 1,690 feet
Strava moving time: 3 hrs 22 mins
Strava elapsed timme: 6 hrs 13 mins
Directions:
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From Tucson, take Grant Rd. East to Tanque Verde.
Turn left on Tanque Verde.
Continue for 3.2 miles and turn left on Catalina Highway.
Continue for 11.9 miles on Catalina Highway.
Look for signs for Gordon Hirayabashi Campground.
Turn left from Catalina Highway.
Note: There is free parking for roughly the first 300 feet.
After that, it's a paid area.
Campsites are normally $20; half price for seniors and military vets.
The camping area here closes on May 1st, because of the excessive heat and high temps. |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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