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| North Saddle Mountain - Canelo Hills, AZ | |
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| | North Saddle Mountain - Canelo Hills, AZ | | | |
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North Saddle Mountain - Canelo Hills, AZ
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| Hiking | 11.80 Miles |
2,775 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.80 Miles | 8 Hrs | | 1.48 mph |
| 2,775 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Brian and I drove to the Harshaw trailhead. The trail starts out crossing the road. We were on this trail last year when we hiked Kunde Mountain. It felt like the trail was better maintained and less rocky. We couldn't tell whether rocks were removed or if extra dirt was added. We were thankful that the trail was easier on our feet and we were able to make pretty good time for the first few miles.
We hiked about 1.7 miles on the trail and then we needed to find a way to travel off-trail South to the 4x4 road. Luckily, we found some cattle trails that went in that direction. The brush wasn't too thick - it was mainly mesquite, oak trees, and some ocotillo. There were several cattle trails and we needed to use a few different trails to get over to the road. We found a round trough full of water next to the road. Now, we knew why there were so many cattle trails leading this way. The road was in excellent shape and not very rocky, at least on this lower section. It got a little rocky higher up. We continued until we traveled a total of 3.5 miles and saw some large tanks before the road turned sharply to the left. There was a huge butte above us. We took a water break here in a shady area.
After our break, we continued on the road, which got a little more rocky. It appeared as though this road went slightly uphill and around the butte. After hiking a total of 4.2 miles we saw a dry pond area on the South side of the road. The road seemed to end here but when we looked closer we saw that the road just wasn't maintained and there were trees and bushes growing in the road. We went through and around the trees/bushes and were able to follow an old branch of the road going Southeast. The ground was flat here and it looked like an old mining road. We continued on this road for probably 500 feet until it appeared to end. From here, we started the open Country hike to the saddle. The brush wasn't thick in this area and we were able to find clear paths to the saddle. Once at the saddle, we only has 0.4 miles to go and only about 250 more feet of vertical gain. From here, I believe we were able to see North Saddle peak. The brush was a little thicker on the top of the ridgeline but we were able to weave around it going in the direction of the peak. Eventually we made it to the top and there was nothing more than Class 2 hiking along the way.
At the top, we found a plastic jar that was placed next to a desert spoon plant. The desert spoon plant only provided a tiny amount of shade; this plastic jar nearly had FULL SUN exposure. The top of the lid had a quarter-sided hole in it and the registry was trashed because of sun and rain damage. We saw one name on the registry, Amy Pleckaitis, from 2021. Luckily, I had a glass jar and new paper. We re-created the registry copying Amy's name and added our names. Then, we put the jar in a spot that was completely shaded. We found some large rocks and built a nice shelter for the jar. Hopefully this registry will last a long time, as long as people keep it away from the sun and rain.
We walked over to the cliffs to the NW side of peak, looked over the cliffs and saw the large water tanks below. We got our photos and then decided to head over to Indian Head peak.
From the top of North Saddle peak, we had a pretty good view of Indian Head peak. It was slightly lower in elevation compared to North Saddle Mtn and about 1/2 mile away. We saw a land bridge heading over to Indian Head peak but we needed to back track a bit to get down to it. We headed down to the saddle. From the low point of the saddle we knew we had only about 220 feet of vertical gain to do since the prominence of this peak is about 220. There was slightly more brush and more rock formations to go around. Near the top there were a few class 3 moves and we found ourselves near the top. There was a plastic jar in a rock pile and this registry was in better condition than the registry on North Saddle, but overall, not great. We saw registry entries from Gordon MacLeod and Barbara Lilley from 1997. I took photos of all registry pages which I will post on HikeArizona.com.
To the Southeast, there were some rock formations that appeared to be almost as tall as the summit. Beyond those rock formations, we had a view of Saddle peak, which is a peak that we have not hiked yet. We signed the registry, got a few photos and then started to head back down to the land bridge. We crossed the land bridge and had to go up in elevation a bit to get back to the main ridgeline between North Saddle and our destination saddle down below. We felt that our route down was brushier than our route up. Once at the lower saddle, the next step was to do the open Country hike back down to the road.
We took basically the same route back to the trailhead.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 11.77 miles
AEG: 2,775 feet
Strava moving time: 6 hrs 10 mins
Strava elapsed time: 10 hrs 11 mins
Directions:
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to Harshaw road trailhead
Take I-10 East to the East side of Tucson.
Take exit 281 for AZ-83 S toward Sonoita/Patagonia.
Turn right onto AZ-83 S/S Sonoita Hwy.
Continue to follow AZ-83 S for 25 miles.
Turn right onto AZ-82 W going toward Patagonia.
Continue for 12.3 miles.
In the center of Patagonias, turn left onto Taylor Ave, continue for 233 ft.
Turn left onto McKeown Ave, continue for 466 ft.
Continue onto Harshaw Ave, continue for 2.7 miles.
Destination will be on the right
* Harshaw Road Trailhead *
Harshaw Ave, Patagonia, AZ 85624 |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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