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| Hiking | 12.18 Miles |
4,579 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.18 Miles | 7 Hrs 6 Mns | | 2.07 mph |
| 4,579 ft AEG | 1 Hour 13 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | We have an upcoming backgpacking trip, and the first day of the trip has a distance/elevation profile that looks a lot like Mt. Kimball from Finger Rock (~6 mi. / 4100 AEG). And with temps slated to stay below 100, we decided that, with an early start, we could handle a trip to the Tucson sky islands.
It's been 14 years since we last tackled this one. It had rained the night before, and rain was in the forecast for the day, but never materialized. That said, there was plenty of moisture in the air, making for a very muggy climb. We were glad to be hiking in the shadow of the drainage for most of the climb, supplemented by cloud cover. Clouds wafted around the summit all morning, and once we got above Linda Vista saddle, we hiked for a brief period in the clouds themselves.
Didn't see a soul on the ascent, and we spent 20-30 minutes at the summit overlook, as the clouds dissipated and reformed, creating a constantly changing view.
We were eventually joined by a would-be trail runner, who had quickly abandoned any hopes of running upon hitting that first "right" out of the drainage floor (and came face to face with the steep, bouldery climb).
We saw one other person near the summit on our descent, but that was it.
On the way down, we opted to try out the alternate Pontatoc trail from the saddle. As others have noted, its generally smooth, gentle switchbacks are a marked (and welcome) contrast to the bouldery steepness of the Finger Rock side. We cruised down and thought our trail running friend would enjoy much more trail running on this alternate route.
Below the saddle, there is no shade on the Pontatoc trail, and as we descended, we lost any temperature benefit of the sky island. By the time we arrived back at the TH, it was hot--90-ish, and we were glad to be done. Stopped for some gelato at the relatively nearby Frost.
A great training hike. If I lived in Tucson, this would be on the regular repeat list. |
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