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| Saddle Mountain 5809 - Canelo Hills, AZ | |
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| | Saddle Mountain 5809 - Canelo Hills, AZ | | | |
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Saddle Mountain 5809 - Canelo Hills, AZ
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| Hiking | 7.07 Miles |
884 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.07 Miles | 5 Hrs 18 Mns | | 1.64 mph |
| 884 ft AEG | 1 Hour Break | | | |
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| no partners | | We originally had a plan to hike in the Southern Dragoons but one of our group members got sick and could not go at the last minute. So, we decided to switch to the Patagonia/Canelo Hills area for an alternate hike. This time it was Brian, Chris and myself. A few years ago I drove to the starting point that we used today and noticed the sign that said foot traffic allowed but it was not possible to drive North or East of the fence line that we parked near.
Upon arriving, the main thing we noticed was the massive field of golden colored grass to the North and East. Saddle mountain was about 2 miles to the North and looked like it didn't belong here. From where we parked, the metal gate to the East was locked, but we found a primitive gate to the North that we could go through, and a space in the barbed wire fence that we could duck through just North of the metal gate. After this we got on a road and continued for 3/4 mile before reaching a Y-split. We decided to go left because that direction was heading more toward the peak. The road ended after hiking a total of 1 mile from where we parked. Up ahead was a barbed wire fence. We crossed through one of the wider areas in the fence and kept moving North. There was a lot of tall dry grass and the hiking was a bit slow & tedious here.
*NOTE:* We felt that our way back was much better as it was on a road, although our route was a bit longer. We probably made up the time on the way back.
In the grassy area, we noticed a barbed wire fence to our right. After hiking a little over 2 miles, we noticed there was a road on the other side of the barbed wire fence. Since it looked much better than where we were at, we crossed the fence one more time and got on the road. The road took us North and eventually West, which is where we wanted to go. We decided that we might take this road on the way back, but we would have a better view of it from the summit.
We stayed on this road which continued around to the North side of Saddle mountain. There was a primitive gate that we ran into after hiking a total of 2.6 miles. After going through the gate, the road turned and headed South and then West. We could see that the road went partially up the mountain and seemed to end near a mining area. We took the road up to the end, and then at this point we only had another 150 feet of vertical gain to do. We found 2 use trails leading up toward the summit from here. The grade was steep, but nothing over class 2. The worst part of these trails were the loose dirt and rock. Going down was especially slow.
After getting on top, we only needed to walk about 60 feet to get to the summit. At the summit we found a jar registry in a rock pile, and some US survey markers which were put there in 1938. To the North we could see North Saddle Mountain and Indian Head Mountain, both of which we climbed before. Looking a few miles West we could see the Hermosa mine. Looking East we could see the Canelo Hills area and beyond that was the Huachuca mountains.
It was a bit windy at the summit, so we sat down below the high point to get out of the wind and we had our lunch. After lunch we signed the registry, took some photos, and then hiked to the Eastern high point. There was a tall rock tower that someone built here. We also saw a solar panel and small antenna. From here, Chris decided to continue down the Northeast side of the peak which had some steep grades. Brian and I preferred to take the same route down that we took up since it was safer and seemed easier. Going down the gravelly section was slow as we expected, but once we got back to the road, it was smooth sailing.
After getting down to the road, we decided to try to take the road back and avoid the open Country section of tall grass which was hard to walk over. The road took us further East and around, but it was worth it to avoid the off-trail section of tall grass. We made good time on the road and made it back to the parking area before 4 pm. We still had some daylight and had some extra time to explore the area. Overall, it was a great hike, and fairly easy.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip): 7.07 miles
AEG: 884 feet
Strava moving time: 3 hrs 0 mins , although it felt like 3+ hrs of moving time
Strava elapsed time: 5 hrs 18 mins
Driving Directions:
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From Patagonia, AZ
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Turn right onto Taylor Ave, continue for 233 ft
Turn left onto McKeown Ave, continue for 466 ft
Continue onto Harshaw Rd for 5.9 mi
Continue straight onto Patagonia San Rafael Rd for 0.4 mi
Continue onto Harshaw Creek Rd for 407 ft
Continue straight onto San Rafael Valley Rd for 3.9 mi
Turn left
Destination will be on the left
continue for 0.4 mi
GPS coordinates:
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31.4600812, -110.6509594 |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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