Samaniego Ridge Trail #7 • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Jim

Mike_W

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

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"…you never know when a hike might break out" -Jim Gaffigan

Jun 17 2023

Mike_W

Guides 104
Routes 256
Photos 16,118
Triplogs 528

53 male

Joined Dec 30 2005
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jun 17 2023
		Mike_W • Triplogs 528

Hiking	11.27 Miles	2,766 AEG

Hiking	11.27 Miles	5 Hrs 29 Mns	2.06 mph
	2,766 ft AEG

no routes

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[ checklist ] Rocky Mountain Maple Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush

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Jim

PrestonSands

Had a great hike and BBQ after with Jim and Preston.

From Carter Canyon road we took N Miner's Ridge Road up past a tank that is 1/3 of the way to the ridge. Once past the first tank, there aren't any more houses but the road continues up. Once on the top of the ridge, there was another tank. This ridge was very steep at times and there wasn't a lot of shade. I got to the ski lift area after about 1 hr and 10 mins. Jim and Preston started later and arrived after a while. From there we hiked the road over to the Mt Lemmon trail and continued, switching onto portions of the Sutherland Trail, Samaniego Ridge Trail, and Canada del Oro Trail. Our goal was to make it all the way to Shovel Spring. Preston hiked down there and said it was basically dry. Jim and I stayed about above and had lunch. It was after 2 pm by this time so we were pretty hungry. After finding out that Shovel spring was dry, we felt it wasn't worth hiking the extra 500 feet. We knew we had a long uphill climb ahead of us, and it was feeling a bit hot in some areas.

The only good water source was at Quartzite Spring. I ended up carrying 1.25 gallons of water which was more than I really needed. But, the extra weight made it a tougher workout.

There were nice pines above Shovel Spring. I found a few flowers that were hard to identify, even after searching fireflyforest.com.

My strava moving time said 5 hrs 29 mins. After loading my track into HAZ and reducing the number of points, distance came out to 11.27 miles which is believeable. The elevation change on this hike felt like more than it was.

After hiking we stopped over at Alder picnic area used some oak wood and cooked some burgers, hotdogs and steak in a grill. We noticed that a bear got into the trash because some reckless person tried to stuff a big trash bag in a small container and left the lid open. Preston fixed the trash situation before Jim and I were able to help. We ate just after sunset and the food was better than ever. The temp drops so quickly up there, even in June!! How does anyone live up there year round?

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Lemmon Rock Fire Lookout Quartzite Spring

Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Red Penstemon, Pineywoods Geranium, New Mexico Locust flower, Goldeneye, Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, Mohave Buckwheat/Cowparsnip(?), Arizona Foldwing(?), Blue Fiestaflower(?), White Milkweed(?)

	Quartzite Spring	Gallon per minute	Gallon per minute
	Flowing very well. We all drank some water unfiltered.

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Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us

Jun 17 2023

Jim

Guides 73
Routes 176
Photos 10,174
Triplogs 2,324

46 male

Joined Sep 08 2006

Samaniego Ridge Pines, AZ

Hiking		Jun 17 2023
		Jim • Triplogs 2,324

Hiking	10.30 Miles	2,980 AEG

Hiking	10.30 Miles	7 Hrs 30 Mns		1.58 mph
	2,980 ft AEG	1 Hour Break	10 LBS Pack

no routes

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Mike_W

PrestonSands

A hot day escape to the Catalinas. Very nice. Despite high winds being forecast, on the hike it was great and never a problem. It was very windy on the ridge at the Alder Picnic area while grilling, but we had a fire. Oak and mesquite this time, and the oak made my steak taste a lot better than just mesquite, which was curious.

We started at the Mint Springs Trailhead and took the "N Miner's Ridge Road" that ascends the slope north of the trailhead and connects to the top of Radio Ridge. It is steep, but an excellent access road. Great views along it and a chance to see forest regeneration following the 2003 Aspen Fire that was not burned by the 2020 Bighorn.

From Radio Ridge we continued to the paved road, then took the Mount Lemmon Trail down to the Sutherland, and continued out past the junction where the Sutherland is marked as being unmaintained (and it shows despite some obvious use). We then hike a small section of the Samaniengo Ridge out into a park of Arizona Pines (4 and 5 leaves per fascicle yellow pines most confuse for Ponderosa) that Preston had camped in back in 2019 and had wanted to inspect post fire, and which is basically where the Canada Del Oro trail leaves from the Samaniengo Ridge. Preston inspected the remains of Shovel Springs, while Mike and I relaxed in the pines eating lunch.

All in all a great hike. The pine grove is in good shape post fire, but it could stand a refresher in a few years. Unlikely it will get it. There are lots of 1 year old seedlings germinating under the canopy, but those will probably die before they do much. Arizona Pine is not a 2-tier or advanced regeneration species. The trails are good except for the a thorny shrub which I think Preston called Buck or Buckthorn Bush, and a lot of NM Locust, and is found on the lower section of the Sutherland before the Samaniengo.

The water at Quartzite Spring is always a great spot. Hummingbirds frequent that ridge in summer, and it is probably one of the nicest areas in Arizona. Certainly for the effort required to get there. Soon, the Penstemon will flower attracting more of them.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Arizona Pine Ponderosa Pine

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

	Quartzite Spring	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	A new black plastic box has been installed under the pipe creating a nice pool for wildlife and dogs. The slope is likely too steep for stock to access. Water was great, as always. I drank it unfiltered.

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Apr 05 2018

toddak

Guides 13
Routes 38
Photos 1,651
Triplogs 577

60 male

Joined Nov 15 2005
Jackson, CA

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Apr 05 2018
		toddak • Triplogs 577

Hiking	24.00 Miles	5,000 AEG

Hiking	24.00 Miles	12 Hrs 30 Mns	1.92 mph
	5,000 ft AEG

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The plan from Mt Lemmon was to drop down SR7 > road walk 736 > back up CDO4. As others have noted, the SR trail gets increasingly overgrown, faint and unpleasant north of Samaniego Peak. I eventually turned around, took the connector over to CDO, hiked down to the Red Ridge trail junction, then back to the summit.

Strong, clean flow down in CDO canyon below about the 6000' level. Deer, skunk and coati sightings.

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Oct 20 2017

markthurman53

Guides 187
Routes 989
Photos 12,068
Triplogs 864

72 male

Joined Jun 27 2015
Tucson, Arizona

Samaniego Peak, AZ

Hiking		Oct 20 2017
		markthurman53 • Triplogs 864

Hiking	14.00 Miles	4,322 AEG

Hiking	14.00 Miles	8 Hrs 56 Mns		2.19 mph
	4,322 ft AEG	2 Hrs 33 Mns Break	20 LBS Pack

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I am not a Peak person, I do not go out of my way to bag peaks as they say. I usually only go to a peak if there is a trail heading there with a few exceptions and this is one of them. I have been looking at this peak over the last few years from different directions and this one was calling my name. I started from the Mount Lemmon Trail #5 on Mount Lemmon and continued down the Sutherland Trail. While at the Sutherland Trail/Samaniego Ridge Trail junction I headed further down the Sutherland Trail to where my legs petered out the week before, about .6 miles. Had to finish this trail, I hate leaving a trail unfinished, it's an OCD thing. Once back on the Samaniego Ridge trail I headed toward Samaniego Peak. I thought the Samaniego Ridge trail was easy to follow and appeared to be in better shape than a year or so ago. That's not to say long pants and shirt aren't a good thing to have, My hands donated their share of blood. A good pair of sunglasses are advisable if you don't want to donate an eye to a stray branch. The trail gets a little fuzzy around Walnut Spring but with a GPS It is fairly easy to stay on track. Once at the infamous camp site/fire pit I headed up to Samaniego Peak. There are rock cairns marking the way, if you loose one trail there always seams to be another set of cairns marking another possible route. They all seam to converge on the peak, imagine that. The route up is steep in places and requires rock hopping and maybe a little rock climbing. A lot of brush to maneuver through if you don't pick the right route. At one point I got grabbed by some brush and before I knew it I was on the ground trying to get untangled. All in all the .5 mile trek up is worth it, the views are spectacular. Signed the log book and took a 20 minute break at the top. The way down was easier, maybe because I was a little wiser about picking the path.
This was a great hike, I estimated an elevation gain of 2000 feet for this hike and was amazed when my GPS said 4200 feet (I didn't account for the trip further down the Sutherland Trail). I am actually not surprised because the Trail is a ridge trail and drops down into every saddle and then back up the other side, all these ups and downs adds up. My Legs performed much better than the week before, I don't climb hills like I did 20 or 30 years ago but had no energy problems. I brought more food with me this time and ate something better for breakfast. Amazing what the legs will do if you just feed them.

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Oct 01 2017

MSimmons

Photos 4
Triplogs 62

37 male

Joined Jan 30 2016
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Oct 01 2017
		MSimmons • Triplogs 62

Hiking	12.73 Miles	3,842 AEG

Hiking	12.73 Miles	7 Hrs 58 Mns	1.70 mph
	3,842 ft AEG	30 Mns Break

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jrousoshammond

A deceptively tough hike to one of the coolest peaks in the range.

It's relatively smooth sailing out to Walnut Spring. Some blowdowns and catty overgrowth along Samaniego Ridge put us a slightly off track once or twice, but no big deal. We rested at the spring, which is a little ways past the metal sign that identifies it. From there we headed directly toward the peak, tooth-and-nailin' it every step of the way. I found a good stick and did my best to beat down the bush before pressing through, but still we got thoroughly minced, and they could probably hear us cursing and howling down in Saddlebrook. After a few hundred yards we found a cairn, which to our great relief marked a clear route up. Views from the summit were top shelf, and we were able to follow that route all the way back to the ridge trail.

Don't make for the summit from Walnut Spring itself. Instead, you wanna turn left at the metal sign. Follow cairns and natural paths through a lovely, meadowy area, and then to the summit. You may not have a cairn in view at all times, but you shouldn't go too far without spotting one, and you shouldn't have to do any hard bushwhacking.

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3 archives

May 08 2017

markthurman53

Guides 187
Routes 989
Photos 12,068
Triplogs 864

72 male

Joined Jun 27 2015
Tucson, Arizona

Charouleau Gap Samaniego Ridge, AZ

Hiking		May 08 2017
		markthurman53 • Triplogs 864

Hiking	14.80 Miles	4,256 AEG

Hiking	14.80 Miles	7 Hrs 51 Mns		2.41 mph
	4,256 ft AEG	1 Hour 43 Mns Break	15 LBS Pack

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Charouleau Gap

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About a year ago I hiked the Samaniego Ridge trail from Mount Lemmon to just south of Mule Ear Peak and this hike will be from the North to the Same point. I started the trail from the Charouleau Gap Jeep Trail at Canada Del Oro Wash. My plan was to drive the jeep trail as far as I dared along the Jeep trail to shorten the hiking distance. I got in about 2 miles where the road became a bit more of a challenge than I wanted to take and where it starts to climb the hills. The hike to Charouleau Gap is along this jeep trail and at times a bit steep. The worst part is the loose gravel on top of granite can make your footing a bit unsteady, going down was the worst. Once up at Charouleau Gap (about 4.5 miles), the Samaniego Ridge Trail starts. I thought this would be easier but I was wrong, The trail starts out climbing to the ridge and it is steep. Once on the ridge the trail continues to climb but at a little less aggressively. The trail is really overgrown in many places but easy enough to follow thanks to the rock cairns along the way. Long pants and shirt are recommended because everything along the trail wants to take a piece of you. Views from along the ridge are great both to the East over Canada Del Oro and Mount Lemmon and also to the West over Oro Valley. I made it to the peak just north of Mule Ears Peak and due to time constraints had to turn around here. I was about .8 miles short of my turn around point of last years hike, I could see my destination but opted to call it close enough. I was suppose to start the hike at 6:00 in the morning but due to spending so much time trying to figure out how to get to the trail head, I didn't start until 7:15. It appears you get here through Saddlebrooke Estates (names of the roads on Google earth don't match the actual names). From the south it appears North Lago Del Oro Parkway will get you here too. Great hike and thanks to the short spurt of cool weather I was able to finish Samaniego Ridge Trail, at least all but a small piece in the middle. There was no water along this trail at the time I went and being a ridge trail I doubt there is ever much water along this trail except in the winter months from snow melt.

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Sep 09 2016

markthurman53

Guides 187
Routes 989
Photos 12,068
Triplogs 864

72 male

Joined Jun 27 2015
Tucson, Arizona

Catalina Mts Samaniego Ridge, AZ

Hiking		Sep 09 2016
		markthurman53 • Triplogs 864

Hiking	14.20 Miles	3,787 AEG

Hiking	14.20 Miles	8 Hrs 39 Mns		2.25 mph
	3,787 ft AEG	2 Hrs 21 Mns Break	20 LBS Pack

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Shovel Springs Loop

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Mount Lemmon Trail #5 at Mount Lemmon Summit to Sutherland Trail #6 to Samaniego Ridge Trail #7. Return route is Via Canada Del Oro Short cut Trail to CDO Trail #4 back to Samaniego Ridge Trail. All Trails are well marked and easy to follow with the exception of a couple of sections along the Samaniego Ridge Trail near Walnut Spring. With a GPS or Map it isn't difficult to find the trail again. This is a nice trail to take after the Monsoons. Watch out for lightning if during summer or early fall.

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1 archive

Aug 14 2016

MSimmons

Photos 4
Triplogs 62

37 male

Joined Jan 30 2016
Tucson, AZ

Oracle Ridge/Canada del Oro Loop, AZ

Hiking		Aug 14 2016
		MSimmons • Triplogs 62

Hiking	18.87 Miles	5,059 AEG

Hiking	18.87 Miles	9 Hrs 32 Mns	2.14 mph
	5,059 ft AEG	44 Mns Break

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Aspen Draw Trail #423

Oracle Ridge Trail #1

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jrousoshammond

This was a little expansion on the Red Ridge/Canada del Oro Loop. Parked at the very top of Lemmon and took Aspen Draw down to the road, and then the road down to Oracle Ridge. With all the recent rain, everything out there was delightfully green. At Catalina Camp someone had fittingly left a paperback copy of the eating-your-pals-in-the-mountains classic "Alive".

The highlight of the day for me came a bit later, out on the northern leg of Red Ridge Trail, where the views of Reef of Rock are just awesome :worthy:

The first few miles of Canada del Oro were a nice stroll through an exceptionally wide riparian strip. Later on things became a bit tedious, with tricky path-finding, scruggley overgrowth, and loads of buggos. I don't recall it being quite as bad last year. By the time we made it out of the canyon, I had this annoying headache going (don't know why because my legs and lungs felt good and I was drinking plenty of water!) which kept me from really enjoying the cool, sunny afternoon and beautiful pine forests :stretch:

Still, a good day and a grand loop!

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2 archives

Aug 14 2016

jrousoshammond

Routes 30
Triplogs 186

37 male

Joined May 15 2015
Tucson

Oracle Ridge/Canada del Oro Loop, AZ

Hiking		Aug 14 2016
		jrousoshammond • Triplogs 186

Hiking	18.87 Miles	5,059 AEG

Hiking	18.87 Miles	9 Hrs 32 Mns	2.14 mph
	5,059 ft AEG	44 Mns Break

no photosets

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Aspen Draw Trail #423

Oracle Ridge Trail #1

Red Ridge and Canada del Oro Loop

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MSimmons

I wanted to hike CDO again, but with a few changes from the Red Ridge loop we did last year. We travelled down Oracle Ridge and also started from the top of Lemmon, taking care of Aspen Draw and the road at the beginning.

Oracle Ridge was great in the cool morning weather. Catalina Camp is just as amusing a trip as I remember it being last year. There was water near the trail from the CC/RR junction all the way to the homestretch of the CDO trail. Since I finally remembered to bring a filter, we were able to refill our water a few times (I easily finished 4 liters and a big gatorade). Cooling down in the water made a big difference too.

Now for the whining: wear long pants. The trails are easy enough to follow, but my shins and knees got pretty torn up in the overgrowth - especially above 6k on CDO and in the burnt-out portions of Sutherland. That being said, CDO is gorgeous from all the recent rains and it was still worth the annoyance. There's a lot of climbing to do in the final miles of this hike, but my CO trip left my legs in good shape, so nearly all of my ranting was at the overgrown trails.

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Jul 03 2015

jrousoshammond

Routes 30
Triplogs 186

37 male

Joined May 15 2015
Tucson

Red Ridge and Canada del Oro Loop

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jul 03 2015
		jrousoshammond • Triplogs 186

Hiking	17.00 Miles	4,420 AEG

Hiking	17.00 Miles
	4,420 ft AEG

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Aspen Draw Trail #423

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Started a little before noon down the Red Ridge Trail. We took a little detour to the Catalina Camp, which I'd never visited (I took the liberty of tinkering with the mileage and AEG; hopefully that's kosher...). The lower sections of the loop were pretty warm, but since you don't have to climb much, it wasn't too bad.

The CDO trail is terrific. If it was more easily accessible, it would be as popular as any trail in southern AZ. It must be amazing to hike this in autumn. The route finding is easy for the most part. It disappeared a few times around 3-5 miles up the canyon, but the path-of-least-resistance put us back on the trail each of those times. A couple places before the switchbacks are pretty overgrown. The final climb out of the canyon to the Samaniego Ridge trail is really fun

Aspen Draw Trail at sunset (with no mountain bikers) was a great way to end this hike.

This is a tough hike for July. I brought over a gallon and a half of water and Gatorade, and that wound up being just enough. 2 gallons and/or a purification system would probably be smart in this heat.

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Jul 01 2015

Mountain_Rat

Guides 11
Routes 123
Photos 818
Triplogs 257

62 male

Joined Jul 14 2011
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jul 01 2015
		Mountain_Rat • Triplogs 257

Hiking	11.96 Miles	2,840 AEG

Hiking	11.96 Miles	5 Hrs 47 Mns		2.23 mph
	2,840 ft AEG	25 Mns Break	10 LBS Pack

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Nothing to really write home about, just a stroll from Mt Lemmon to Walnut Spring to collect some gear I cached last summer. Mostly cloudy, and very pleasant out. The trail is becoming quite overgrown again and just vanishes about 100 yards beyond Walnut.

	Walnut Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Despite recent rains, not much water

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Jun 06 2015

jrousoshammond

Routes 30
Triplogs 186

37 male

Joined May 15 2015
Tucson

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jun 06 2015
		jrousoshammond • Triplogs 186

Hiking	12.00 Miles	2,000 AEG

Hiking	12.00 Miles
	2,000 ft AEG

no photosets

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Couldn't hike until later in the day, so we did something that started higher. We got going a little after noon. Weather was absolutely perfect. The Mount Lemmon Trail was crowded but mellowed out a bit. Holy crap the top of the Sutherland Trail has some incredible views - maybe the nicest view of the window you can get without sitting in it... The upper part of the Samaniego Ridge Trail was great as well, but the trail got messier the further down we went. The trail sticks to the the top of the ridge for the most part, so route finding isn't too bad. However...

Getting to the peak was a bit of an issue (does anyone have suggestions other than GPS and wearing multiple pairs of pants?). We bushwhacked around halfway from the spring to the summit before running into a seemingly impenetrable wall of scratchy/pointy brush. Since it was late in the day and we were sick of the sharp bushes we turned back, but on the way, we found a row of cairns. We tried to see where they pointed, but it was hard to tell, and we ended up following a flatter, more open path that headed uphill, roughly to the southwest. We ran into the same wall of brush, but we were a bit closer to the peak this time (although it's a bit steeper the further south you go). We gave up and headed back. We walked right past the trail on the way back, but it's hard to go very far off-course, since the ridge drops off pretty quick to the east of the trail. We found it less than a minute after we realized we had gone too far.

I ended up not caring too much that I missed the summit, because the return hike is pretty tough - in my opinion, as taxing as some of the big 4000-plus-ft of gain hikes around Tucson. The views are certainly worth it though...

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Oct 05 2014

wha

Photos 88
Triplogs 338

male

Joined Feb 10 2012
Arizona

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Oct 05 2014
		wha • Triplogs 338

Hiking	5.54 Miles	1,376 AEG

Hiking	5.54 Miles	3 Hrs 58 Mns	1.89 mph
	1,376 ft AEG	1 Hour 2 Mns Break

no routes

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May 28 2014

Mountain_Rat

Guides 11
Routes 123
Photos 818
Triplogs 257

62 male

Joined Jul 14 2011
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 28 2014
		Mountain_Rat • Triplogs 257

Hiking	12.64 Miles	2,000 AEG

Hiking	12.64 Miles	9 Hrs		1.58 mph
	2,000 ft AEG	1 Hour Break	16 LBS Pack

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Warning, delayed posting

I spent the night in Spencer canyon, sleeping in a bit the next morning. By 7:30, I was on the trail with temps in the mid 50s and spotty clouds. I've wanted to do this one for several years, but could not justify 4 hours of driving for 6 hours of hiking. This week I would spent a couple of nights on the mountain, so this was the op.

I started off at a blazing pace, but with a tweak in the back, so the plan was to average about 1.5 mph with a decent break/s. On my way down the Mt Lemmon #5, I ran into turkey :0 At least 4, at most 7. They had no fear of me at all. From there on to Shovel Spring all I saw were Abert's squirrels and, oddly, I think, I saw some gold fish in one of the springs on the #5 (NO ALCOHOL INVOLVED!!!). I got to Shovel Spring( which I found NO trace of ) and encountered 3ish whitetailed deer. I heard a lot of them, but only saw 3 tails.

As I reached Walnut Spring, my back was feeling fine and I just had to scuffle the 1/2 mile to the peak

Somebody put great effort into carving a path to the peak, though it's starting to be reclaimed. Though I managed to loose most of my tracks for the day, I was able to salvage the segment from the peak back down to Walnut Spring. It's posted, and would be quite helpful if you plan to hit the summit.

I located the register ( a 3" ABS tube with dry fitted ends), but upon opening it was taken breathless by a thriving mold inside. I left it to aire out whilst taking in the views, but upon later inspection decided to have no further contact with is decaying contents.

With peak in bag, I headed back. Usually, this is where I start the cruise home ( yea, usually down hill not up ), but it was getting hotter and I was gaining a bunch of elevation. Within the first mile of my return, my back was barkin' so bad that I dumped my last liter of water, cached my basic survival stuff and bino's ( 3 or 4 lbs means A LOT right now), put my head down and trudged on. The GeePuS died just where the 5 and the 5A meet, from there, I think I slept the remaining stretch to the parking lot. Reaching the 'Exploder', I now had access to water, gatorade, back brace, etc...

Now the adventure is done. I have a nice little cocktail lounge, kitchen, DVD player ( Trailer Park Boys, season 5 tonight) and a 7' x 9', nylon bedroom all to myself. SUCCESS!..

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Wild Turkey

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mule Ears Walnut Spring

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1 archive

Jun 02 2013

camiles

Triplogs 108

51 male

Joined Feb 19 2012
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jun 02 2013
		camiles • Triplogs 108

Hiking	12.00 Miles	3,000 AEG

Hiking	12.00 Miles
	3,000 ft AEG

no routes

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Started the AM observing the Hummingbird Banding/Monitoring session that was going on at the Mount Lemmon Observatory (http://humbander.net/humbander.net/Page_Four_-_ML.html) - highly recommended, to see the Hummingbirds up close - and maybe even hold one in your hand - is awesome!

After that we got started - Mount Lemmon Trail/Sutherland/Samaniego Ridge/CDO Shortcut/Samaniego Ridge/Walnut Spring. The Samaniego Ridge trail out to Walnut Spring was mostly easy to follow (only one spot where we stopped and had to search) - it winds in and out of older growth and areas regrowing from the Aspen fire - there are a couple of spots with great views!

Walnut Spring was an unexpected pleasure - a small bit of flow, green grass and trees to provide shade - a nearly mandatory break. After Walnut Spring we started to the peak - we just tried to keep picking the easiest path but by 2/3rds of the way up it turned out our path was less than ideal, we resorted to crawling on hands and knees at one point... But we made it! Great views - nice location. We found a better way down (not great, just better) and made our way back without incident (picking up the small section of the Samaniego Ridge Trail we bypassed on the way out and adding the Meadow Trail for fun).

Hummingbird Banding Pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmiles/sets/72157633938784912/

Hike Pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmiles/sets/72157633938911648/

	Walnut Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Basin was holding water, there was flow in the drainage and I would likely go downstream from the basin where there were some small pools for water.

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May 18 2013

camiles

Triplogs 108

51 male

Joined Feb 19 2012
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 18 2013
		camiles • Triplogs 108

Hiking	20.95 Miles	1,700 AEG

Hiking	20.95 Miles	9 Hrs 15 Mns	2.26 mph
	1,700 ft AEG

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Meadow/Mount Lemmon/Sutherland/Samaniego/CDO Shortcut to the main attraction of the day the Canada del Oro Trail - a new one for both me and my friend/hiking partner Lance! From the triplogs and description here and Sirena's blog post on the area - http://desertsirena.wordpress.com/2011/ ... oro-trail/ - we suspected it would be pretty interesting, but in person it was truly spectacular - miles of running water, great birds, bear scat, big trees, ferns, lovely trail, interesting views of the ridges above... It does not seem like this trail gets too much use but there is usually a clear path, rarely overgrown at all, and cairns. We hiked out via FR 736 and saw 6-7 different vehicles along the road (it was Saturday) - the road provides some nice views as well although as we approached Saddlebrook and crossed the Canada del Oro for the last time we were ready to be out of the heat! Great Hike!! Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmiles/set ... 533766318/

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Apr 25 2013

fricknaley

Guides 93
Routes 397
Photos 4,984
Triplogs 4,124

49 male

Joined Jun 20 2003
Tucson, AZ

Canada del Oro/Samaniego Ridge, AZ

Hiking		Apr 25 2013
		fricknaley • Triplogs 4,124

Hiking	22.13 Miles	5,206 AEG

Hiking	22.13 Miles	9 Hrs 36 Mns		2.64 mph
	5,206 ft AEG	1 Hour 13 Mns Break	14 LBS Pack

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azdesertfather

Dave is the man for setting this up!

After a super fun ride out to the CDO trailhead by a couple of very nice gentlemen we set sail to hike 2 of the elusive few trails left for me in the Catalinas. As soon as we hit the trail we got clucked at by a turkey though we never saw it. The hike up CDO was way more pleasant than I thought it would be. There was nice water running nearly the whole way and some areas of fantastic oak forest. was sucking wind by the top.

we hiked samaniego up to it's junction with sutherland so that we could hike the entirety of samaniego ridge down. This trail was great as well and exactly as i thought it would be, except the views were even better. at times they were jaw dropping, for me at least, as i have a special fondness for the wilder backside trails.

overall the trails were in way better shape than i would have ever imagined for backside trails. must have been some serious work put in to both and i hope hope hope they stay this way :pray:

saw more deer than i could count. 2 rattlers and heard but didn't see a gobbler

was sick going in to this one and a little worried about how i'd do. did fine on the hike though slower than normal on the ascent. paid the price when i got home though as the chills, cough and fever said "my turn"..oh well i'd do it again in a heartbeat

thanks again Dave for setting this up :worthy:

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hi

Apr 25 2013

azdesertfather

Guides 16
Routes 81
Photos 1,269
Triplogs 1,144

51 male

Joined Apr 30 2008
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Apr 25 2013
		azdesertfather • Triplogs 1,144

Hiking	22.89 Miles	5,320 AEG

Hiking	22.89 Miles	9 Hrs 34 Mns	2.74 mph
	5,320 ft AEG	1 Hour 13 Mns Break

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Charouleau Gap

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fricknaley

myronvankirk

Wanted to take these 2 trails off my list for quite a while now...they didn't disappoint! Rugged and beautiful.

Had a friend who had a Rhino (and a friend of his with a new CanAm) ride Nick and I up the Gap Road all the way to the CDO Trailhead, a little of 9 miles. We took off from there on foot. As we reached this trailhead, we heard a wild turkey in the bushes but never could get an eye on him.

The first quarter mile of the CDO was a little sketchy there, had trouble finding it. Eventually we picked up on pretty good trail. A couple of spots that were a little sketchy but by and large much better than I expected the CDO to be in. Only a small part of it showed burn damage. Water in the CDO was still running fairly well.

The last mile or so of the CDO got a bit more steep, and we were feeling it. We took the CDO Shortcut Trail over to the Samaniego and hiked it all the way to the Sutherland Trail junction, then turned back toward Samaniego Peak. Made it the Samaniego Peak and tried to do the offtrail bushwhack to the peak, but it was covered in really nasty, thorny, knee-high bushes, and we saw the bushwhack time was going to take longer than we had time for, so we gave up on that effort.

We took the Samaniego Trail all the way to the Charouleau Gap. It was a little rougher trail in spots than I figured, a little hard to follow in a few spots but comparable mostly to the CDO. There was one spot where we were surprised to see cables attached to the side of the rock to hold onto since the trail was eroded and had a steep drop. We then hiked the Charouleau Gap road the 6+ miles out to the trailhead.

We saw several deer all day, mule deer and whitetails. We also saw a couple of small rattlesnakes on the Charouleau Gap road.

Wildflowers Observation Light

	Walnut Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Little tank was full, but really wasn't showing much water coming in...

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"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." — Henry David Thoreau

Oct 29 2012

nicolelee

Photos 98
Triplogs 37

41 male

Joined Dec 01 2010
Tucson, AZ/Long

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Oct 29 2012
		nicolelee • Triplogs 37

Hiking	14.90 Miles	3,792 AEG

Hiking	14.90 Miles	8 Hrs 30 Mns	1.75 mph
	3,792 ft AEG

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Oracle Ridge - AZT #12