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| Hiking | 21.44 Miles |
2,938 AEG |
| | Hiking | 21.44 Miles | 7 Hrs 57 Mns | | 3.08 mph |
| 2,938 ft AEG | 59 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Decided to take a day to see as much of the state trust area north of Catalina State Park as I could. If I had started earlier I think I could have seen it all (50-Year, Bridle Trail in Catalina SP, Sutherland Trail, Baby Jesus Trail, Upper 50-Year Trail and Deer Camp), but I ran short of time. I did however find an additional trail (which I now have learned is the Mid Tank Trail) that wasn't listed on any HAZ routes or on any other sites I had seen about the area.
Started at Golder Ranch Drive parking area, headed south on the 50-Year Trail to its start in Catalina State Park, then took the Bridle Trail over to Sutherland and took Sutherland back north. Left the Sutherland Trail to pick up the Baby Jesus Trail, which is unmarked.
At the end of Baby Jesus Trail I took the Upper 50-Year to what I thought was the Deer Camp Trail turnoff, but it ended up going east and then south back onto Baby Jesus. After I realized it wasn't going to be the Deer Camp Trail I decided to go ahead and follow it, thinking it might link back to Baby Jesus, and it eventually did. This is known as the Mid Tank Trail.
Shortly after turning off of Sutherland, I came to the area where supposedly there was Wooden Trough Spring a quarter mile east and off trail. However I came to a concrete trough where water was dripping in. So I don't know if it was being run underground into this trough from another spot a quarter mile away or if the GPS coordinates were off. This trough had several red goldfish swimming in it, and the water was fairly clear and clean.
Further north on Baby Jesus, I found an area that appears to be ruins. There was an old rock wall there. If you want to go out and see it, the coordinates are (N32.46291 W110.85576).
At a stream near Cottonwood Tank there is an old, badly burned car. The entire thing has been torched, and it looks like people have built bonfires in the trunk.
One other pretty cool thing I found...while on the Mid Tank Trail, at N32.47172 W110.85092 I found another spring (Mid Tank Spring, though unnamed on some maps) that is running into a trough from a plastic pipe. I followed the piping east a little ways to see where if it was coming from a spring, but I was starting to lose sunlight and decided to abandon that. It was was running about a quart an hour.
When I got back near the ruins I was at the junction with Baby Jesus, and took that back up again and out. The Baby Jesus Trail (which I consider runs from Sutherland all the way to the upper 50-Year) is not as well defined as the other trails, but it is still pretty good.
Very little wildlife today, just a lot of quail and a few crazy bikers on 50-Year. 
Next time I'll have to cover the Upper 50-Year, and try finding Deer Camp once again! I'm now interesting in tackling Samaniego and the Samaniego ridgeline. |
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Mid Tank Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | Water fairly clear, running into a cement trough from black piping somewhere up the mountain. |
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Wooden Trough Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | Water fairly clear, running into a cement trough from a pipe. | | _____________________
| "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 |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
and I just had to walk away.
He seemed to approve.
. Wait a minute 
I could NOT drink it. Even burping the rest of the day grossed me out, tasting that again.
