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| Hiking | 8.73 Miles |
2,147 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.73 Miles | 6 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.64 mph |
| 2,147 ft AEG | 47 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Headed to Mt. Lemmon to get away from the Phoenix heat. We started at the Sunset trailhead and headed southeast along the trail there. The trail doesn't appear to be named, but is very wide, well-maintained, and popular with mountain bikers. It runs parallel to Mt. Lemmon Highway, passes under the road through a large culvert, then continues up a gradual ascent (500 feet AEG over 1 mile), eventually ending at Mt. Bigelow Road. We dodged a few mountain bikers along the way as they flew down the hill. We headed along Mt. Bigelow Road to the radio towers at the peak, then cut over to Butterfly Trail.
Butterfly Trail lived up to its name during the first 2 miles, with billions of butterflies flitting around. There were a lot of burned trees scattered around, but the trail was overgrown with abundant green plants as well, consisting of ferns and thorny plants that were up to 6 feet high and covered the trail at times. The thorns were completely avoidable with a little juking and spinning, which slowed us down a bit. The temp was 78°, but the high humidity made us sweat a little as we pushed through the vegetation. It felt like a jungle at times. There were some beautiful views along the way of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Novio spring was just a trickle, but was nice and peaceful down there. We forgot to look for the plane crash.
Heading up out of the valley was fairly steep at first, but this part was easier because we didn't have to push through all the vegetation and dodge all the thorns. Eventually the incline decreased a little, but there were a few overgrown areas. It was a pretty steady ascent from there back to Mt. Lemmon Highway. It began raining as we headed up - rained twice, 5-10 minutes each time, light rain, felt nice. We skipped Butterfly Peak.
The most exciting part of the day was after we got back to Tucson and settled down at a sports bar to eat. The thunderstorms rolled in, the wind picked up, and trees started crashing down in the parking lot, crushing one vehicle. The power went out, so they couldn't make our orders. We headed out onto the road to try to outrun the storm, literally dodging falling (and fallen) trees in the street as we drove down River Road through Tucson. Once we got north of Marana, things settled down.
Overall a good day. The initial trail was pleasant but the mountain bikers kept us on our toes. We didn't see a single person on the Butterfly Trail, just a lot of butterflies (and birds, and squirrels). The Butterfly Trail is quite overgrown in some areas, with half ferns and half thorny plants, but we barely got a scratch. The burned area with the abundance of green plants is sad and vibrant at the same time. It was under 80° and was mostly shaded, but we definitely felt the humidity. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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