Cathedral Rock Trail #26 - Tucson • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Apr 03 2024
		Mountain_Rat • Triplogs 257

Hiking	22.37 Miles	5,393 AEG

Hiking	22.37 Miles	12 Hrs 13 Mns		2.06 mph
	5,393 ft AEG	1 Hour 20 Mns Break	17 LBS Pack

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7 linked trail guides

Phoneline Trail #27

Bridal Veil Falls - Mt Lemmon

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partners

LindaAnn

This was another one of those insane hikes that Linda lures me into. This time, she told me that there was a "Beef Lovers BBQ" happening at the campsites where the West Fork & Cathedral trails intersect. As you may well have guessed, I fell for it and there was no BBQ when we arrived there. Well, now that we'd come this far, I wasn't going to turn back. We had covered a lot of ground and maybe as much water to get here. The scenery heading up the West Fork is top notch at all times, and in all directions. With the recent rains/snow, the water crossings were as high as could be crossed by most, and kept our feet wet for a solid 5 miles to the Cathedral campsites.

With unhappy feet and disappointed with the whole BBQ ruse thing, I dug out the single, stale, half crumbled saltine cracker that I had been saving for such an occasion and ate that. Meanwhile Linda adoringly dined on a slab prime rib while we rested before the remainder of our adventure.

The beginning of the end came all too quickly, and too did the heat of the day as we dawned our still mushy, wet footwear and started up the Cathedral Trail. Had it not been for a single trail runner arriving at just the right moment, Linda was about to toss me into the canyon for sniveling too much. Eventually, we got over the saddle and were on the homerun - shade, waterfalls, streams, a breeze and above all, elevation loss. Somehow, that didn't seem to deaden the misery of mushy footwear though, and I made that fact know the rest of the trip - just ask Linda.

Anyway, We got out of there alive and saw some pretty cool things along the way. Thanks Linda for driving all the way down for this one. It was one to remember, even if there was again no BBQ.

Wildflowers Observation Moderate

East Fork Sabino Canyon

Heavy flow

	Esperero Canyon	Medium flow	Medium flow
	A lot of water crossings. Crossable by boulder hopping

	Sabino Canyon	Heavy flow	Heavy flow
	High as it gets. Even the Trams weren't running due to the flow

	West Fork Sabino Canyon	Heavy flow	Heavy flow
	Close to raging.

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Apr 03 2024

LindaAnn

Guides 110
Routes 2,247
Photos 8,982
Triplogs 2,601

45 female

Joined Dec 24 2007
Ahwatukee, AZ

Catalinas Loop, AZ

Hiking		Apr 03 2024
		LindaAnn • Triplogs 2,601

Hiking	21.81 Miles	5,012 AEG

Hiking	21.81 Miles	12 Hrs 13 Mns	2.00 mph
	5,012 ft AEG	1 Hour 20 Mns Break

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6 linked trail guides

Phoneline Trail #27

Bridal Veil Falls - Mt Lemmon

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partners

Mountain_Rat

Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

Matt gave me several big options, and this one looked the likely to kill me. Parked at the Sabino Visitor Center at 0600 and made our way over to the Phoneline Trail. Easy uphill on that one, mostly in the shade. Continued up Sabino.

Once we arrived at the intersection with West Fork and East Fork, the fun began. We turned left onto West Fork, and immediately had to cross the water. The shallowest point we could find was about knee level. Oh well, I guess dry feet won’t be happening on this hike. Got across the water, but spent the next five miles continually crossing water. The largest crossing was thigh deep for me, and was a matter of gripping every tree possible to get across. The water felt good though, because it was warming up.

Had lunch at the junction with Cathedral Rock Trail. Prime rib makes for an excellent hiking lunch. I think we passed five AZT backpackers thru this section, including the human version of Ned Flanders, which provided some comic relief.

A slog up Cathedral Rock trail, but the views made up for it. Some recent trail work. Small amount of snow on the upper reaches. Once over the saddle, it was a long descent. Tons of water in Esperero, but all were crossable (barely) by rock hopping. Seemed like the descent took forever, but was easy. Finished up around 1815, making for a full day of hiking. Great loop, lots of fun, thank you Matt for the invitation!

Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Lots of flowers.

_____________________

Stop crying and just go do the hike.

Mar 09 2019

ShatteredArm

Guides 12
Routes 192
Photos 863
Triplogs 356

42 male

Joined Nov 30 2015
Phoenix, AZ

Esperero Canyon loop, AZ

Run/Jog		Mar 09 2019
		ShatteredArm • Triplogs 356

Run/Jog	21.20 Miles	4,854 AEG

Run/Jog	21.20 Miles	6 Hrs 20 Mns	3.35 mph
	4,854 ft AEG

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linked

Sabino Canyon Road

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none

no partners

This route is one of the classic Tucson Trail Runners routes (although I didn't do it with TTR). Up Esperero Canyon trail, over Cathedral Rock trail, then all the way down Sabino Canyon to where you started. I attempted it about two weeks after the winter storm that dropped snow all the way down to the valley, so I was expecting flowing creeks and some snow at the higher elevations.

Esperero Canyon is a grind. A couple miles in, before you top out at the view down into the canyon (which had some nice waterfalls btw), passed through a swarm of bees... Unfortunately seems pretty typical for the lower elevations of the Catalinas. Bridal Veil was in top form, and I used the opportunity to refill my water.

This was my first time seeing Cathedral Rock trail, and it's not bad. Good views. Turns out the north side can be a tad sketchy with ice; there was hard snowpack a couple feet or more deep, on steep slope... Made for slow going, but I enjoyed the experience.

West Fork trail was in top form, with lots of water from Hutch's down. The crossing was thigh deep; no way to avoid getting wet there.

Coming down Sabino Canyon trail was a bit of a struggle. It was a long day. Definitely a loop I'd go back and do again.

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Feb 26 2017

MSimmons

Photos 4
Triplogs 62

37 male

Joined Jan 30 2016
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Feb 26 2017
		MSimmons • Triplogs 62

Hiking	20.00 Miles	7,500 AEG

Hiking	20.00 Miles	13 Hrs 30 Mns	1.48 mph
	7,500 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

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linked

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jrousoshammond

Got a very early start up Esperero and met @jrousoshammond at Bridalveil Falls in time for coffee (he'd camped there Saturday night on his way from Pima to Sabino.) We set out for Cathedral around 8:30.

From Cathedral Saddle to the summit area was slow-going. Steep, ice-patchy, brushy, at times nerve-racking. It was also snowing on and off. There were cairns to follow, but I get the sense they mark more than one route. Directions for the route we ended up using are basically: (1) go straight up the little ridge from the saddle - there's a trail for this much; (2) when the trail fizzles and the ridge levels out, head to the next little ridge over to your right; (3) make for the line of cliffs which extends to the south of the summit rock; (4) meet the cliffs and take a right, following them northward; (5) as the cliffs come to an end, take a left to head up to the summit area.

Lots of neat formations to check out up there. The rope up to the very top was intact, but I wasn't comfortable going up. Still got great views of Pusch Ridge, Romero Canyon, Sabino Basin, and plenty more.

The the north leg of Cathedral Rock Trail was easy to follow, but steep and thorny. It was a relief to land down in West Fork, which must be the most lovely riparian area in the Catalinas. By the time we left the forest it was, in stark contrast to conditions up top, warm and sunny. The heavy flow made for one tedious crossing near Hutch's Pool, but other than that we were able to book it through West Fork and Sabino Canyon, and made it to the road *just* in time to catch the last tram back to the visitor's center :pray:

.

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2 archives

Feb 24 2017

jrousoshammond

Routes 30
Triplogs 186

37 male

Joined May 15 2015
Tucson

Pima to Sabino, AZ

Backpack		Feb 24 2017
		jrousoshammond • Triplogs 186

Backpack	26.56 Miles	9,650 AEG

Backpack	26.56 Miles	2 Days 52 Mns
	9,650 ft AEG

no photosets

Linked

6 linked trail guides

Pima Canyon Trail #62

Finger Rock Trail #42

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partners

MSimmons

Started up Pima Canyon on a Friday night and camped about 4.5 miles up the trail. There was water the entire way up, lots of greenery, and the trail was in the best shape that I'd ever seen it. The views out of the canyon at night were amazing, and the weather was beautifully mild.

As I headed further up the canyon the next day, the water became spottier. Realizing that my next guaranteed source of water would be Bridal Veil Falls several canyons over, I decided to top off my water here. Carrying the full pack up to the top of Kimball was quite challenging, and I was worried I might have to bail out through Ventana Canyon if Window Peak was too much. After an hour on the summit of just eating and drinking as much as possible, I actually felt great, and the hike up to the Window and Window Peak felt much better than Kimball. The late afternoon weather was perfect yet again, and after using my last bit of cell service to learn that Oregon didn't implode against Stanford ](*,)

, I headed down Esperero Canyon to spend the night at the falls.

MSimmons came up early the next morning, and we easily regained the elevation I lost the night before. We had some bizarre snow/wind/sun on our summit bushwhack, but nothing too ominous. Though we didn't attempt the true summit, I found the rope, and feel good about finding it again with less effort whenever I decide to go back. I started up the formation about 10 feet, was reeeeeeally temped to keep going, but with an old rope, a bit of ice, and worn-out shoes, I didn't want to get too committed.

The rest of the hike was a bit of a blur, since we were utterly desperate to catch the final shuttle out of the canyon. I hadn't been through the West Fork before, and the upper portions of it are top-notch. The stream crossing after Hutch's pool was really tricky, but if I had time I'd probably just take the boots off and walk through it. Hope to be back in this area again with some more time on my hands...

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Jan 14 2017

toddak

Guides 13
Routes 38
Photos 1,651
Triplogs 577

60 male

Joined Nov 15 2005
Jackson, CA

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jan 14 2017
		toddak • Triplogs 577

Hiking	20.50 Miles	5,000 AEG

Hiking	20.50 Miles	9 Hrs 30 Mns	2.16 mph
	5,000 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

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Santa Catalina Mountains - AZT #11

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none

no partners

Excellent loop, lots of water.

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May 07 2016

GrottoGirl

Guides 3
Routes 569
Photos 11,976
Triplogs 1,634

50 female

Joined Sep 18 2009
Tucson, AZ

Sabino - Cathedral Peak - Mt Lemmon, AZ

Hiking		May 07 2016
		GrottoGirl • Triplogs 1,634

Hiking	18.22 Miles	9,800 AEG

Hiking	18.22 Miles	13 Hrs 24 Mns		1.93 mph
	9,800 ft AEG	3 Hrs 59 Mns Break	30 LBS Pack

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Mount Lemmon Trail #5

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Baja Arizona Hiking

	chumley	gloope
	justmike	Pivo

We started out the day just after day break. The pretty sunrise colors were still in the sky as we turned onto the Esperero trail. We took a couple short breaks at Cardiac Gap and Bridal Veil Falls. Mark had started with us but he wasn't feeling good so he turned around before the falls.

The first challenge was climbing into the Inner Sanctum of Cathedral Rock. The handline at the notch was missing. I'm 8+ weeks out from a total shoulder replacement and haven't done any climbing so Garrison grabbed by pack and Mike boosted me up until I could clamor up on my own. In the Inner Sanctum we ate our first lunch. I ate two pieces of pizza. Carole whips out pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies she baked me and then starts playing Happy Birthday on the harmonica! Josh pulls out an espresso maker and starts to brew me a double shot! He pours it into a fancy espresso cup that he had been carrying. These people are crazy! Did they really do this for me??? Yep!

After lunch, we go to the summit climb. I still hadn't committed to the actual climb. But let's face it, I had gotten this far do you really think I'd turn around without going to the top?? It's likely that the rope is the Sam one that had been hanging there since my first ascent years ago - scary! Remarkably it is still black! Josh who climbed first without using the rope checked it out and saw that the sheath is getting abraded but was still intact. I had left my technical gear the car but Garrison had decided not to use his so I put it on and scooted up the 5.4 crack on the rope using ascenders. After the climb I did the small exposed scramble to the top wth just a few tips from Mike. Soon, I was enjoying the best views of the area but also my third summit of Cathedral Rock. The rest of the crew had gone over to the another set of rocks so it was fun to get pictures of everyone.

After enjoying the views we headed down. The borrowed gear I had didn't include a descender and likely none would have worked because the rope was really thick, so I set up a munter on on a large HMS carabiner and down I went. We retraced our steps and then headed down the extremely steep Cathedral Rock trail to the West Fork.

At the junction with the West Fork trail we had another lunch where I finished my last two pieces of pizza. Suddenly, I realized I had eaten at least 5-6 cookies! It takes a lot of calories to do this hike!

The food gave me what felt like my first wind. The trail up to Romero Pass seemed easy! From there I knew it wasn't long until we would hit the Lunch Rock where I had cached water. We trudged long until we finally reach that milestone.

Chumley met us lunch rock. The breeze there was cold but the views made us sit on the rock and enjoy them. We enjoyed more cookies and drank lots of water to get us refreshed for the final push.

As we started again we could see the Mt Lemmon summit in the distance. It was hard to believe we still had that far to go. There was at least 5 miles and nearly 2000 ft of gain left. We were getting tired. I had done this stretch the following weekend and at that time it didn't seem so bad. So I kept that thought in my head and kept walking. It's amazing what the body can do when you put your mind to it. Granted good physical fitness, proper food, water, and gear are all important. It's not like we could just quit and sit there but it sure would have been nice if the last few miles of the trail had just magically shortened.

The sun started to set and the cold came upon us. I realized how wet I was from sweating. I was so glad I had a change of clothes in my car at the top. The thought of the car and the clothes made me press on even though a jacket might have been a good idea.

Ahead of me I hear a joyful yelp! I just figured it was Mike reaching the cars. I kept going until I too yelped! Our friends Kevin and Kim had met us. They had a cooler of drinks, crackers and cheese, and chips! We were done and a celebration was in order!!!

We changed, munched, and then headed down for my birthday dinner at Gavi near Sabino Canyon.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Claret Cup Cactus Saguaro

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Fire Lookout Structures HAZ Food

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Lemmon Rock Fire Lookout

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2 archives

Nov 28 2015

Pivo

Guides 2
Routes 512
Photos 5,579
Triplogs 4,279

69 male

Joined Mar 01 2009
Aztec, NM

Bear-East Fork-West Fork-Cathedral-Esperero, AZ

Hiking		Nov 28 2015
		Pivo • Triplogs 4,279

Hiking	25.02 Miles	6,734 AEG

Hiking	25.02 Miles	10 Hrs 41 Mns		2.58 mph
	6,734 ft AEG	59 Mns Break	28 LBS Pack

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Bear Canyon Trail #29

East Fork Trail #24A

Mount Kimball via Finger Rock

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Baja Arizona Hiking

aztrailblazzer

We had planned to do a repeat of last year's Santa Catalina Front Range Traverse, however the logistics are not very friendly with just two hikers for that hike. A hiking partner suggested this after doing it last week; we were not disappointed. Beautiful day cold morning to start; 31 at my house when I left to meet Bill at the trailhead. It quickly warmed up once we started climbing out of Bear Canyon to our first junction with East Fork trail.

Beautiful running water and Fall colors in all of the major drainages. Surprisingly we didn't see many other hikers on a long holiday weekend. Most of the people we saw were on the West Fork segment. We took a lunch break at the Cathedral Rock West Fork Junction before we started the climb up Cathedral Rock Trail.

Made it back to the car before having to dig out the head lamp. Stopped at Falora Pizza to pickup some well deserved bad carbs. I had the "Fumo" Pizza: smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes, chevre, capers and red onion. Delightful!

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Seven Falls - Catalina

Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

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Apr 03 2015

Mountain_Rat

Guides 11
Routes 123
Photos 818
Triplogs 257

62 male

Joined Jul 14 2011
Tucson, AZ

Kimball - Window Peak - Cathedral Trifecta, AZ

Hike & Climb		Apr 03 2015
		Mountain_Rat • Triplogs 257

Hike & Climb	22.26 Miles	9,799 AEG

Hike & Climb	22.26 Miles	15 Hrs 15 Mns		1.65 mph
	9,799 ft AEG		15 LBS Pack

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Finger Rock Trail #42

Linda Vista Saddle

Window Peak via Finger Rock

Mount Kimball via Finger Rock

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none

no partners

Let me start by saying that I fell short of the title, but have listed it as such for comparative. That said, I set out as prepared and confident as I could be; I was well rested, the weather was perfect, I had a full moon to assist in the predawn and evening ends of the hike, I even had a massive water cache 2/3 of the way in. I had it all covered. To put icing on the cake, I hit the TH 5 minutes early instead of my usual 15 minutes late. Topping that by bagging Kimball 1/2 hour ahead of Schedule, I had 35 minutes in reserve. The details of what happened between Kimball and Cathedral are but a haze. I was so focused on the final acquisition that I turned off all that was happening along the way. Imagine my dismay as wandered the base of that massive rock pile, after all those hours, after all those miles, after all that sweat, just to run out the clock without reaching my goal

The return trip had now begun under an aire of defeat. Every mile seemed to last for hours. I crawled into my car at about 8:45 p.m. and reclined the seat, where I napped for about an hour. From there, I took myself home to sleep on the carpet (I didn't even have the energy to shower). My last thoughts as I faded into slumber were of how greatly I had failed. Somewhere in my sleep, that turned around and I awoke this morning feeling a great self-worth. I fell short of my goal today, but had made huge accomplishments, the mountain may have beat me today, but I fought it every inch of the way, and I'll be back.

Just on the side, maybe someone can enlighten me, but aren't tooooo many cairns just not helpful? I thought that hikers built cairns to help other hikers find their way. Have you ever been to the base of Cathedral Rock? It's like a cairn farm. It's like "guess how many cairns there are per square foot and win a prize". You need a track just to get you around the cairns, or you could use the 'odd-even' cairns as your guide. I have never seen sooo many cairns on every point of the compass... end rant. Goodnight.

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2 archives

Mar 28 2015

JuanJaimeiii

Routes 596
Photos 9,608
Triplogs 2,401

58 male

Joined Jan 30 2011
Chandler, AZ

Kimball - Window Peak - Cathedral Trifecta, AZ

Hiking		Mar 28 2015
		JuanJaimeiii • Triplogs 2,401

Hiking	22.36 Miles	9,650 AEG

Hiking	22.36 Miles	12 Hrs 7 Mns	2.16 mph
	9,650 ft AEG	1 Hour 45 Mns Break

no routes

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Window Peak via Finger Rock

Window Peak

Mount Kimball via Finger Rock

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joebartels

This has the potential to be a really amazing hike. In this particular case it kicked my butt from Window Peak on out. Temps were warm and at times borderline hot. Views from Window Peak and Cathedral Peak are outstanding.

I need to practice up and hit this one again. :sweat:

Wildflowers Observation Light

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Mar 28 2015

joebartels

Guides 264
Routes 2,798
Photos 14,514
Triplogs 5,895

55 male

Joined Nov 20 1996

Kimball - Window Peak - Cathedral Trifecta, AZ

Hiking		Mar 28 2015
		joebartels • Triplogs 5,895

Hiking	22.36 Miles	9,650 AEG

Hiking	22.36 Miles	12 Hrs 7 Mns		2.16 mph
	9,650 ft AEG	1 Hour 45 Mns Break	15 LBS Pack

no photosets

Linked

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Finger Rock Trail #42

Window Peak

Window Peak via Finger Rock

Partners

partners

JuanJaimeiii

Risky exotic wager for the underprepared.

Wildflowers Observation Light
Lots of brittlebush in the first couple miles. Larkspur, Dichelostemma capitatum, desert chicory and a few others on occasion.

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- joe

May 23 2014

azdesertfather

Guides 16
Routes 81
Photos 1,269
Triplogs 1,145

51 male

Joined Apr 30 2008
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 23 2014
		azdesertfather • Triplogs 1,145

Hiking	17.83 Miles	6,588 AEG

Hiking	17.83 Miles	10 Hrs 31 Mns	1.92 mph
	6,588 ft AEG	1 Hour 15 Mns Break

no routes

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Tortoise_Hiker

One of the best hikes of the year. Enjoyed the views, the perfect weather, and the great company.

We started out shortly after 5:30am, heading up Esperero and quickly ran into 3 whitetail. Well up Esperero in the cliffs above the oaks, we heard and eventually spotted a wild turkey. He really enjoyed talking to Denny, who can sound and act like a turkey

Fairly easy going until Cathedral Rock Trail, with almost content stellar views of the Santa Ritas. Then things started getting a little steep. Turning off Cathedral Rock trail to follow the faint trail that turned to a scramble to the top made it definitely kept the heart rates up. After we had been scrambling off trail for several minutes, a guy named Al with us realized his smartphone had come out of his pocket. We decided to push onto the top, and hope to run into it by following the GPS track exactly on the way back to Cathedral Rock Trail.

The ropes area near the top was awesome. Just enough to really push you, but not too difficult. It wasn't until just before the very top that you finally get that awesome view of Oro Valley and all the little peaks to the west and northwest like Safford and Picacho, that looked like little hills off in the distance. Reached the top around 11:10 and signed the register on top, really sturdy watertight PVC tube with a register going back to March. On the way back down, carefully retracing our steps, we actually found his cell phone underneath a tree we climbed over while scrambling to the top. Amazing, I just knew that thing was long gone! Made it down just after 4pm.

Thanks Denny for coming down today, and making the day twice as fun.

By the way, bought a frog towel a while back, yesterday the first time I've used it. It is flippin awesome!! Stayed cold all day. I reset it one (even tho it still had not dried out), used warm water and it still turned cold. http://www.froggtoggs.com/cooling.html

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] HAZ - Selfie

Esperero Canyon

Dry

_____________________

"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

May 10 2014

Pivo

Guides 2
Routes 512
Photos 5,579
Triplogs 4,279

69 male

Joined Mar 01 2009
Aztec, NM

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 10 2014
		Pivo • Triplogs 4,279

Hiking	23.47 Miles	6,965 AEG

Hiking	23.47 Miles	13 Hrs 1 Min		2.33 mph
	6,965 ft AEG	2 Hrs 57 Mns Break	28 LBS Pack

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Baja Arizona Hiking

GrottoGirl

RedwallNHops

Long day, with lots of afternoon sun.The only water seen was in the Hutch's Pool area, however there was plenty of poison ivy in Esperero Canyon, and along the West Fork Trail too. We went to Gavi's for post hike refueling and hydration.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Sonoran Whipsnake

Wildflowers Observation Light

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May 10 2014

RedwallNHops

Guides 1
Routes 269
Photos 613
Triplogs 1,360

50 male

Joined Dec 22 2003
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 10 2014
		RedwallNHops • Triplogs 1,360

Hiking	23.47 Miles	6,965 AEG

Hiking	23.47 Miles	13 Hrs 1 Min	2.33 mph
	6,965 ft AEG	2 Hrs 57 Mns Break

no routes

no photosets

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Baja Arizona Hiking

GrottoGirl

Pivo

Great hike. The top was spectacular as usual.

Wildflowers Observation Light

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May 10 2014

GrottoGirl

Guides 3
Routes 569
Photos 11,976
Triplogs 1,634

50 female

Joined Sep 18 2009
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		May 10 2014
		GrottoGirl • Triplogs 1,634

Hiking	23.47 Miles	6,965 AEG

Hiking	23.47 Miles	13 Hrs 1 Min		2.33 mph
	6,965 ft AEG	2 Hrs 57 Mns Break	30 LBS Pack

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Baja Arizona Hiking

Pivo

RedwallNHops

Happy Birthday to me! For my birthday (and training for Rainier) we decided to do Cathedral Rock as a loop.

I had a bit of drama to start as at least one person signed up for the hike who didn't have a clue what 24 miles with over 5000+ elevation gain meant. Luckily, I was able to convince her that the first hill we went up was actually pretty flat and her and her friend turned around.

Around Bridal Veil Falls we encountered poison ivy invading the trail. It was thick!

At the Cathedral Rock saddle, we lost another person do to a sore knee. We sent him back down the trail with plans to call for help if his car was still in the parking lot when we were done.

Then we bushwhacked up to the Inner Sanctum and enjoyed that for a bit before climbing the actual summit. The rope for the climb was in reasonable conditions. It's a pretty hefty black 11+ mm static rope. Joel free climbed whereas I used the rope a bit. The entire 6 man party got up the rope even though only Joel and I had experience climbing. Then we almost all went up on the summit past the scary step. What views! A great way to celebrate one's birthday!

On the way back to the saddle, someone thought they saw a big horn sheep as the backside was bigger than a deer and white tail was flashing in alarm.

The rest of the Cathedral Rock trail is getting to be a bit overgrown and has some downfall over it but it's still pretty easy to follow.

We ran into some backpackers at the West Fork Junction on their way to Hutch's. I swear one day I will stay at this junction. It has to be one of the prettiest camping areas in the Catalinas! I was content to at least just sit there for a bit and rest.

We did run into some more patches of poison ivy before we left the canyon floor. The wind started in on us while we hiked. I was glad as it would have been pretty miserable just being baked by the sun.

Finally, Hutch's Pool! What a delight to see! I instantly took of my boots and climbed in! That break was enough to refresh us to get the top of the Sabino Canyon road. From there we went on autopilot and made it back to the cars.

Prior, I had only done this trek as a 3 night backpack, never dreaming I'd be able to crank out the whole thing in one day. What an awesome feeling it is to go above your own expectations!

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Greater Roadrunner Sonoran Whipsnake

Wildflowers Observation Light

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Apr 01 2013

Dave1

Routes 29
Photos 1,548
Triplogs 1,802

49 male

Joined Jan 25 2009
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Apr 01 2013
		Dave1 • Triplogs 1,802

Hiking	22.94 Miles	8,095 AEG

Hiking	22.94 Miles
	8,095 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

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Romero Canyon Trail #8

Romero Canyon Pools

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none

no partners

Started from Catalina SP. Ran into Dave and Nick on their way back from Romero Pools. I hadn't met Dave before but recognized him right away from HAZ pics. Good to meet you! Made my way up to Romero Pass and then picked up West Fork Trail #24 (which is listed as South Kaibab Trail on satellite view). It looks like a trail crew has been doing some work on WF recently. West Fork drops back down about 700 feet to where it intersects with Cathedral Rock Trail #26. CR trail is in pretty good shape up until the last part where you have to keep a keen eye on the cairns.

Once near the top, I used the stiff and crusty black rope to pull myself up the 50 foot crack. The first time I was here I didn't make it up to highest point. Bob was the only one in our group who did but this time I went for it! Very satisfying to get up there! And great views of course.

On the way back down Romero Trail I ran into about 8 trail crew workers heading back up to Romero Pass (I assume because there were some tools and water containers left up there). They warned me of a rattlesnake down the trail but I never saw it. Nice day, a little warm towards the end but not bad overall. Pretty good water flows in most of the creeks I crossed. No snow on Cathedral and it didn't look like there was any snow on Lemmon.

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Mar 20 2013

Mountain_Rat

Guides 11
Routes 123
Photos 818
Triplogs 257

62 male

Joined Jul 14 2011
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Mar 20 2013
		Mountain_Rat • Triplogs 257

Hiking	20.50 Miles	5,700 AEG

Hiking	20.50 Miles	12 Hrs 5 Mns		2.07 mph
	5,700 ft AEG	2 Hrs 10 Mns Break	25 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Sabino Canyon Road

Partners

none

no partners

My first mistake was wearing new, not very broken in boots. The second was packing some overnight gear in case I felt like camping. It all amounted to a great workout though. The GPS took 3 spontaneous naps throughout the day, so I did my best with the mileage and the gain

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1 archive

Mar 18 2013

fricknaley

Guides 93
Routes 397
Photos 4,984
Triplogs 4,126

49 male

Joined Jun 20 2003
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Mar 18 2013
		fricknaley • Triplogs 4,126

Hiking	20.66 Miles	5,855 AEG

Hiking	20.66 Miles	7 Hrs 57 Mns		2.97 mph
	5,855 ft AEG	59 Mns Break	15 LBS Pack

no photosets

Linked

7 linked trail guides

Hutch's Pool

Sabino Canyon Road

Partners

none

no partners

fourth time is a charm. snowed out twice previously, and almost blown off cardiac gap for a third failure, i finally found perfect weather for this fabulous loop. excellent flower show in stretches, running water everywhere and perfect temps...yahoo!

with the backside of cathedral rock trail finally done, i've hiked all the formal trails on Pusch Ridge

came back on phoneline then down historic sabino 23A for the first time. that's a cool little connector between the road and phoneline

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hi

Mar 13 2011

The_Eagle

Guides 41
Routes 1,627
Photos 14,983
Triplogs 2,763

69 male

Joined Jan 20 2009
Far NE Phoenix,

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Mar 13 2011
		The_Eagle • Triplogs 2,763

Hiking	17.05 Miles	6,089 AEG

Hiking	17.05 Miles	10 Hrs 33 Mns	1.62 mph
	6,089 ft AEG

no photosets

Linked

linked

Partners

partners

	BobP	Dave1
	fricknaley	joebartels
	juliachaos

Day 2 of my excellent adventure. (Bill and Ted were not present)

I'm glad Nick could join us today for this one. I don't know where he was yesterday.

I was feeling a bit sleep deprived and tired from the previous days 23mi and 3900' of gain, and knew this was going to be some work today.

Like yesterday, this hike started tamely on a paved road. That part was soon over.

Nick assured me that he was hiking "Nick speed" today and would not be sucked into the Twins need for speed. Liz and I did get to see Bob, Dave, Joe and Nick at the breaks. (Never listen to Nick). Their breaks were probably 20 minutes, ours were 5 minutes. This hike was alllll up.

My calves were burning on the way up. The break at Bridal Veil Falls was very nice. What a pretty area.

When I took the time to look up from the trail, the views were just incredible! I wanted to quit many times, but just kept pushing. I told Nick and Liz anytime they wanted to turn around, I'd keep 'em company.

We started the scramble up to the peaks. There was one point where Nick said "That's it, I'm not going over that". I had my opening to turn around, but didn't, Nick followed. At this point Liz was Zombielike. I don't have a clue how she kept pushing on. An incredibly tough hiker, or just plane goofy? I say a bit of both. I heard her snore at lunch.

Either way, the three of us made it to the base of Cathedral and watched Bobby, Joe, and the Davey the Kid frolic on the Rocks.

We ate some lunch at the top, I took some Vitamin I and a 5 hour energy for the Downhill.

Once again, Nick said he does not do good on the downhills. Once again, I only saw him at the breaks with the other big boys.

Thanks to Liz for being my hiking buddy and providing the transportation. I hope you are feeling better. Good Luck today.

Thanks to Bob/Nick for putting this together. It really is a special place. Thanks to Joe and the others for all the entertainment. Great meeting Dave and having another to help tag team Joe.

This hike put an end to by Birthday weekend, with just shy of 40 miles and around 10,000' in AEG. Not bad for an old Pumpkin. I was not sore today, but was in totally wrung out, tired, exhausted, world of my own.

Can't wait until next weekend.

Wildflowers Observation Isolated

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry

Mar 13 2011

juliachaos

Routes 37
Photos 2,160
Triplogs 627

43 female

Joined Mar 01 2010
Phoenix, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Mar 13 2011
		juliachaos • Triplogs 627

Hiking	17.00 Miles	6,000 AEG

Hiking	17.00 Miles	10 Hrs 45 Mns	1.58 mph
	6,000 ft AEG

no routes

no photosets

Linked

linked