Return to Tucson

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We are heading back to Tucson Arizona to a campground we have stayed at before. Back in 2018, we spent the month of March at Justin’s Diamond J RV Park. This time we plan to spend a full two months in the park. The campground itself isn’t all that special but we do like the location just to the southwest of Tucson proper. We hadn’t called for a reservation until late October but were told we would be able to get a spot for the dates we wanted. Our stop in Gila Bend at the Elks Lodge was exactly halfway between Quartzsite and Tucson so the 134 mile drive wasn’t too bad. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and were told which spot we would be in. The reservation system in this park used to be quite old school. There are a bunch of post it notes on the wall indicating which spots are booked. A strong gust of wind might undo all the effort. We found that they had upgraded over the past 5 years and now have a white board to keep track of things - progress.

Our spot this time was much nicer in the Garden View row. We got setup and settled in for some relaxation in the desert. Chris had noticed a posting in the office about a group hike taking place the following morning. We contacted the woman arranging the hike and asked if we could join in on late notice. We were told the more the merrier and were given instructions on where and when to meet. There were about a dozen other campers the next morning and we arranged to carpool to the trailhead to make sure there was adequate parking for the group. Louise had picked out a couple of different trails that started at the Sarasota trailhead in Tucson Mountain Park. She was thinking it would be about a 4 mile hike but could change with input from the group.

Diamond J Hikers Start Up Trail

It has been quite some time since we have hiked with other people, especially a group this size. It was nice to meet some fellow campers and get to know them a little bit as we hiked the Sarasota Trail and some of the Explorer Trail. We did one slight detour along the way to look at an old car that had been abandoned in one of the washes. Often a geocache hidden near something like this would have been the reason for even discovering the nearly buried car. Apparently they had discovered it on their own in past years hikes and wanted to show the new group. It wasn’t clear what kind of car or the age of the vehicle based on the limited view but I suspect it must have been some sort of station wagon.

Name That Vehicle

As we continued east on the Explore Trail, we were on the back side of Cat Mountain which come in at around 3840 feet - a good 950 feet higher than the trail we are on. At one of the breaks, I mentioned that there is a geocache hidden at the very top of the mountain and that we had attempted to do the hike 5 years ago but failed to find the trail to the top. This fact intrigued a few of the more hardcore hikers in the group, but we knew we hadn’t come prepared to do such a strenuous hike on this outing. We did scope out a side trail that looked like it might go up the mountain and I know this wasn’t the route we had tried to follow in our first attempt. We turned around and started our way back to the cars. I had forgotten how beautiful the desert is in Tucson Mountain Park but really enjoyed this hike.

Overlooking Tucson Mountain Park

View of the Catalina Mountains 20 Miles Away

Large Saguaro

Diamond J Hikers Head Back

Back at the parking lot, the group discussed the possibility of doing another hike in the future. There wasn’t a set schedule that was being followed prior to our arrival so it was pretty much free from scheduling. There was about half of the crew that was interested in making an attempt to summit Cat Mountain. We picked a time and date about a week out.

I mentioned in a previous post that we had decided that we would head back to the Western New York area for the summer. We spent a great deal of time investigating various campgrounds trying to formulate a plan. There are numerous state parks that we would enjoy staying at but since they all have 2 week limits and don’t have full hookup sites, it would require a great deal of effort to reserve a string of state parks to cover the 4 months we would like to spend in the area.

We instead looked into some of the private campgrounds thinking we could possibly book a few different ones for a month or two. This would limit our need to travel frequently and allow us to spend some time in different parts of the area. We ended up stumbling upon a relatively new campground near Waterloo New York. This would put us very close to some of the things we want to do in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York and not be too far from our old home area. We called and found out we could get a seasonal site for a reasonable rate. It would work out to be about $22 per day for the six months starting May 1 and even includes electricity. At that price, we could use this as a home base and possibly take some short trips to state parks to get a change in scenery but not end up costing a lot of additional money.

One other thing I needed to deal with was the poor TV reception we were getting with our crank up “bat wing” antenna. I got the ladder out and headed to the roof. It didn’t uptake long to realize the root cause of the problem. The coax cable that sticks up thru the roof and attaches to the antenna output was completely broken. Eleven years of sun and wind had taken its toll on the cable. It took a bit of research to figure out the best way to handle this problem. I ended up being able to crimp on some new connectors and a short length of new cable. Our TV reception improved dramatically. I suspect this cable has been slowly degrading over the past years and should have been replaced years ago.

There are numerous trails that start right out of the campground. In past years, I would often head out there for some pretty decent mountain biking. We headed out for a hike one morning to get a little exercise and find a few of the geocaches we hadn't found yet. There seems to always be something neat to see in the nearby desert landscape. What looks like a desolate area, often has all sorts of things going on if we simply stop and look. This area is full of saguaro cactus but given we are only 6 miles from Saguaro National Park West, it isn’t too unexpected. One of the geocaches we looked for, led us to a large spiral stone path somebody took some time to create.

A Very Young Arm Forming on Saguaro

Stone Artwork in Desert Behind Campground

Barrel Cactus with Yellow Fruit

Our next real hike was one in the National Park. The Hugh Norris Trail starts off Hohokam Road which is part of a one way scenic drive thru the park. It’s a dirt road but is in pretty decent shape. This trail is often used to get to the top of Wasson Peak. We have already done that summit from another trailhead, so we weren’t looking to repeat that one. We had other options though. One was to simply hike this trail as an out and back which would be a little more than 5 miles. But by tacking on two other trails (Sendero Esperanza and Dobbie Wash) it could be turned into a 6.6 mile loop. We felt the extra distance would be worth it to complete the hike as a loop.

Hugh Norris Trailhead

Hugh Norris is a pretty hike but it is definitely all uphill for the first 2 miles or so. From the looks of things, this trail must have been recently upgraded by the park. There were hundreds of new stone steps in place and the gravel that makes up the trail doesn’t seem to have and sections that were washed out. The views were incredible as we continued the slow climb.

Excellent Views As Elevation Gained

Sample of Major Stone Steps on Hugh Norris Trail

We were noticing two helicopters that were ferrying supplies overhead. Even though they were loud when they flew past us, their route was long enough that we only heard them every now and then. A mile or so up the trail, we ran into a worker in bright orange safety gear including a hard hat. He wanted to inform us that there were helicopters flying overhead and we should pay attention. Turns out they are taking the supplies up to an old mine shaft in order to block it off from visitors since the stay out signs don’t seem to work.

Helicopter Moves Supplies

It was definitely a wonderful hike. At about 2.6 miles in, we have an intersecting trail. Continuing east would lead up to Wasson Peak. Heading south would lead to another trailhead parking lot. We take the third option to the north onto Sendero Esperanza Trail. This leads down from the saddle point and is reasonably easy going.

View of the Valley Below

Looking Towards Wasson Peak

King Canyon Area to South

Another Load Goes By

View Back the Trail We Came Up

The trail snakes down the side of the hill and eventually ends up following a wash. A mile from the saddle point, we come upon another turn onto Dobbie Wash Trail. The wash was definitely dry but there were some sections where the sand was rather deep and made for tiresome walking. It’s about 1.4 miles down this wash before we hit Hohokam Road again.

Looking Down Sendero Esperanza Trail

In the Wash

We are still 1.3 miles from the car. In theory, there is a side trail that parallels the road so we wouldn’t need to walk on the dusty road. But each time we believe we find the hiking trail, we realize it is rather overgrown and would make for challenging hiking. It’s one thing to bushwhack through brush but quite another when the “brush” are cacti, ocotillo and other prickly plants. We end up walking the road and only have to contend with a dozen or so cars along the way. There is plenty of room to walk the road from a safety standpoint. The only real issue with the cars is the cloud of dust each one kicks up. In hindsight, it likely would have been a more pleasant hike to simply do the Hugh Norris portion as an out and back hike.

Closeup View of Ocotillo

We had a couple of days off to recuperate and get caught up on other chores around the rig before going on our next major hike. This was going to be the group hike we planned last week to the top of Cat Mountain. This peak seems to really intrigue me. Since our first visit to the area 5 years ago, Cat Mountain is one of the more prominent peaks in the area. The fact that it is right next to Ajo Way - the main road between camp and Tucson - means we drive by the place on a consistent basis. It generally runs in an east/west direction and is about a mile long but it is rather narrow in cross section at less than 1/3 mile. The view of the mountain from the road is impressive even from a few miles away where it is clear how abruptly the peak juts out of the ground. The south side of the mountain is quite steep with lots of sheer vertical faces but the profile is quite distinctive.

View of Cat Mountain from Ajo Way

The six of us meet at the campground office and head over for our attempt of Cat Mountain. We would follow the path we took last week on the north side of the mountain until make it about 2/3 of the way across the length of it and find the faint trail that starts the true climbing portion. It’s just under 2 miles to get to this point and will only be 0.6 miles more to the top but in that short distance we will need to climb nearly 900 feet - an average slope of 28%. We took a break at this spot and chatted with an older couple that were heading up the same trail. Turns out they have hiked this peak several times before and told us this was the more reliable route to the top unless you want more serious rock climbing.

View Along Trail in Tucson Mountain Park

View of Cat Mountain Ridgeline from Below

The six of us start up a few minutes after them. The trail is quite faint at points, but there are lots of rock cairns to help keep us on course. There were many steep rocky sections that made for challenging footing. I wasn’t even close to the top yet, but was already dreading the descent back down. We caught up with the other couple and made our way past them. After about 0.2 miles we had climbed almost 400 feet but hit a large rock outcropping that we needed to get past. It wasn’t like the climb was impossible but it was rather exposed with a very steep drop off if there was a mistake. I wasn’t too concerned climbing up since I would be facing the climb, but Chris realized that even if she made it up this spot, she would eventually need to come back down it and she would likely freeze with fear. The other woman with us agreed with Chris’ assessment of the situation and the two of them decided to make this their stopping point. The remaining 4 of us made it up past the outcropping and were effectively on the ridge line of the mountain.  Now we could see to the south side and all the homes and the busy road below. There were definitely some great views from this point.

The View Improves with Elevation

Made it to Cat Mountain Ridge

Taking a Break on Way Up

We were actually thinking we were close to the top since there appeared to be just one more steep point to crest. Unfortunately, I peaked at my Garmin and realized while we only had 1/3 mile left, we still had 300 feet of elevation to go. Turned out the real top of the mountain was well beyond the portion we could see. We pushed on and followed the ridge. There were a few spots where the ridge was narrow and steeply dropped off on both sides, but it was never so narrow that I thought I would fall. The biggest problem was to avoid the cactus that sometimes blocked the middle of the ridge and forced us to pick a side to get around it. We eventually made it to the very top. There is some sort of radio repeater at the top hidden under a large fake rock with a solar panel glued to it. The sign warns that the signal is monitored by the sheriff’s department and if it is disturbed, a helicopter will be immediately sent out to investigate. We decide to leave well enough alone.

Another Small Obstacle Along the Ridge

Are We to the Top Yet?

Great Views from Here

Shows How Narrow the Ridge Is

We Made It! - Radio Repeater Under Fake Rock

The other three guys find a place to sit and have a snack while I wonder over past the peak to look for the geocache. It had not been found in almost two years and a geocacher from last year had logged a “did not find” so I was a bit concerned that our attempt to get up here would result in the same disappointment. It didn’t take more than a minute to locate the container tucked under a large rock so my goal was completed. I headed back to the group and pulled out my snack. It was then I realized I had both mine and Chris’ energy bar in my pack - oops.

Overlooking Tucson Estates and Golden Gate Mountain

As we sat and chatted, the older couple made their way to our spot. We talked with them for some time. They are locals and have done many hikes in the area. Surprisingly, the husband was 82 years old! I’m not sure I will be doing this tough of a hike at that age but it’s good to know it can be done. We took the opportunity to have them take a picture of the 4 of us to prove we made it to the top of Cat Mountain before we start the long, slow descent. The two ladies had grown tired of waiting and had already started down. Our view from above allowed us to see how far ahead of us they were but we gradually caught up to them and got back to the car safely. Epic hike and glad I had a group to enjoy it with.

At Summit of Cat Mountain

Our Track to Cat Mountain Peak

Our campground is only about a 12 mile drive to Saguaro National Park West. We have done quite a bit at the park during previous stays but we still stopped by the visitor center to see if they had any ranger talk or walks that sounded interesting.  Most National Parks have pretty good ranger programs and this one had a large selection to choose from. One that sounded like a fun one was a sunset hike. We called and added our names to the list and were given instructions on where and when to meet. The planned route for the hike would cover a portion of the Hugh Norris hike we did just 4 days ago. We arrived to find about 16 visitors and 3 park rangers.

Saguaro NP Sunset Hike

The plan was to hike out the Sendero Esperanza Trail about 1.75 miles - gaining 650 feet in the process. The hike was scheduled to get us up to the saddle point with the Hugh Norris Trail a little before sunset. On the hike along the way and up the side of the hill, we stopped frequently to learn some interesting facts about the plants, animals and geology of this area. We even learned a survival fact we hope to never need to use. The barrel cactus found in this area have a pulpy inner section that is edible to humans and could provide for some fluids if we ever got in a bad situation.

Starting Up

We made it to the viewing point for sunset with plenty of time to spare. We were told to wander around the immediate area to find a spot to watch the sunset and then come back in 30 minutes for the hike back down the hill and along the wash. As the sun started to set, the colors on the mountains to the east got quite vibrant. The moon was just coming up and was a few days shy of being full.

Looking East Around Sunset

People Waiting for Sunset

We actually ended up with a pretty decent sunset which was nice since we had put in a fair amount of effort to get to this spot. There are about 10 shallow ponds visible to the west. The ranger informed us these are holding ponds that help to recharge the aquifers. The reflections off the water added a little bit more interest to the shots.

Holding Ponds

Vibrant Sunset Colors

Even though there was a thin cloud layer obscuring the moonlight, we all managed to make it back down the hill without incident and without the need for any flashlights. We were quite impressed with one family that consisted of mom and dad, each with a young child in a backpack, and 4 other kids all under 10. They all made the hike with almost no whimpering or complaining. Even though we had done about a mile of this hike before, it seemed quite different doing it around sunset instead of early afternoon.

A few nights later, we had another nighttime outing. This one required a little less effort since it was a group of 20 campers heading out into the desert for a small star party. One of our neighbors has a pretty nice telescope and had set it up so we could all take a look at some of the celestial objects in the night sky. It worked out well until the full moon rose over the mountains to the east and really did a number on the dark sky observations. It was still fun to get out with a bunch of  other campers.