Tucson 2023 Part 2

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There definitely isn’t a shortage of hiking trails in this part of Tucson. We pick the combination of the Yetman, Bowen and Hidden Canyon Trails to make a roughly 4.25 mile route. It would have about 700 feet of elevation gain with most of that happening in a one mile stretch. The trailhead for the hike starts at the end of a dead end road that was dirt and in rough shape. We were kind of surprised when we got there and found 8 vehicles occupying all the legitimate parking spots. We had gotten a late start so we had lunch in the car parked a quarter mile from the trailhead and hoped somebody would drive out while we were eating. We ended up finding a spot in a wash that worked fine for our Jeep and headed down the trail.

A Hillside of Saguaros

Yetman Trailhead

The number of saguaros in the valleys and on the hills was staggering. We had picked a very nice day for the hike. About 10 minutes into the hike, we met a group of a dozen hikers heading back. That should open up a few parking spots for others that may show up. About 2/3 mile into the hike is our first trail intersection. Straight ahead in another half mile was the Bowen Homestead. We had visited the old stone house in our prior visit to the area and didn’t feel the need to approach it from a different direction. Instead we hang a left onto the Bowen Trail. In another half mile is the intersection with the Hidden Canyon Trail. This part of the hike is a 2 mile loop so either direction works but taking the sharp left will get to the steep uphill section sooner while our legs are still fresh. There is a short side trail that actually heads up to the peak we are circumnavigating. We figure it would be worth the detour for the views. A large rock pile is at the top of the hill.

Large Pile of Rocks Atop Hill

Overlooking Tucson

As we head down the backside of the hill into the canyon, we spotted some motion off the side of the trail. There were a couple of deer. One was a buck with a rather small rack. We stood and watched them for a bit and realized that these deer have the ability to eat just about anything. He was nibbling on the ends of a staghorn cholla cactus. This type of cactus isn’t nearly as thorny as a jumping cholla but still doesn’t look to be easy to eat.

Small Buck Eating Cactus

The Trail Continues

We ran into a few more hikers along this part of the trail. In talking with them, we suspect they are visitors staying at the nearby Marriott Star Pass Resort. The one couple mentioned how they had taken a wrong turn and ended up going along a wash instead of taking the actual trail. I wonder how many resort guest get lost each year? As we come down the backside of the Hidden Canyon Trail, we come upon the rather nice looking resort. We need to follow the road and sidewalks for a short distance to pick up the hiking trail which will lead us back to the car. This was a nice easy hike with some decent views.

Approaching Resort

The next day we head off to check out another hike. This one was actually prompted by the weather forecast from a local news channel. Tumamoc Hill is a large hill just to the west of downtown Tucson and is just a mile from another popular place overlooking the city - “A” Mountain or Sentinel Peak. The weather station has a camera on some of the radio towers on the peak which provides a great view of town. It seems like lots of people go there to get in some exercise. This one looks like it may be a decent workout. The out and back hike of 3.1 miles climbs 738 feet for a decent 9% average grade. The trail is paved to the top and is also a road to the Desert Laboratory which sits about 3/4 mile up the trail. There is street parking along the road near the hike but since it was so busy, we needed to park a considerable distance away just to get to the trailhead.

Nicely Paved Trail at Tumamoc Hill

Unusual Building at Start of Trail

We quickly discovered how much of a workout this hike would be. Many of the other people on the trail likely come here several times a week and it showed - especially those running up the hill. We took our time and stopped to enjoy the views along the way. The old Desert Laboratory is now owned by the University of Arizona and consists of a half dozen or so old buildings. It’s not clear what the mission of the research is though. The views of town are definitely dramatic. Since the trail is open until 10 PM, it looks like a great spot to come to after sunset to see how large Tucson is. This hill is about 200 feet taller than nearby “A” Mountain and from this vantage point the A is not visible. We’ve been to the top of that one too but years ago and it is much easier since visitors can drive almost to the very peak.

Catalina Mountains in Distance

Tucson Below

Desert Laboratory Building in Center of Shot

A Hawk Soars Above

A couple days later, we headed to the southern part of Saguaro National Park to do a hike out of the King Canyon Trailhead. Unfortunately, we got a late start and by the time we arrived the parking lot was completely full. We debated about parking at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum which is just across the street but decided to come up with a different hike. Just a quarter mile south of there is the Juan Santa Cruz Picnic area. We knew this would give us access to the Brown Mountain Trail. The trail here is nearly a 5 mile loop that has half of it along the ridge line of Brown Mountain and several smaller adjoining peaks and a return section at desert level to the east of the mountain. Back in 2017, we had hiked just the ridge portion of the trail as an out and back hike from the southern trailhead but it was just a 3 mile hike. This time we want to do the complete loop which would get us to one more of the several geocaches hidden along the trail we didn’t get to in our past visit. There was plenty of parking in the picnic area and we start our journey taking the loop in a counterclockwise direction which will get the climb done at the start of the hike when our legs are still fresh. It’s a decent climb at the beginning and we quickly get some great views of the surrounding desert.

Heading Up

Overlooking Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

As we work our way along the trail, we have a geocache to get to but it isn’t along the trail and appears to be near a small peak above the trail. We never find an obvious route up, but we settle on a route we hope will get us there. Cactus and other pointy plants are a big hazard when bushwhacking in Arizona, but we safely make it up to the spot the geocache is hidden and make the find. The path back down is even more challenging with the loose rock creating a slide hazard.

Rocky Trail

View of Trail Ahead

It is a pretty hike and the trail is often quite visible looking ahead to the south or back to the north. None of the ups or downs are too difficult and we only run into a handful of other groups along the way. I’m always on the lookout for young saguaro cactus and I’m pretty sure I have found the smallest one I’ve seen so far maybe only sticking up out of the rock 2 inches. At the south end of the ridge line, are a series of switchbacks to negotiate the steep, rocky terrain.

Baby Saguaro

Looking Back

Looking Forward

The hike below the mountain is okay but not quite as scenic as the first part of the hike up high. We make it back to the car without issue and head out of the picnic area. The road in is very narrow and I hope not to come upon another vehicle trying to enter. Part way up the road, I spot two coyotes coming out of the desert to the north and onto the road. I assumed once they saw our car, they would run off but instead they stopped to look us over and then started to trot down the road towards us. One of them got so close to the car that I couldn’t see it from the driver’s seat. The did get out of the way and came over near the passenger side of the car and sat down only 25 feet from us. They seemed very intent on checking us out.

Coyotes Approaching the Car

Coyote Sits and Watches Us

Back when we were in Boulder City Nevada hooked up to city water for a month, I had noticed that our freshwater tank was filling up even though I didn’t have the valve in the position to permit water in. Since we were hooked up to water at this park as well, I noticed the same thing happening here. It wasn’t clear what the source of the leak was but there are two possible sources. It could be the valve that is used to toggle between using city water or filling our fresh tank had a leak. Or the other option was the check valve on the water pump was leaking and allowing water to flow backwards thru the pump and fill the tank.

Since I had the time here, I ran an initial experiment. Once the tank was full, water starts to drip out the overflow drain. I placed a bucket under the drain and let it go for 17 hours. I had collected 2 gallons of water in that amount of time. This means it take about 8.5 hours to add one gallon or roughly 3 gallons each day. That is a pretty slow fill rate, so I’m not too concerned about finding the root cause right away. The solution when we are on city water, is to occasionally turn on the water pump and run it for a few showers or washing dishes or laundry. It shouldn’t be too big of a deal to keep the water from overfilling the fresh tank.

We arrived in Tucson a full month earlier than the last time we stayed here at Diamond J, but this year seemed to be much colder and windier than we remember from 5 years ago. Many of the neighbors that come back here each year even commented on how cold this winter has been compared to past years. We haven’t need to run our furnace every night but have used it many nights. One morning we woke up to a dusting of snow on the Jeep but it was very short lived.

A Dusting of Snow

We got another invite to a group hike from our campground. One of the couples was going to be leaving soon and wanted to try to get us back together again before they left. Amazingly, they had picked the Brown Mountain Loop Trail that we had hiked exactly one week earlier. We decide to join in since the best part of a group hike is the group itself plus the trail is a very good one. We meet at the campground office and the 12 of us divide into 3 groups to carpool to the trailhead. The plan was to start at the trailhead on the south side of the loop. Good - at least we will be able to repeat the hike in the opposite direction from last week. As we start to drive north on Kinney Road to the trailhead parking lot, the full southbound lane is closed with some sort of run taking place. Unfortunately this also means that we are not able to get into the parking lot we had wanted to. We were in the lead car and figured we would need to change to a different trail but the entrance into the picnic area we used last week was open, so we headed in there and the others figured out the change in plans.

It was still a fun hike even if it was identical to what we had completed last Saturday. We had a good time catching up with our friends and had a beautiful morning for a hike. I kept a lookout for baby saguaro cactus and believe I found two even smaller specimens than I spotted last week. We stopped at the overlook on the south side of the mountains and had a snack. I mentioned to the group how we had seen a couple of coyotes on the road out of the picnic area. We all made it down the switchbacks and along the lower section of the trail. As we are driving out, there were 2 coyotes again checking us out as we drove by. I find it extremely unusual that we saw these guys on both of our hikes but it helped to prove to the others we weren’t making the story up.

Our Diamond J Hiking Group

Two REALLY Small Saguaros

View Over Valley Below

Group Photo Time

A couple days later we head out on our own to hike the Bobcat Ridge and Starr Pass Loop Trail. At 4.1 miles and with a 715 foot elevation gain, this trail should be a good one based on the reviews plus there is a geocache near the summit of the hike. We start at the Sarasota trailhead where we have begun many of our hikes. The plan is to take the loop in a counterclockwise direction to get the climbing portion out of the way early. It was handy to have the trail map for this hike handy because there are several side trails that could be confusing. Admittedly, even with the maps, we did an unexpected loop that likely added 1/3 mile to our overall hike. But it did get us to a nice overlook that shows the gap between Cat Mountain and Little Cat Mountain. We were also able to find the path back to the intended path without the need to backtrack.

Trail Ahead

Starting Out

Cat Mountain (left), Little Cat (right)

The climb up Bobcat Ridge was rather steep and rocky but completely manageable. The views along the ridge were quite nice since we could see both to the northeast and southwest. From this vantage point, it is clear how large and densely populated Tucson Estates is. We ran into a couple solo hikers as we neared the peak along the ridge. It is worth the detour to the peak just for the view. We also had a geocache to find as an added incentive. A short stop at the top for a snack and to enjoy the views gave us the time needed to have one of the other hikers get out of the way so we could look for the geocache in solitude.

Nice View

Tucson Estates Below

Continuing Up Bobcat Ridge

Colorful Desert

As we continue along the ridge, we start to see two other mountains to the northwest - Golden Gate and Bren Mountains. Both of these have a geocache at the peak but we will not make it to either of them during our stop this time in Tucson. Heading down from the ridge on this side definitely was less steep than the one we climbed up. This was one hike where it does make a difference as to which direction to complete the loop and we picked correctly.

Steep Drop Off

Golden Gate and Bren Mountains

Cactus in Rock Outcropping

The hike back along the western side below the ridge was okay but not as spectacular as from the ridge itself. This portion of the trail is also used by mountain bikers so we need to be a bit more aware of our surroundings. As we approach the parking lot, I spot a large crested saguaro. This was a very enjoyable hike and not overly strenuous.

Looking Up at Bobcat Ridge

Crested Saguaro

One of our fellow hikers from the campground had mentioned about the mountain biking in a section of Tucson Mountain Park that is on the south side of Ajo Way called Robles Pass. I’m familiar enough with the style of riding my friend likes to do, so I knew better than to try this area with our bikes, but it sounded like a neat area to try for hiking. There are a multitude of trail options in this section. We pick one loop trail listed in AllTrails as 360 Vista, Cascabel and Bittersweet Trails. This make up a 3.9 mile loop with 350 feet of elevation gain. There are some unique decorations at the trailhead including a skeleton in an old cart.

Official Greeter at Trailhead

View Along Trail

Taking this loop in a counterclockwise fashion brings us to a section that overlooks West Irvington Road. It’s a busy road so not the most peaceful section of the hike but there was a geocache to find along there. We did come across a few mountain bikers but it was clear this trail system was above our skill set. Once we turned back to the north, we got far enough from the road to have it be consider a peaceful hike. We had read that one of the trails in Robles Pass had a really neat crested saguaro along it,  but we weren’t positive which trail it was on or even if it was one of the trails we were hiking. But that knowledge did force us to stop periodically and scan the hundreds of saguaros to see if we could spot the one in question. We occasionally got some decent distance views of the snow capped mountains beyond Tucson. 

Curve-billed Thrasher

Snow Capped Mountains Over Tucson

Name That Car

A little over 2 miles into the hike we have a decision to make. Go left onto Sunset Pass Trail or go right and take 360 Vista Trail. We had planned to take the more strenuous route along the later trail and were feeling good enough to go for it. From the top of this trail, we have an excellent view of Cat Mountain. I still get chills looking at this mountain’s profile and think that I managed to climb to the top. As we worked our way back towards the car, I spotted what looked like a giant crested saguaro. At first I thought it was going to be on our trail but as we got closer, I realized it was actually on Sunset Pass Trail below us. When we got to the place where these two trail intersected again, we decided it was worth the extra mileage to get a closer view of this cactus. It’s definitely one of the more elaborate samples of one of these mutations we have seen in the area. This hike was definitely a good one.

Trail Split

Great View of Cat Mountain

Crested Saguaro

With the cold and windy weather we have been experiencing this season in Tucson, we tended to go out for hikes when the weather was decent even if it meant hiking on back to back days. We picked an easy sounding trail back in Saguaro National Park called Cactus Wren Trail. It’s 3.9 miles but less than 200 feet of elevation change. There are a couple of trailheads for this loop hike but we just park along N Sandario Road near the intersection with West Manville Road. This has the shortest side trail to link up with the main trail. We head north to follow the trail in a clockwise direction.

Starting Out Trail

Ripening Fruit

Unusual Pattern in Saguaro

Another Thrasher

It is a pretty trail but not the most spectacular one in the area. There are plenty of saguaros and other cactus to check out and at times there are some decent distance views. There were very few people on this trail until we started to approach an area known as Signal Hill. There is a large parking area and many people were taking the short hike from parking to the top of this hill to see the views and look at some of the petroglyphs.

Lots of Arms

Saguaro Still Standing

Prolific Barrel Cactus

Petroglyph

The last 3/4 mile of the trail from our starting location was pretty much along a very sandy wash. It wasn’t the most pleasant portion of the hike but we survived it.

Sandy Wash Back to the Car