Total Length 8.6 miles
Highest Elevation: 9080 feet
Lowest Elevation: 7280 feet
Today's valley heat hit me hard. I had no drive to do anything, although I had my mind set on driving into Tucson to explore the northern mountain ranges and recon the Wilderness of Rocks trail there. This is a trail that loops south around Mount Lemmon (9147'). Dogs are allowed. It's a hike I want to lead for the club.
Sadie and I didn't leave the house until 11:30am, in the heat, and didn't get to the trail head until 2:12pm. She looked exhausted from the heat herself. What annoyed her more is that I made her carry her HoundPack with water and treats while I remained packless. All I carried on myself was my Canon.
I followed the excellent trail report from the Tucson Sierra Club:
http://arizona.sierraclub.org/trail_guide/HIKE1.HTM
This report was right on about elevation and distance, but one major update needed to be added: the Aspen Fire of 2003 burned 84,750 acres of this wilderness, destroyed the mountaintop village of Summerhaven and killed off most of the trees in the upper elevations. There were still a lot of downed trees along this route and a lot of exposed areas in the areas marked off as the Catalina Wilderness.
The downed trees slowed me down quite a bit during the descent, and Sadie was more cautious than normal following me. These weren't small trees to jump over, but mature Douglas firs that required climbing over or crawling through. I took her off-leash to make the tree-hopping easier on her; the dragging leash got stuck a few times on downed tree branches.
I almost turned around because there were too many downed trees on this steep downhill, but the scenery around me kept me going. The ground was covered in mica glistening in the sun. Lemmon Rock was the prominent landmark that never left my view. I am glad I didn't abort this hike as it got prettier the lower in elevation I got. The major trails I took were the Mount Lemmon Trail, the Lemmon Rock trail, Wilderness of Rocks trail back up the Lemmon Trail, finishing with the Meadow trail.
Parts of this hike reminded me of the Chiricahua National Monument's Heart-o-Hearts trail: the spectacular rock formations along the trail were mesmerizing. Pines and manzanitas, oaks and aspens grew along this route, sometimes in tight cracks in the rocks. The forest is healing after that devastating 2003 fire, but the peaks will remain denuded for a while. Groves of young aspens are taking over parts of the northern slopes, now towering a good ten feet, but it will take another generation for the thick canpies to return.
Many more trees since the 2003 fire have been toppled from high winds, or broke in half like pencils from having been weakened by the initial fire. Old ash still covered parts of the trail, and many of the mature firs were charred near the trunks but still alive.
I met nine people on this hike. The first couple was ascending at 3pm as I was going down. Behind them were two groups of four and two, both with dogs, then a single man with a dog, and finally another couple hiking the trail as a shuttle hike. Otherwise this was a quiet and picturesque hike, just as described in the trail report.
I had no map with me. I went by the notes I scribbled down on an envelope. I was just concerned with which trails I had to turn on. If it hadn't been for the late afternoon's waning sun I would have taken my time and rested more near Lemmon Creek so that Sadie could relax. Instead, I took two five-minute breaks near water and trekked on.
I didn't see much wildlife during the entire hike. Three deer crossed our path but Sadie didn't mind. A few birds flew overhead. The later it got the more worried I was about meeting bears or big cats, especially near the creek, as Sadie seemed fascinated about the trail's scents.
What I did relish was not worrying about running into illegal border crossers or drug smugglers. I felt safe with just Sadie with me.
The last couple I met, two men with two German shepherd mixed dogs, told me I had a five-mile ascent ahead of me. "After another half-mile it's all dry from there" said one man. That was fine with me as I hadn't broken into our water bottles yet.
I made it to the Mount Lemmon trail at 4:58pm. I was now on the ascending ridge line with breath-taking vistas to the south and Tucson. I recognized Sabino Canyon and a few prominent rock formations. There was much exposed area here as I entered the old burn zone, but the waning sun made this exposure more tolerable. In fact, my timing on this hike was nearly perfect as my late start allowed me to avoid the harshest sun of the day. My only downside was that I had no time to spare. Any injury or missed trail would have gotten me lost and I had no emergency gear on me. My only salvation at this point was the excellent cell phone reception on Mount Lemmon and my Casio Pathfinder watch that shows compass direction, temperature and altitude (a hiker's toy!). The more I climbed, the more I saw rock gnomes and other critters jump out at me from the various interesting rock formations. I knew that I was showing early signs of dehydration, but didn't stop for water. I had to beat the setting sun.
I did amazingly well on the ascent. My lungs weren't burning me much and I stopped only to check on Sadie or to take photographs of the valley, now slowly turning to reds and purples as the sun faded from the horizon. We got to the rather nondescript peak of Mount Lemmon at 6:30pm as the wind picked up and more tree-hopping was required. Before the 2003 fire there was no view from this peak as it was covered in Douglas firs. Now the peak is a dead zone of down firs and young aspens resurrecting a new landscape further north and lower in elevation. The new green really shimmered in the low sun.
I didn't diverge from the trail write-up and remained on the Meadow Trail which took me to the burned peak of Mount Lemmon. This trail would have been difficult to follow in the dark as most of this trail wasn't touched by that devastating fire. A few old snow mounds remained in the shaded north slopes as we re-entered the mature forest and existed again near a fenced-off military test area.
There were three cars left in the parking lot as we arrived at 7:08pm, four minutes from a five-hour hike. Sadie had sprinted ahead and was anxious to get back inside the SUV...just as the cold wind began to pick up. Perfect timing! My body was more chilled than I realized; my fingers began to tingle on the drive back down the mountain with the night skyline of Tucson growing larger as we descended.
Had I left home three hours earlier for this hike I would have driven to the new REI in town which opened Friday at the Tucson Mall, but it was 8:15pm when I got back down to Tanque Verde Parkway, Udall Park and the eastern edges of the city. That didn't allow me enough time to drive across town to look at stuff I can get cheaper on-line.
Tucson was hopping. This time I didn't make my usual stops at Trader Joe's or Bookman's. I barely stopped for dinner.
I ate a half-chicken meal at Chuy's and gave Sadie my leftovers which she devoured happily before we started our drive home. We arrived home at 11:30pm. Sadie peed before going inside and slept soundly until 4:45am when she woke me up for her next pee. She normally doesn't last more than four hours between needing to go outside or wanting food.
I am glad I explored this hike. According to the Sierra club rating, I hiked this trail at the advanced level of five hours. With club members and the usual breaks we take, this would be at least a seven-hour hike. An early departure from SV and a trail head start NLT than 10am would be necessary.
Today's peak adds another summit to Sadie's accomplishments. Here is an update:
Mount Taylor, NM: 11301'
Whitewater Baldy, NM: 10895'
Sacagawea Peak, MT: 9665'
Medicine Wheel, WY: 9642'
Miller Peak, AZ: 9466' (2x)
Mount Wrightson, AZ: 9453'
Carr Peak, AZ: 9237' (4x)
Mount Lemmon, AZ 9147'
Hyalite Lake, MT: 8875'
Harney Peak, SD: 7244'
I hope to add Arizona's tallest peak, Humphrey's peak at 12643', next month.
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