Gunsight Pass a second time

Today was the perfect Arizona winter day for a repeat hike in the Santa Ritas.  Seven people from the local meetup attended:  Galen and wife Sunny, SteveT and Trace, SteveD, SusanM, TheresaD, Zeke and I.  We met at the Pizza Hut Bistro and carpooled in two cars.  Susan rode with me and we later picked up SteveT in Whetstone, whereas Theresa rode with Galen, Sunny and SteveD.  This was Theresa's first hike with us.  She moved down here from Montana four years ago but had been too busy taking care of elderly neighbors to hike much.

 

The turn-off to Helvetia Road/FR231 is almost 13 miles north of Sonoita on  AZ83, just south of a west-side pullover.  I initially drove past FR231, but once on the road, drove right up to the parking spot from last week.  There were far fewer campers out this weekend, most likely due to the cold front that swept through  starting on Thursday.  Today's high was only 55F. The sky was overcast and grey and it even looked like it was going to rain later (it didn't).  I wore my red windbreaker from the start and never took it off.

SteveT and I were the only ones who had been in this area before.  This was all new to the others.  Susan said the area was more pretty than in the photos.  Theresa was energized, SteveD enjoyed the uphill grade, and Galen was anxious to get to the ridgeline to explore for minerals.  Only Sunny seemed unimpressed.  Granted, walking past exposed mine diggings isn't the greatest, but the mines weren't the destination.  It was Gunsight Pass.  This pretty ridgeline will be closed off entirely once the Canadian-owned Rosemont Mine begins its open-pit mining operations.  (Whenever that will be!)

We walked up FR4051 in a northeasterly direction, just as we did last week.  But instead of turning north on FR4834, we stayed on FT4051 for a more direct approach to the pass and for bypassing the tricky bushwhack from last week that trailed perilously along a steep rocky edge.   Today's hike was all on forest roads except for the rock scrambling at the pass.  We came back the same way on FR4051, for a total of 6.46 miles that took us 4:13 hours.  This was 22 minutes faster than last weekend.  We didn't waist time debating on which route to take,  the route I took was the most direct.

Everyone agreed to have lunch at Tia Rita's afterward.  We got there at 1:45pm and every table was occupied.  The place  only has eight tables; if they took out the two pool tables, there would be more room.  We stood around at the bar, ordered a round, and waited for Anita to clear the tables.  She seemed more short-tempered today than last Sunday, and I'm not sure she recognized me.  She apologized for the wait, saying Sundays are usually quiet days until after 3pm. It took us over an hour to get our food, but everyone said they really like their meal.  SteveT and I shared a  vegetarian medley called "Dirty Hippy" pizza (same one I had last week).  The spicy sauce is the secret to a tasty pizza.

All photos by SusanM.