Tuscon's Catalina Highway

I have a four-day holiday now for President's day.  What a great excuse to make it a day trip to Tucson to drop off the recyclables  and hike the Milagrosa trail.  I hadn't been on that trail in years and wanted to share the views with Steve, who willingly came along for the exercise, company, and another attempt at beer tasting a local brewery.

Heavy rains that were forecasted for today came last night and then ended by daybreak.  We never got the heavy rains in Hereford, but flash floods were forecasted for Tucson.   The north and northeast sides of Tuscon face arroyos and washes that come off the Catalina and Rincon mountains from the north and east, causing flash floods.  Steve and I agreed to watch the Tucson weather forecast for possible changes to our travel plans.

I was up early.  At 5am the sky was covered in rain clouds and very dark and windy.  Two hours later sunlight poked through and the rain and wind had stopped.  Time to get going!

We got to Desert Metal Recycling by 8:30.  I grossed a grand total of $12 for 32 pounds of aluminum cans, enough to cover the breakfast at Taco Giro an hour later.  This is a Phoenix chain with good food and slow service.  The Huevos Rancheros were excellent!  The restaurant is a block east of the Catalina Highway, where we needed to go.

We left for the hike up Milagrosa Canyon after 10:30.  The trailhead parking is in an upscale residential neighborhood at the gated corner of Horsehead and Suzenu Roads.  Hikers can walk around the gate. 

I found the trailhead rather effortlessly, but had to drive around a few blocks because of street flooding on Snyder.  This proved futile because two hikers coming back to their cars warned us of heavy floods across the major wash on the way to the trailhead.  We hiked the half mile on Horseshead Road only to be stopped by flood waters.  I do not like floodwaters.  Even thinking of attempting this with two dogs was out of the question.  So back to the Honda we hiked.

"At least we got 1.2 miles in," I said half in jest.  "That's a good warm-up."

Now where to?  There aren't too many dog-friendly trails in the area except up the Catalina Highway toward Mount Lemmon.  There are several social trails off rest-stop view points I showed him, and even they proved futile.  At least we got out and walked around to gawk at the water, as many other Tucsonans were also doing.

There was rushing water through Molino Basin and higher up at Marshall Gulch, forcing us to turn around.  We stopped several times for short jaunts, but short jaunts are better than no jaunts at all.   I hadn't seen this much water in and around Tucson since 2005.

This was Steve's first visit up the highway, so it was no lost cause.  There was some residual snow
in the resort town of Summerhaven and higher, but nothing that stopped us from exploring the Gulch.  The road to the trailhead was closed for the season, but hikers can go through.  Marshall Gulch is a nice three-mile loop through a deciduous forest, but the initial climb up through the forest may turn many people away.  There were plenty of downed trees on the lower loop, so we just stayed on the pavement.  This was another 1.6 miles.  Two more groups of hikers were starting out as we got back to the Honda.

It was a pretty drive nonetheless so this wasn't a wasted drive up the mountain.   Water was coming down the cliffs at every chance. The views are always worth it and now Steve can scratch the Catalina Highway off his bucket list.

We topped the day with a short visit to Sentinel Peak Brewing where we sat at the bar and ordered one beer each.  The place had no porters on the menu and the food list looked overpriced, but we both liked the set-up.  Not quite hungry, I then suggested stopping at Barrio Brewing across town.  My last time there was years ago with Sadie and I enjoyed the dining experience very much.  It was 62F outside, pleasant enough to dine on the dog-friendly patio.  I had a Diane burger (mushrooms, onions, Swiss cheese) with a Mocha Java Stout and Steve had a Reuben sandwich with an IPA.  The food and beer were as good as before.  I would have had a Jefeweizen or Porter, but I had already had my two beer limit.

I drove 244 miles today and it didn't seem that much. It would be 180 miles without all the around town driving.  I hope to get back to Tucson soon to hike Milagrosa under less flooded conditions. but more storm rains are due in next week.  That is such a pretty hike, and one feels like one is in the Grand Canyon, with the river far below.