I took all the dogs on a quick 1.5-mile hike before taking off with Zeke to Tucson. While I wanted a weekend of solitude, today's hike was with Steve and his dog Trace. I stopped by his place and we drove in separate cars to the first hike in the northeast side of Tucson. We drove separately because he had to drive back to his place afterwards. And because of this, when we got to Houghton Road, the most eastern major north-south road in the greater Tucson area, Steve parked his car in the southern Walmart parking lot and rode the rest of the way with me. This way he saved gas driving another 16 miles one way to the trailhead.
We got to the trailhead at 12:40. The trailhead is on a residential street and there were plenty of cars out. It was a perfect day for this hike, with temps in the upper 60s. There are no signs indicating that this is the way to the canyon. One simply must know it's there. This is why I like the Alltrails app so much: the directions to trailheads is accurate.
The first 0.6 mile is straight east. Dogs were on their leashes until we got to the single track. Most hikers seem to take the northern route out and back. We crossed the Agua Caliente creek at the mile mark and then quickly ascended among the saguaro up the big hill. Steve kept a steady pace and I made sure I had him in sight. He doesn't do well on uphills. And while I had done this loop once before many years ago with the hiking club, I remembered nothing from this southern loop at all. All I remember were the scenic vistas and drops into the canyons. There is plenty of up and down on this hike.
After the second mile there is also water for the dogs, beginning at a creek near the top of the first hill, and then a stock pond that both dogs enjoyed. There were plenty of other dog walkers out today.
The high point on this hike is the first big ridge and hill. From there one can see both canyons and the glistening water trickling from the creek beds. The trail that continues on to Agua Caliente Hill, tomorrow's hike, is also here. From this cairn intersection, the loop trail goes downhill to the creek for the next mile, meandering slowly down. I remembered this being a watering hole, but perhaps we weren't along the creek far enough. Water was shallow and easily forded. If we hadn't had such a late start, resting here for an hour would have been ideal, but we had two hours of daylight left and three miles to go. At the pace we were going, we would make it back to the pavement at sunset (5:34pm)
The northern section of this loop is lower in elevation. Hiking this loop counter-clockwise was a wise decision on Steve's part, as this section was easier on all of us. There was also more water for the dogs. This section dipped briefly into the creek before rising up a second time, before finally descending into the neighborhood. Other hikers and mountain bikers were also rushing back before dark.
I had been ahead of Steve the entire hike, stopping or slowing down to allow him to catch up. But on the last stretch, where the singletrack becomes a wide dirt road, I did not make sure he was still behind me. He made a turn to the south and crossed the creek again. He should have stayed west on the wide path. This error delayed us by 15 minutes, which meant we got back to the Honda at 6:20pm. The good thing from this was witnessing a nice sunset. My car was the last car on the street.
Steve wanted to treat me to a birthday meal, so I suggested Hops and Grill, a sports bar/ beer pub on Houghton and Broadway. This way we wouldn't need to drive another 15 miles back into Tucson. There are plenty of good restaurants on Tucson's east side and I had been to the Hops and Grill before and had a positive experience.
Tonight the sports bar was busy, though, although it wasn't as loud as it could have been for a Saturday night. I had a Mushroom Chicken sandwich and three beers, while Steve had a bland-looking order of nachos that only had ground beef and jalapenos and fake orange cheese in it. It had no pico de gallo, the picante sauce that really give nachos its zest.
We were at the Hops and Grill for 90 minutes. I was full now and despite the three beers, feeling fine. Steve and I went our separate ways by 9pm and I didn't even leave the Walmart parking lot until after 10pm
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