Redington Pass

This day trip was a spontaneous trip I came up with in the morning.  I needed an excuse to head out to Tucson, with my two RV dogs and a truck load of cardboard, and off I was at 11am.  I should have left three hours earlier, as it got hot fast, but I tend to delay departures.  This was a great way to keep the dogs cool and still give them short walks.

My plan was to check out road condition over the pass, see if any of the waterfalls were running, and to find the trailhead for Chiva falls, a hike I'd like to do when it's cooler.  I knew 100F was by no means ideal for human or dog; simply spotting the trailhead and then knowing where it is was good enough for me.

I had an early lunch at Serial Grillers off Houghton.   I had been to the location on Speedwayn Blvd in Tucson years ago with Lynda and liked it; it's a local pizza-burger beer bar with nice ambiance and a dog-friendly pation.

 I was hit with the heat as soon as I got out of the truck.  My truck said 104F. Ohmygod, it was like a sauna.  It was a bit cooler under the shaded patio.  Definitely not a day for hiking.

Once I dropped off the cardboard, I was off  to Redington Pass, the extension of Tanque Verde Blvd to the east as it traverses the Rincon hills.  The road now is named Redington Road. This is my first time traversing it, although I've been along Cascabel Road with Kevin several times.  Redington Road ends at Cascabel Road to the east, after 23 miles dirt miles. Part of that area is lost in time.

I had no luck finding the Tanque Verde trail from the trailhead and it was too hot to explore it for very long.  The dogs didn't seem to mind, but I'm sure they would have been hurting from the hot trail for longer exposure.  The trail isn't well marked.  I'll do a better job on my next visit.  I did find several trashed areas by targetshooters, though.

Then I wanted to find Chiva falls and again I failed at this.  Again it's not marked off the main road, FR371.  Again I failed to take better notes before leaving home as there was no cell phone coverage here.  Most of the trails are old mining roads that are now OHV trails and many of those are on State Trust Land.  This is especially true east of the pass.  Many of these trails are unmarked. Some of those trails look enticing, as they wrap around hill sides to unknown destinations.

The temperature never cooled down.  I stopped several times to let the dogs out and explore short trails, such as the Arizona Trail which crosses the pass.  Dark clouds were now forming in the Southeast in mid afternoon.  No storms were predicted for today, but I've learned that can always change with little notice.

I saw very few cars parked anywhere.  One ATV passed me and I saw two male campers off the main road, but otherwise this was a quiet, desolate ride.  This is not the place to have a vehicular break-down.The AC was on full blast for the entire ride and I was deep in thought, missing Kevin and all the other things I loved that are no longer with me

This is beautiful country and pure wilderness.  I saw the north end of Rincon and Mica peaks.  Around me was desert chaparral of prickly pear, small oaks, dead grass.  Despite recent rains the grass looked parched.  It wasn't until I got to the east side of the foothills and could see the verdant San Pedro River valley.  It was already 4:30pm and later than expected.

I made it to Cascabel Road  by 5pm.  I had 32 miles to go to the south, but now the clouds were getting darker and moving my way.  Recent rains had fallen here, but the dirt was mostly dry except in the washes that crossed the road.  "Do not cross if flooded" said several signs along the way. I realized I had to travel fast as the rain was moving my way.  I didn't stop or slow down to take photographs of an area once farmed by the Apache.  I just wanted to get on solid pavement before the storm.  I was glad now that I didn't hike any longer on any of the trails!

A heavy rain engulfed me a few miles north of reaching pavement, 15 miles north of Benson.  Cows were drinking water from puddles in the road surface.  The road is now named Pomerene road and goes into the town of Benson, a  town built by the railroad in the late 19th century but which never grew into a big town.  It's still a small town of a mere 5100 along I-10.

I was glad to be off the dirt road.  It was now 6:30pm and the low sun was casting nice colors over the storm clouds.  It had stopped raining now long enough to walk the dogs along the railroad park in the downtown area, an area of about seven blocks.  Most of the new growth is south of town along SR90, but Benson doesn't seem to try hard to offer much to tourists.  It's just a nice travel spot for weary drivers.

I made it home by 8pm, stopping at JackInTheBox for tacos and chicken nuggets for the dogs.  I hope they appreciated the "cool ride" today, because I managed close to 200 miles in one big loop.