Circumstance brought me back to the Tucson area for an extended stay again. I used the opportunity to check out more places to hike. Southern Arizona and with the Saguaro Desert and the sky islands offers a multitude of places to stretch ones legs.
On previous trips to Saguaro National Park, I hiked the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail and the Loma Verde Trail both of which are accessed from the park loop drive. In the 1990’s the park was expanded by the addition of a couple of ranches on the south end of the park. This addition is accessed from the Loma Alta Trailhead off of Old Spanish Trail in the Rincon Valley. The valley takes its name from this prominent mountain, one of Arizona’s sky islands .
The main trail is an old ranch road. This road bisects the addition to the National Park and is three miles long making for a six mile round trip. For the area the trail is relatively level with only one medium size hill about half way through it.
The prickly pears come in purple as well as the standard green. The purple ones are used extensively in landscaping for the color contrast.
Near the beginning of the trail a one mile long spur, the Ridgeview Trail heads towards the base of Tanque Verde Ridge. This trail climbs nearly 400 feet to an overlook. The trail gives you a different perspective of the rock domes on the Tanque Verde Trail.
The trail seems flatter than it is on the way up. It’s only when you look back to the south that you realize that the reason your more tired than you should be is that you have climbed up a couple of hundred feet.
Near the end of the trail you are treated to a nice view of Rincon Mountain. This local landmark east of Tucson is over 8400 feet above sea level. On this day a little snow was visible near the summit from the previous nights rain event. The Tucson area has been experiencing an extreme drought over this winter and the light rainfall was welcomed.
A couple of puddles remained on the large slab of rock near the end of this trail. I hiked this area three times during my stay in Tucson and this was the only time it was cloudy.
After the two mile detour I was back on the main trail known as the Camp Hope Trail. This former ranch road connected two cattle watering stations. The main trail is also open to mountain biking and horses.
The first abandoned watering station is called Deer Camp and was formerly part of the Rocking K Ranch. These stations were established partially to provide get the widely scattered cattle a place to gather to make it easier to round them up.
At the one hill on the Camp Hope Trail erosion has uncovered the remains of juniper logs used to stabilize the old road.
I was told that this section of the national park has some of the largest saguaros around. Some of these guys were pretty impressive.
This is the largest one I came across. When I walked up to it, the top of my head (6 foot even) came only half way from the base to the bottom of the first arm. I’m guessing this guy was pushing forty feet tall and had at least twenty arms.
Two and a half miles in the Camp Hope Trail crosses the Arizona Trail. On one of my visits, I pushed north on this trail about one mile. This trail can be used to access Mica Mountain. A hike to this mountain, the highest point on the national park at 8,668 feet above sea level. This trek is an extreme hike involving a multiday 26 mile long round trip with a six thousand foot elevation gain. It is not on my bucket list.
Along the way I found evidence that something eats prickly pears. I’m assuming a desert tortoise with a mouth of steel.
Less than a quarter of a mile from were the trail exits the national park the remains of the second watering station, Camp Hope are found.
Camp Hope was on the X-9 Ranch before the National Park Service acquired the the property. The old wind mill blades made for a nice photo op.
At the park boundary a gate prevents cattle from wandering in. The hiking trail, The Arizona Trail continues on easements on private ranch lands.
I enjoyed hiking the south end of the east unit of Saguaro National Park. These trails are much quieter than those found closer to the visitor center and the saguaros are much bigger here. The relatively flatter hiking makes for a nice break from climbing steep ridges on my over hikes.
After checking out this hike, I decided to head to the west unit of the national park next.
