Hill and Dale: Douglas Spring Trail to Cow Head Saddle

Friday, December 21, 2018

Douglas Spring Trail to Cow Head Saddle

Finally tackled a hike with some distance yesterday, over 17 miles out and back, and 3,700+ feet of elevation gain. I will admit, at the end of the day, I was a more than a bit knackered, but today I feel just fine.

I recently discovered, thanks to my Canadian hiking pal Jack, that the secret to getting beyond 10 miles on a hike is carrying enough water; and the best way to do that, again according to Jack, is with a hydration backpack. So now I have this wonderful Vaude 25 liter backpack, with a three-liter Platypus hydration bladder, that allows me to carry up to five liters of water; previously I could only carry two. More on that on a later post.

I’ve hiked much of this trail before, at least the 12.4 miles round trip to Douglas Spring Campground. That was perhaps 15 years ago. This time I wanted to push on to Cow Head Saddle, where the Tanque Verde Ridge, Cow Head Saddle, and Douglas Spring trails all converge. The next challenge will be to hike the Douglas Spring trail out and take the Tanque Verde Ridge trail back. For that, however, we’ll need a car at each trail head. Next month, perhaps.

Started out at 27º at 8 am. By the time I finished the hike mid-afternoon, the temperature was 74º.

Beautiful crisp, clear, blue day.

Looking back west to Tucson.

I would soon leave the cacti behind.

This hike would take me well up into the Rincons, the range to the east of Tucson.

Douglas Spring Campground is pretty minimalist, with fewer than half a dozen camping spots, a hitching post, and an outhouse.

Great spot for a needed break.

Water filling station. These springs are potable once you filter out the giardia, and other parasites.

The trail, unused as it is, grew tangled with scrub oak, manzanita, and juniper. Much more overgrowth and I'd have to bushwhack my way through.

A sad totem to the horrific fire that swept through the area in 1989.

Looking north to the Santa Catalinas.

One final hump.

My lunch spot, looking north on the Cow Head Saddle Trail.

This is the trail I'd lake to hike back on in the future. It would up the mileage to 20 out and back, and we'd need another car to get back to the Douglas Spring trailhead.