Two days after arriving in Tucson, champing at the bit for my first hike, I finally got out there for an early morning heart-pumper. The closest trailheads to our new digs on Copper and Campbell are a twenty minute drive to the end of Alvernon Way. There is a choice of three hikes here, the 8.8 mile Mount Kimball via Finger Rock Trail, the 5.8 mile Pontatoc Canyon Trail, and the 4.2 miles Pontatoc Ridge Trail. I chose the latter as I wanted to be back home in two hours. I had forgotten how challenging this trail is, with its rocky steepness. I was a bit slow starting out as I still wasn’t quite acclimated to the elevation, and I had’t been hiking in two years apart from a three-day 32-mile backpacking trip in the Lost Creek Wilderness in August. To get my time closer to two hours, and my pace under 30 minutes per mile, I foolishly picked up the pace on my return and twisted my ankle—possibly jeopardizing my hike up the challenging Blackett’s Ridge the following day.
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| Finger Rock closeup. |
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| Nearing the summit. |
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Finger Rock (barely visible).
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| Made it in almost two hours, but my pace was under 30 as I hiked an extra .3 miles due to an overgrown trail which I lost a couple of times. |
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