Linda Vista Loop Trail+

Still biding my time and hiking short, safe hikes while I wait for my hiking partner's return. In addition to my training walks 3-4 times a week, which don't have any rock scrambles or much in the way of elevation gain, there are short hikes in the area like this one that provide better hiking fitness training. If I have an hour to kill, the Linda Vista Loop is 5 minutes from the house and has some beautiful views looking east to the Santa Catalinas. This postage stamp of a hike is also quite rocky in spots, so I also get a little practice in ankle twist avoidance, not an insignificant skill to hone. This short hike is listed at 2.6 miles. I added another half mile more to maximize the hour I allotted myself. 

Another hot day—over 80º—but the sun was lower in the sky late in the afternoon, so that cut the intensity of the heat. Saw two young hikers descending from Pusch Peak, which they hiked toward but didn't ascend. I hiked that bear once previously, in December, 2018 with my Canadian pal, Jack (Jacques) and some folks from the University of Arizona. That hike is a genuine challenge in its very steep grade (2,000+ feet of gain over 1.5 miles), and also a great way to cover oneself with Teddy Bear Cholla spines.

Pusch Peak center-right, like a corporate Dem.

Still pretty green from last month's rains.

Cañada del Oro Trail

I was hoping to get in a short 5-10 mile hike in preparation for my upcoming 15-miler, but it was too hot today (for me) at 82 degrees, so I opted for a short, yet cooling bike ride up to Catalina State Park. The Cañada del Oro Trail adjacent to the Cañada del Oro Wash proved just the ticket. This trail is only 20 miles long, but connects to the 130-mile Tucson Loop Trail (see below), which circles the city. They have a great interactive trail map here. The Cañada del Oro trail is accessible fewer than 100 feet from our winter place in Oro Valley, so it's quite convenient. This was not a day to set records, obviously, especially considering I am decidedly out of biking shape because of a several month layoff. But I aim to get my biking and hiking legs back this winter, and have already improved on the hiking front. And the shoulder felt just fine on today's short ride.

Data from my watch, not the AllTrails App as usual.

More of the Santa Catalinas.

Tortolita Super Loop

We finally scheduled a longer hike (15-20 miles) as I've been a little cautious getting back to where we left things in February after my fall; I just ain't as fit as I was then with the 10-month layoff. We were planning on the 18-mile Seven Falls-Phone Line loop, which we last hiked in 2022, but my hiking partner Misty had a family emergency and had to head to Colorado for a bit. We had to scotch that hike as it is rather  isolated and not smart to hike solo with so few folks doing the back-country portion of the loop. I chose instead the 17-mile Tortolita Super Loop hike in the Tortolita Mountains in Marana, near Dove Mountain. This trail always gets a few mountain bikers and hikers, even in the loop’s apogee (and other nether regions away from the trailhead). Ironically, I met only two hikers all day, but did meet a couple mountain bikers in the afore-mentioned apogee, at about the nine-mile mark. 

The Tortolita Superloop is not an official name for this hike, but an abbreviated way of referencing a patchwork hike composed of most of the peripheral trails in the park. Easier than saying I hiked the Wild Burro-Lower Javelina-Alamo Springs-Ridgeline-Loop-Wild Mustang-Upper Javelina-Wild Burro Trails.

Saw some wildlife today, a couple of Javelinas having breakfast on some shrubs just as I began the hike, and a beautiful Gila Monster, mauve to match the color of the rocks and dirt where he resided. 

All-in-all a nice outing and, despite the hot weather (around 80º mid-hike), and I nearly managed to match my pace from the previous time I hiked this solo, in December of 2022. 

Two Javelinas at their morning repast.

Hard to capture just how rocky the trails are starting out and ending up, but they mellow out considerably after the climb up to the ridges.

The Ridgeline Trail lives up to its name. From here on, most of the trails were ridge-line or similar.

My Gila Monster. So uncalled-for to name these beautiful creatures monsters, especially since we have several actual monsters in the MAGA-verse.

Remnants of an old dam near Alamo Springs.

There is now a converted windmill (converted from wind to solar) to pump water into the water tank for grazing horses and cattle, of which there are few.

One of the cows near the water tank making a scarce showing.

Two miles to go, and boy were my dogs barking.

Garnet Trail

It was with a bit of trepidation that I chose the Garnet Trail for a strenuous hike that can be knocked out in a couple of hours. On the one hand, it has 1,500 feet of elevation gain and it’s only a little over four miles; on the other hand, most of that gain is in the last mile making for a very steep hike. Couple that with the rockiness, and the slippery talus in parts, and my caution, especially on the descents, was mingled with a palpable fear of falling; not sure if I could  stanch my instinct to catch myself with my right arm, the one attached to my newly bionic shoulder. I am sure I slowed down because of that fear. But since it's been seven months since the operation, I'm hoping this fear is unfounded. I was able to complete the hike in just under 2 hours, however, so I must be getting my leg and lung strength back from ten months of relative inactivity since my accident on February 10.

Temps in the 60s at the start, mid 70s at the end. Clear skies and nary a wisp of wind. Saw only five other hikers.

Finger Rock, top middle.

My destination, the flat formation tilting up to the left (north).

Old sigh revealing the fact that, until last year, the Garnet Trail was called the Pontatoc Ridge Trail.

A lot of greenery and flowers due to climate change. Even saw a lizard scurrying among the rocks. Neither of these phenomena are normal for December.

 

Finger Rock, Pontatoc Connector, & Pontatoc Trail Loop

Finally made it back to the Finger Rock trail to complete the loop with the new Pontatoc Connector. On a hike up the Finger Rock Trail to the Saddle in early January of this year, I espied a new trail being built that wended its way southwest down from Linda Vista Saddle toward the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. Two weeks later, Misty and I hiked the Pontatoc Canyon Trail in the hope of seeing where the new trail was headed. After hiking to the end of the canyon trail, we decided to cut cross country up and over a ridge line and sure enough, after about a mile or so, we came across some serious trail building, cordoned off to keep folks from tumbling down a cliff face and killing themselves. We went the other direction, up to the Linda Vista Saddle. It was then we decided to make this new loop one of the first hikes of the 2025-2026 season. It ended up being the third.

This new loop is best hiked clockwise so as to save ones knees from the extremely rocky, steep, and frankly dangerous Finger Rock Trail. Let me say straight off, the Finger Rock Trail to the Saddle is a real burner, with over 2,500 rocky feet of elevation gain squeezed into two miles, with steep stretches of smooth granite slabs strewn with loose gravel that are not for the faint of heart, especially when wet. Descending the new connector is a real godsend, and makes for a great hike where the hard bits are front-loaded, and that last stretch comparatively free of steps and craggy rocks.

Beautiful clear day, highs in the low sixties with this cold spell. Saw only three other hikers and four trail builders working for a private firm hired by the National Forest Service, and apparently not cut by the fascist morons in the present administration. They thanked us for using the trail and they were the ones who needed to be thanked, and we did.

Finger Rock, after which this trail is named. Oddly, other hikers are always asking questions like, did you make it to Finger Rock. But the trail goes no where near the Finger. One would have to cut across a canyon and climb it using mountaineering gear. Seldom done that I know of.

Misty setting a great pace.

Love the smoothness of the new connector.

One of the trail builders we saw, mostly building in trail elements to check erosion. and also to keep folks safe.

These rocks are blocking the way toward the terminus

of the apparently now-defunct Pontatoc Canyon Trail

which we hiked a final time last January 21.

 

Back in the Linda Vista Saddle—via the Pontatoc Connector

Finally made it back to the Linda Vista Saddle (left) after visiting last season and seeing a potential alternate route back to the Finger Rock trailhead besides the Finger Rock Trail itself. 

While on a solo hike in January, enjoying a rest in the saddle after the strenuous hike up the Finger Rock trail, I noticed what looked like some trail development down below, toward Pontatoc Canyon. 

Two weeks later, my hiking partner Misty and I decided to check it out from the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. About two miles in on that trail, we decided to cut due west, thus violating my standard principal of no bushwhacking. After some serious cross country scrambling to the tune of a mile-and-a-half or so, we did indeed run into a new trail, one in the arduous process of being constructed. Based on the amount of work that had already been done, we figured it was just a matter of months before this new loop trail would be completed. We planned to front load this new route the following hiking season. Well, that is now. Unfortunately, Misty is currently in Colorado, and since I didn't want to do the loop without her, my friend Jack and I instead hiked the new connector as an out-and-back. And let me say, it was a lung and leg burner. 

Weather was perfect, highs around 70º, very little wind, and clear skies. This route is in the sun most of the day. Saw a few other folks, most of whom were hiking the loop clockwise as is preferred since hiking down Finger Rock can be a bit nerve-wracking.

Brand spanking new signs make the trail official. The former Pontatoc Ridge Trail has been renamed the Garnet Trail; the Pontatoc Canyon Trail is no longer, replaced by the Pontatoc Trail (the connector).

About a mile in (0.8 mi) we reach the sight of the former Pontatoc Canyon Trail sign, replaced by the new reality, a new sign announcing a new route up to where the Finger Rock Trail meets the Linda Vista Saddle.

Jack, marveling at how Tucson was starting to resemble L.A. It wasn't meant as a compliment. Yes, that is smog today.

The newly build trail from which we ascended, and were now descending.