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. 

Wasson via Sweetwater Trail 25.1

It has been over nine months since my previous and ill-fated hike in these very same Tucson Mountains on the western edge of Tucson. That hike was on Golden Gate Mountain, a slippery scree-covered chunk of granite that proved my undoing. 

I had surgery on Cinco de Mayo and six weeks after began my interminable physical therapy to try to regain some of the mobility in my right shoulder. It has been slow, and I am continuing weekly physical therapy and dry needling sessions. I will never regain all of my previous mobility; that is impossible with RTSA (Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty), but hope one day to again hike Picacho Peak, as well as other challenging hikes that require upper-body strength. 

Thankfully, Wasson Peak is no such hike. While there is substantial elevation gain, one needs only strong legs and lungs, and balance enough to navigate rocky switchbacks—and I apparently still possess those—even after recently completing my 69th solar orbit. My 2.9 mph pace was the same as last year and the year before that…

I have been using Wasson as a first and last hike of the season for a few years now, and I am glad I got this one in the books. I wasn't sure about two miles in if I could make it to the top, after a little fatigue and wobbly legs, but I got stronger as I climbed. Today I feel few ill effects of yesterday's outing—a great sign. 

Great temps in the high sixties to begin, a bit of wind from the NW, but mostly obstructed as our route climbs up the SE side of Wasson. Saw only three hikers, one chap finishing up our hike (only other car in the trailhead parking lot), and a couple descending who were on the King Canyon Trail route which ends at a trailhead across the road from the Desert Museum.

I was joined by my Michigander pal Jack who, at 13 years my junior and very fit, was a welcomed companion (and measure of my own fitness).

Looking northwest toward the Santa Catalinas.

(Photo by Jack Byers)

Jack.

Front Window

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Now for a tortured segue between my last post—from February 10—and today’s. Last time out I reported completing the final seven miles of my fourteen mile hike a là Napoleon, hand tucked in my shirt trying to minimize the jostles that sent a shock of pain through my shoulder. I left that prior post at the Tucson VA emergency room. All I got out of that experience was an X-ray and a suggestion I come back in a week or

so for a follow-up. I wasn’t able to get a much-needed MRI until March 7, nearly a month later probably because I was away from the Des Moines VA and my primary care doc. What they discovered on the MRI was not pretty, an inoperable rotator cuff, with four torn tendons, two massively and retracted beyond their respective bones, and the word abnormal as a final descriptor. 

After I returned to DesMoines mid-March, the VA helped me get seen by Iowa Ortho and a doctor I requested. Seemed the only way forward was to have a procedure called a reverse total shoulder replacement; the injury from the fall was so bad there was absolutely no other choice. 

My surgery, performed by a Dr. Khoriaty from Michigan State University happened on May 5. I was under the knife by 6:30 in the am, and out by 9:00 am. I felt no pain until midnight, when the nerve block wore off; I never caught a single Z that first night the pain was so intense. 

But now, back home and beginning recovery, I thought, what to do for the next six months? This procedure requires being in an immobilizer sling 24/7 for six weeks and six months to a year of rehab. So what to do to occupy my time? For some reason I thought of Jimmy Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic 1954 film Rear Window. Stewart plays a famous photojournalist injured while on assignment who finds himself apartment bound for several months. Jimmy’s character props himself in front of the rear window of his flat to engage in a little snooping on his back courtyard. I similarly built myself a comfy little nest on our front porch, to engage in a little voyeurism a là Jimmy Stewart. Short of manifesting a possible murder, to fret about like Gladys Kravitz, I decided to resurrect the Ministry of Silly Walks I set up during the pandemic in 2020. Everyone in the neighborhood was home with their kids at the onset, and I had read of someone on the East Coast who set up silly walk signs in front of their home to the delight of neighbors and the local press. So I set about making my own Ministry. That attempt involved a sign printed on 8”x11” paper, stuffed inside a Ziplock bag, and stapled to a 2”x2” post and pounded into the ground. I placed a sign on either end of the front sidewalk and before the end of the day, the signs became a destination, for parents and their fidgety kids, and even just for antsy adults needing a fun  little distraction. 

In 2022, we did some serious landscaping of our front yard involving retaining walls and gardening terraces. After the dust settled, I was queried by passersby almost daily as to when I was going to put my Ministry of Silly Walks signs back up. Then I got it in my mind to have some professional metal signs made up and installed on serious metal posts. It was easier than I thought after I discovered Smart Sign out of Brooklyn NY. I had my custom sign made up on heavy aluminum stocks, with 3M reflective lettering, made up and shipped for free in three short days. Ordered a couple of posts and had my signs put up within a week, finishing on quatro de Mayo, one day before my surgery. All I needed to do was set up my motion detecting camera and voilà, just like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, I was able to monitor the perambulations right outside my front window. And lest you think this a little creepy, know that the resolution of the cameras is low enough to allay any privacy concerns as is evident from the short clips below.

Ministry of Silly Walks Clips (newest first)

(New)

This whole family gets into it, with mom recording the silliness. 

One of these two gents is pretty unabashed in his silly walking.

These two older gents (probably my age, who am I kidding) seem to like this stretch of sidewalk, and make this a weekly event.

Mother coaxing her daughter to be even sillier.

A couple of millennials on a midday lark.

This guy has it going on coming and going.

 

Tucson VA ER via Golden Gate Mountain and the David Yetman Trail

 

Yes, you probably read that wrong; Tucson VA ER is not a trail, but rather the emergency room at the Tucson VA Medical Center, which I graced today after yesterday’s incident. I went to a local urgent care last night, but they suggested I get in for an x-ray and maybe even an MRI. Nothing life-threatening, to be sure, but a very painful experience. The elevation spike in the hike profile you see is partially involved. 

This was the second hike in a row where I added a mountain summit to an otherwise moderate David Yetman hike with little elevation gain spread over its 12 miles. 10 days ago I added Golden Gate's shorter brother Bren Peak to the hike; today Misty and I added a climb up the very steep Golden Gate Mountain, 1,300 feet of gain in a little over a half mile. That steepness and a hillside of craggy rocks and slippery scree were the perfect ingredients for a fall. And fall I did on the descent, prompted by loose rocks and gravel, I went down hard and managed to whack my already ailing right shoulder. The pain was intense and I re-injured it a few more times on the six remaining miles, whenever I tripped even slightly. I'm sure I looked like Napoleon (without the complex of course) with my hand shoved inside my shirt as a makeshift sling.

There were signs that maybe the Tucson Mountain Park folks didn't support this as an official trail, even though it clearly has been used as one. For starters, there is a pile of rocks where it diverges perpendicularly from the David Yetman trail to discourage its use; the park people haven't done any trail upkeep; and there is alternate and official Golden Gate Mountain trail which goes around and slightly up, but no where near the summit. 

Today's hike was closer to a bushwhack than a normal, sanctioned hike, and I don't believe in bushwhacking. We humans have way too much access to park areas that should be left alone to other animals. So no, I won't be returning to hike this scoff-law trail, but will instead support the one mapped out by the good park folks.

Nice weather overall, with a little overcast keeping it from feeling all of the 60-70 degrees. And despite the steep climb, the accident, and the 6-mile Napoleonic exit out, we still managed a somewhat decent pace of 2.5 mph for the 14 miles.

A small herd of young white-tailed deer came out to greet us today. They seemed quite unfazed by us.

David Yetman's western trailhead at the Gate's Pass parking lot, six miles east from the Camino de Oeste trailhead where we began the hike.

The official Golden Gate Trail, about 0.4 miles in from the 

Yetman Trailhead. Our trail is about a tenth of a mile further 

on down.

The official trail (in teal) doesn't really climb so much as circumnavigate the lower reaches of the mountain and comes no where near the summit as one can see. The unofficial trail is about 0.5 miles in from the David Yetman Trailhead.

Golden Gate offers stunning mountain views, really, with lots of contrast with the teddy bear cholla (white-tinged green) and the saguaros agains the red and brown backdrop.

The view from the Golden Gate summit, looking across the way at Bren Peak below the view of the Santa Catalina Range.

A closer view of Bren from further down the mountain on our descent.

Bren Peak Via The David Yetman Trail

 

I love the David Yetman Trail, a decidedly easy & relaxing 12.5 mile out-and-back in the wonderful Tucson Mountain Park. I most recently hiked it last January. The only aspect of the hike I've found lacking is the minimal elevation gain. Today I remedied that by adding a little 2.5 mile loop around Bren Mountain, with a side trip to the summit. I also lopped off the final mile to and from the Gate's Pass parking lot for a cool 14 miles, and a more respectable 2,000 feet of gain—700 of which was the 0.6 mile vertical scramble to the tippy-top.

And at the tippy-top, who did I meet but a fellow Iowan and her hiking pal, now both living in Arizona: Debbie from Iowa and Ken from Connecticut. They are both obviously strong hikers and from what Debbie said Ken, like me, has a penchant for long hikes.

Beautiful weather today. I waited later than normal to start (~10:30 am) as it was a bit too chilly at 8:00. Clear skies all day, with temps topping out at 65º by hike's end shortly after 3:30.

The trail starts out a little rocky, but soon gives way to undulating gravel and packed dirt. 

The historic Bowen House. This is only a mile in from the eastern trailhead, and is usually clogged with bipeds snapping pics, especially on weekends. Today I just slid past.

A mini Teddy Bear Cholla forest. Don't let these cuties fool you; get too close and they might end up attacking.

Lots of Saguaros as Tucson Mountain Park also resides in Saguaro National Park West.

The Bren summit, and Ken signing the book. The actual peak is right next door across a slight saddle, so of course we had to add that to the hike before descending, Deb and Ken clockwise and me counter-clockwise so as to get in my loop.

Debbie from Des Moines (Urbandale).

(Photo by Debbie)

Ken loves stepping out on precipices; me not so much. 

Debbie at the first summit.

Gate's Pass Road.

(Photo by Ken and his tripod and remote)

Pontatoc Canyon-Finger Rock Loop (Warning: Unofficial)

 

I have read two or three AllTrails hike descriptions mentioning a possible new trail connecting Pontatoc Canyon and the Finger Rock Trail, converging at Linda Vista Saddle, making a 7.4-mile loop, with serious elevation gain. And about three weeks ago on a hike up the Finger Rock Trail to Linda Vista Saddle, I saw what looked like a new trail being constructed just below where the spur trail from Finger Rock wends its way 0.2 miles up to the Saddle. 

Today, I can confirm that there is indeed a new trail being built connecting the two hikes, but it is being built center out and it might be a while before it is officially ready to hike. This new trail is no where near the terminus of the Pontatoc Canyon Trail and so we basically had to bushwhack our way up and over to it. The warning sign above we only saw at the end, where the trail meets the Linda Vista Saddle spur trail. We really had no business on this new trail, but it was just too tempting a hike. I was also excited that there was a new loop trail being built connecting with the underwhelming Pontatoc Canyon Trail, thus giving one more of reason to hike it; it currently ends abruptly facing a unremarkable cliff wall. 

Looks like that hope may not come true as this new trail appears to be headed to a point closer to the Pontatoc Canyon-Pontatoc Ridge trailhead than the Pontatoc Canyon Trail terminus. In any event, if the forest service continues to get money from the inept and cruel dolts in the criminally insane dotard’s administration, and this trail continues to be built, many hikers will rejoice that there is an alternative way other than the treacherous Finger Rock Trail up to and down from Linda Vista Saddle, and a somewhat safer route to Mount Kimball and other ridge-line destinations.

The elevation gain is nothing to sneeze at, and almost 300 feet 

more than the challenging Finger Rock ascent to the Saddle. The 

pace was so slow because of all the bushwhacking on the steep 

canyon slopes.

Both the Pontatoc Canyon and Pontatoc Ridge trails share a trailhead, and also a trail for about a mile.

A little chilly before the sun poked its welcomed face over the ridges.

More uninspiring views from Pontatoc Canyon.

The unceremonious nothing-burger end to the Pontatoc Canyon Trail. 

From here we bushwhacked north and west to find the new trail build. 

The new trail, in various states of completion. This section is headed south, and it's not that far back down to the Pontatoc trails from here; the trail no doubt ends abruptly and possibly dangerously a bit further on.

Looking north.

Linda Vista Saddle in the center distance.

I usually have lunch at a spot just to the right of the cliff.