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.