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.