Agua Caliente Hill Trail

Another strenuous hike to numb our brains to the idiot ICE-capades invading our cities and endangering our children and their parents, GD nefarious numbskull Nazi cowards these fascistas are.

Haven't hiked this one in a few years, and man is it an ass-kicker. While only a bit over nine miles, it has substantial elevation gain (almost 3,000 feet) and the final two miles are especially challenging. The last half mile is vertical scree similar to the talus on Golden Gate Mountain wherein I met my Waterloo almost a year ago, but we'll have to forget about that, or at least repress it.

Not sure I'll do this hike again (I've vainly said that about other hikes in the past), partly because it's almost an hour to the trailhead, but mostly because of the rockiness throughout, but especially in the last two miles. Plus, the steep slippery scree the last half mile really gave me flashbacks, and not in a good way. Hiking the two miles down from the summit on the return I was especially careful and slow—like a doddering old retiree.

Few people out today, especially early on. Misty and I left the trailhead shortly before 8:00 am, with temps in the low forties. As we climbed, so did the sun, and we managed to doff our jackets after about a half hour, some 1.5 miles in. Mostly sunny skies throughout the day, and 71º by hike's end. Kind of a perfect day. The highlight was all the kids walking up Oracle Road holding signs protesting coward-ICE thugs in our city and schools; apparently, schools were closed to allow it. Good for the schools.

Just needed to hike up to the sun starting out.

A PeakFinder app photo from my previous trip up here four years ago, a solo hike in preparation for my epic Grand Canyon solo backpacking Rim to Rim to Rim trip in May of 2022, when I was in my 65th year.

An anomalous flat, sandy section of trail. Maybe 1 mile of that in total on this hike.

The summit.

Our one and only false summit.

Cute little Teddy Bear Cholla. Do not hug.

Cañada del Oro Ridge & 50-Year Trails Loop

I have been amping up my hiking to stay sane amidst the rampant fascism on display in Minnesota; January has been a busy time on the trails because of it all. Obergruppenführer Greg Bovino's departure from Minneapolis is good news, but we have yet to round up the ICE thugs who murdered two innocent residents of that fair city. I hope we survive until the mid-terms.

Today, I recorded my first 4mph hike over 5 miles. But it really doesn't count for much because of the minimal elevation gain, despite the rockiness of some of the trails. Still, good to know I can still rattle along with these short legs.

Finally returning to warmer weather after a week in the fifties and sixties. Today, while it was overcast, it did manage to get above 70 degrees, albeit just barely. Warmer weather lies ahead for our Friday hike up Agua Caliente Hill on the east side of Tucson, where the Rincons meet the Catalinas. Looking forward to it.

Saw several other folks on the trails today, probably because these trails are all close to the campgrounds at Catalina State Park, and they're quite accessible.

The hike begins and ends on the broad and flat Bridle Trail.

Looking down at the Cañada del Oro Wash from the Cañada del Oro Ridge Trail, which makes up the western half of the loop.

The Bridle Trail comes off the loop to the parking lot like the end of a lasso, and it's broad enough to drive a wagon train on.

Mount Wrightson Loop

After the recent embarrassment in Davos, where President Persimmon Pedophile spewed incoherent racist rants and derided our friends and allies, we decided we needed a really challenging hike to cleanse our minds. We settled on Mount Wrightson, despite recent rains and the possibility of snow. Based on a couple of recent trail reports, there wasn't enough snow to bother with microspikes; boy were those reports wrong. Luckily, we brought our spikes anyway, and were glad we did.

The first time we hiked Wrightson, in 2019, we ran into ice and snow about two miles from the summit. As bad as that was, this time it was far worse, and the trail was rather difficult to navigate in stretches the final two miles up, and for a mile on the return once we hit the Super Trail. 

We always do one of the longer routes on Wrightson, usually 11-16 miles, depending on the combination of trails. Today, we chose one of our favorites, the Loop. This wonderful hike consists of the Super Trail up to Josephine Saddle, Mount Baldy trail to the summit, and the Super Trail back to Madera Canyon and the trailhead. Next time we might just do the Super Trail the whole way up and back, a route we have yet to try. As a bonus, it is a bit longer, but less steep.

Saw a trio of hikers at Josephine Saddle, and a solo hiker shortly after. After that, no one the rest of the day. The overcast skies, cool to cold temps, and dangerous conditions might have kept the more inexperienced (read, not crazy) folks away. Temps at the summit were in the low 40s with lots of wind. Not a very relaxing place to have lunch. Great day, however.

Times were a little slow for us, but blame the trail conditions toward

the summit for that.

Josephine Saddle, about four miles up.

Not sure what the hell this pic is, but that won't stop me

from posting it. Maybe Misty will know. 😋

About 2 miles from the summit, we donned our microspikes and were glad we did.

Our summit lunch spot, looking southeast toward some of our Huachuca mountains.

South and North Honeybee Trails

I've been trying to motivate myself to hike more short hikes—under 6-7 miles—as a way to fill in during the week to take the place of my boring old repetitive walks. Perhaps hikes that sweeten the pot by providing an interesting destination, geologic formation, or flora or fauna. 

Today I headed up to the Honey Bee Canyon Park and combined the two Honeybee trails, the Honeybee Loop Trail to the south, and the Honeybee North out-and-back trail for a blistering total of four miles. But these two trails had some interesting elements to make them worth the effort: human artifacts from disparate historical eras. The first, on the Honeybee South Loop Trail, is a dam (never a good environmental idea) from perhaps the beginning of the 20th century or the end of the 19th; the second—and to my way of thinking much more interesting—are the Hohokom petroglyphs on the North Honeybee Trail, from around 500 CE, or so it is surmised. The Hohokum people lived in the Tucson area from around 1 CE to their disappearance around 1,500 CE. 

Perfect weather once again, 73º and a slight wind, with clear skies. Saw one two people on the south loop, and no one on the northern segment.

Most of this hike was in the Sausalito Creek wash, so sandy with few rocks to hike over.

Someone thought it prudent to dam up this beautiful

canyon some dozen decades ago.

This is what lay beyond the dam.

There is another newer dam on the north trail, a few hundred yards before the petroglyphs that are this trail's raison d'ê·tre.

Hohokum petroglyphs.

The mountain ridge in the background captures the quiddity of the Santa Catalina Range, of which it is a part.