Bridal Wreath Falls in the Rincon Mountains

After a week off due to our unexpected snowfall last Wednesday, we were back on the trail this week.  Our adventure this week took us the Saguaro National Park in the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson.   

Our motley crew sans myself

We started out the hike to cool temps and partial sun – perfect day for hiking.I have to admit that I really felt like a “novice hiker” again on this particular hike.  These trails were very well traveled and well marked, but because in the 5+ miles we hiked I was pretty worn out by the time we reached the top.

We followed the Douglas Spring Trail, which depending upon which website you visit or which guidebook you read or which hiker you encounter, this is either an easy, moderate or strenuous hike.  I will agree with our leader, JoAnn, who labels this hike as moderate.  This trail is located in the Saguaro National Park and is very well marked and travelled.  It’s open to hiking, biking and horseback riding.  We didn’t see any horses on this hike, but plenty of evidence (if you know what I mean) that they had traveled the trail in front of us.  Ewwwww! 

There is a large lodge – The Tanque Verde Ranch - which I’ve talked about in earlier blogs, that is located right in the foothills of the mountain.  This ranch offers a wide range of activities to families that stay there, one of which is horseback riding and hiking tours on this trail.  We came upon a group of about 25 hikers who stepped aside to let our group of 8 pass them.  They even gave us what I called a hiker’s salute – with raised hiking poles – for us to pass through.  Very cool!  

Hikers saluting George

The views of all the surrounding mountain ranges and valleys were absolutely breathtaking.  I have to apologize for not including more photos, but as I mentioned earlier, I was feeling quite the novice hiker on this hike.  I didn’t want to hold up the group by lagging behind to take pictures, but after tripping once or twice over stones on the trail I found it unsafe to try to snap and climb….

Beautiful Mountain and valley views

I am definitely coming back to this particular trail in the coming weeks, because I am told that when the brittlebush and other wildflowers are in bloom it is beautiful.  Even now the hike is very interesting with the miles and miles of saguaro, ocotillos, jumping cholla, beavertails, pincushions, and Teddy Bear Cholla. We also saw millions of prickly pear cacti. 

The history lesson for this week…I learned that when Hernán Cortés the Spanish conquistador and explorer, who was responsible for the conquest of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico in 1519, entered Mexico, he met Aztec men and women in dazzling red garments.  The dye was actually created from the cochineal insect which lives on the prickly pear.  Cortés arranged to have prickly pear to be taken back to Spain and cultivated there for the dye, which became known in Spain as the color of kings.

We trudged ahead, getting closer and closer to the falls and most of us feeling a pretty good burn in our muscles from the climbing.  We passed a sign on one of the forks in the trail which noted we were in a mountain lion habitat.  It went on to state that lions had been sighted recently in the area. The sign gave us instructions on how to behave if we came across a lion.  We were to look them in the eye, not run, wave our arms in a confrontational manner, and make loud noises.  I decided that I would let everyone else follow the signs if we ran into any large cats, and I would make a b-line to the parking lot.  Well, after that point on, we all kept a pretty sharp eye out on all the trees and higher ledges.  They guys got a kick out of calling “here kitty, kitty, kitty” for a while.   

I will have to add here that we almost lost sight of Jim, Gordy and Gina every time we stopped for a drink.  They were running ahead on the trail to keep ahead of the large group that we had passed.  We wanted to have the pick of the area when we got to the falls and stopped for our lunch.   I know at least two of us – Ernie and myself – were ready for lunch.   

 When we arrived at the falls, we were welcomed with the sound of the waterfall and the sound of water trickling through the streams below it.  It was such a wonderful refreshing sound. 

Headed back down the trail after lunch seemed a lot easier.  Amazingly, it seemed like it took longer than going up……

Another wonderful hike under our backpacks.

See you on the trails!

Saguaro National Park West

Beautiful view of mist in the mountains 

Our hike this week took us to beautiful Saguaro National Park West in the Tucson Mountains.  Ten enthusiastic, overly bundled hikers (our temperatures here in Tucson had been below normal for 4 days and we had no idea what to expect up on the trails) met at the community center and started out at 8:30.  The weather was a little chilly, but beautiful Arizona sun did not let us down.  The morning was gorgeous. 

We got off to what we thought was a good start when JoAnn realized she had not placed her park pass on her windshield for the park rangers.  Not a huge problem because we had good old Jim to run - and I do mean run - back to the parking lot to put it in place. 

Run Jim, Run

We began our morning at the King Canyon Trailhead heading for the Gould Mine.  The Gould Mine was one of four mines of some consequence in the Tucson Mountains: Old Yuma, Gila Monster, Mile Wide, and Gould mines.  Sometime around 1906 S.H. Gould filed on nineteen claims for the Gould Copper Mining Company. As was the case with other mining companies, Gould encountered financial problems with the onset of the 1907 depression, but he succeeded in obtaining operating funds by taking a mortgage with the Pioneer Smelting Company from nearby Sasco. A thirty-five foot wide vein of copper was found at the 100 foot level. At the 200 foot level that vein broadened to a width of sixty feet. Unfortunately, an assay reported only three to four percent copper content in each ton of ore. Financial difficulty beset the Gould Company by the end of 1908 and it managed to survive only for a few more years by shipping excavated ore which had been stockpiled at the mine. It probably ceased operations sometime in 1911. In early 1915 the company was forced into bankruptcy and its claims were sold at a sheriff's auction. They were purchased by Douglas Gary of Tombstone who made no immediate attempt to operate the mine. For all the effort and investment only 45,000 pounds of copper with a value of $9,000 had been taken from the mine.

Copper mine desperadoes - LaNeta, Connie, Gina & me

We were able to see what was left of some of the buildings used for storage and shelter.  

JoAnn & Jim surveying the mine entrance

So how much barbed wire is needed?

There were barbed wire fences surrounding dangerous areas, such as the actual mine entrance, but of course that was meant for everyone except our adventurous Jim who spotted ringtail raccoons down in the shaft.

It took quite a hike to get to the mine and I was wondering if the men had to hike up to the mine every day or if they camped at the mine.  I found one picture online which showed the mining camp and it seemed to be at the base, not near the mine. 

Oh well, on with the hike….

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's on the trail we go....

I sometimes get caught up in the historic significance of the area, and fail to mention the beauty of what we see as we are hiking through the park.  The saguaro cactus that sometimes tower above us so high I can’t even figure out how to get the whole thing in the photos.  My good friend George told me last week, that I need a bigger camera.  L  Along trail we saw many different types of cactus, and we noticed a family of javelina on a lower trail from us.  Thank goodness, they were also downwind. 

Gordy measuring up to a saguaro - he lost

We proceeded from the mine past the Mam-A-Gah picnic area to the Sendero Esperanza Trail and from there to the Hugh Norris Trail.  The maps our leader JoAnn gets from the National Park Service are usually pretty accurate as far as the mileage of the trails and the elevation gain on each hike, but we had varying opinions on the distance of this one.  We all felt the total hike was more like 5 ½ or 6 miles rather than the 4+ miles the map was telling us.  Several of the group actually stayed behind when we stopped to take water and rest a little.  Being the novice hiker, I always push myself to keep up, so I made it to the saddle we were aiming for as a turn-around point.  I tell you, I was very glad that the trip back would be mainly downhill though.  OUCH!  My legs…. Anyway, enough with the whining! What are we hikers or cry-babies?  We made it to the saddle, and then doubled back, picked up the couple of people that had waited at the bottom, and trekked back to the Mam-A-Gah picnic area for MY favorite part of the hike….lunch.   

If you look real closely...saguaro are the supports 

After lunch, JoAnn located a shortcut that took us past a huge wash that probably looks more like a lake during monsoon season.  We didn't go into the wash, but those in the group that had been on this particular hike previously mentioned that there are petroglyphs on rocks along the wash.  It is just amazing that when you least expected - a petroglyph pops up.  Kind of like when my kids were young and their friends always seemed to show up right at dinner time.... Well, this hike was fantastic.  Wonderful weather, no mishaps, a lot of history and great fellowship.  

We retraced our steps past Gould Mine and took the loop trail back to the parking lot.  The total mileage again in question.  Boy, that hot tub is going to look good this evening.

Judy and Barb doing a few wardrobe adjustments?

See you on the trails!


Sweetwater Trail in Saguaro National Park



Me and cactus flower

Well, I’ve been off the trail for several weeks because of personal obligations.  Translation: I had family visiting for a week, I had jury duty the following week, and the third week I was a no account slacker.  That being said, our hikes are dwindling down to a precious few now.  The main group disbanded last week because the temperatures reached way up in the 80s and several people showed signs of heat exhaustion.  We are now operating with a much smaller group and we are abbreviating the length and difficulty of the hikes because of the heat. 

  

We have decided to gather an hour earlier figuring we can get started earlier and end the hikes before the heat gets dangerous.Whereas our normal hiking group ran between 12 and 18 members per hike, we only had four in our abbreviated group Wednesday.


We left the community center bright and early at 7:30 a.m., which means I was up at 6:00 a.m. so I could walk my dog before starting out. Needless to say….I was not bright eyed or bushy tailed in the least!   

BrickleBush

This week we hiked the Sweetwater Trail in Saguaro National Park in the Tucson Mountains.  We were aiming for the 3.4 mile mark as our turnaround spot.  This point is called Sweetwater Saddle and is the point where the trails from the west side of the park meet the Sweetwater Trail and from here all the trails share the same route to Wasson Peak, the highest point in the Tucson Mountains.   

Jumping Cholla Cactus

We had agreed at onset to hike 1 ½ hours one way, stop for a brief lunch and head back.  We had plenty of breaks to drink water and take pictures.  The scenery was absolutely breathtaking! 

The most notable thing of this hike was the flowers.   The desert was definitely in bloom and we had a wonderful time just trying to identify all of the flowers, cactus, plants and birds along the trail.  There were blossoms of every size and color.   We even took picture of this one cactus flower that looked as if it were coming out of a rock.   

Jorge snapping pics of flowers

This was a most enjoyable hike.  We didn’t quite make it to Sweetwater Saddle before we stopped and turned around, but that’s okay.   We were close enough and we didn’t have any problems – heat or otherwise. 





Me, Connie, Stan and SAGUARO

Hike Statistics (We only did 3 hours, with a break in the middle so we didn’t make the total mileage )

Distance Round Trip 7.36 mile

Trailhead Elevation 2,543 feet
Elevation Gain 412 feet
Accumulated Gain 536 feet
Average Time Round Trip 3.5 hours