[ragman and rodman]

Denali Girl and I had the good fortune to be able to spend the month of April in NE Tucson. Each of the trip report links provide the following: a. annotated photos of the hike/scramble b. a link providing trailhead directions from anywhere in the U.S., Canada or Mexico c. a link to my GPS track of the hike/scramble d. a link to a downloadable version of my GPS track Hindsight is always 20/20... so I listed the trips in the order I would do them if I only had a limited amount of time available in the area. ----------------------------------- Thimble Peak A scramble in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness to a false (15 feet lower than the true summit) summit... with a combination of good trail and good path leading to the summit block... where a Class 3 gully on the north side of the summit block leads to the false summit. ------------------------------------ Point 5001 on Saddleback Ridge Use the Phone Line Trail in Sabino Canyon until you find a good place to leave the trail and start your scramble to a seldom visited spot between Thimble Peak and Blackett's Ridge. ------------------------------------- Pusch Peak The western-most peak in the Santa Catalina Mountains... and big surprise that it is located in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness... after an easy beginning the route switches to a very steep, unmaintained trail leading to a summit with broad views. -------------------------------------- Mount Wrightson Located in the Santa Rita Mountains, Wrightson is the highest point (9453') in Southern Arizona... nicely graded switchbacks lead all the way to the summit using the Old Baldy Trail... I also included Mount Ian (Point 9146) on the hike. ---------------------------------------- Picacho Peak Located in Picacho Peak State Park... gave us a chance to brush up on our cable-aided climbing... Class 2/3. ---------------------------------------- Gibbon Mountain Located at the head of Bear Canyon... accessed via the Molino Basin Trail to Shreve Saddle... where I left the trail and scrambled to the summit... then returned to my car via a ridge walk that crossed over Point 5158... Class 2. -------------------------------------- Wilderness of Rocks Park near the summit of Mt. Lemmon and hike down into the rocks... but remember that you have to hike back up to your car at the end of the day... sort of reminded me of the "Wonderland of Rocks" in Joshua Tree National Park... we also visited the Lemmon Rock Lookout on this hike. -------------------------------------- BaBa BaBad Rock A short Class 3 scramble along Incinerator Ridge near Mt. Lemmon... the trail crosses over Incinerator Peak... with easy off-trail routes to Leopold Point and Barnum Rock. -------------------------------------- Blackett's Ridge Access via the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center... good trail all the way to Point 4409 where the trail ends abruptly... where a Class 3/4 gully might get a person down onto Saddleback Ridge. -------------------------------------- Safford Peak Located at the north end of the Tucson Mountains... locals refer to it as "Sombrero Peak" because it resembles one from certain vantage points... if you stay on the proper route, this is a very easy hike... we didn't stay on the proper route and were forced to retreat and figure out where we went wrong. --------------------------------------- Wasson Peak Located in the west district of Saguaro National Park... the highest point in the Tucson Mountains... we made a loop trip out of it... using good trail all the way. ------------------------------------------ Seven Falls Located in Bear Canyon in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness... water was flowing reasonably well, but it would probably be spectacular earlier in the year... I did a Class 3 scramble above the second fall to see the higher falls. ------------------------------------------------ Hutch's Pool A long hike to reach a swimming hole in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness... very pretty... but did I mention that it was a long hike to reach a swimming hole? ------------------------------------------------

[zephyr]

Hey, R&R, While researching hikes for the season I had started to realize recently that I hadn't heard anything from you lately. So I thought to take a peek at your website a few days ago. Lo and behold! Whoa. I was amazed at all the hikes and folks who joined. You all covered a lot of ground. From the photos you had great weather and many fun places to visit. You even managed to find a trail with a Via ferrata. Very nice. ~z

[RichP]

Hey! You missed all the sunny weather we had in April.

[Gimpilator]

Thanks for this report. I have not looked at all of it yet, but I will. Haven't seen most of these places in person yet. Never heard of Pusch, but it looks nice. Wrightson/Ian and Picacho are fun ones. Not a lot of via ferrata in the US. Good stuff.

[wildernessed]

You, Gimpilator, and Morrow are exhausting me.

[ragman and rodman]

Zephyr and RichP... We arrived in Tucson late afternoon on April 1... I did a neighborhood bike ride after unpacking and got hit by 5 drops of rain... and never saw another drop until we got back in Washington State on May 1... ------------------------------------ Gimpilator... Thimble Peak, Saddleback Ridge and Pusch Peak would all be right up your alley. ------------------------------------ wildernessed... Morrow and Gimpilator are in the big leagues... I'm still in the minors... waiting to be called up.

[tmatlack]

R&R, Thanks for memories. We used to live "around the corner" of Catalinas downslope from Oracle in mining town of San Manuel.(mine closed now.) I was a chef at that giant resort at base of Pusch Ridge right next to trailhead for Pusch Peak. I once led wife and best friend up that Pusch Peak trail, got lost in "unmaintained" section and sun caught us. Wife heat stroked, friend stung by giant wasp, me grabbed weird plant, wiped sweat, eyes swelled shut. Thankfully I had packed an extra GALLON of water, so we showered down everyone, and made it back alive. Even front country desert hikes can be an adventure!! Tom