Catalinas - the Butterfly trail

We got a lazy start and drove up the mountain to the Butterfly trail trailhead. This is 3 miles past the Palisade Ranger station on the highway.

This was the first time I had been on this trail since before the Bighorn fire. Lots of views are now open and we watched clouds form over the Galiuro mountains and had a fine view of the San Pedro Valley and even of Mt. Graham. We also had a fine view of Oracle Ridge and Marble Peak -- which would be finer if not for the horrific bulldozer scar of a road on Marble Peak.

Hiking begins at an elevation of 7700 feet. I used to entertain the mistaken notion that the Butterfly trail just contours in a lazy way around the north side of the mountain. This is definitely not the case.

The trail contours to the east and descends to meet the Crystal Spring trail at an elevation of 7000 feet after 1.4 miles. The Crystal Spring trail might be a candidate for a lazy contouring trail. It wanders west for 3.6 miles to meet the Control Road at 6800 feet. If I was going to hike it, I would drive my truck down the Control road and make it a 7.2 miles out and back hike. Not all vehicles could or should drive to this trailhead though.

But back on the Butterfly trail, another 1.8 miles brings you to the signed junction to the Davis Spring trail. Even before the Bighorn fire, this trail had all but vanished. There is no telling what is left of it now. I knew some people who were eager to recondition it, but given that it almost never gets used, this would be a lot of work to little purpose. The trail drops (or once did) 7.3 miles to a trailhead at Davis Spring. This is a remote spot at 4240 elevation. It would be an interesting adventure with a 4x4 vehicle to find out if it is even possible to drive there without encountering the usual locked gates in cowboy country. It is worth noting that while the Green Trails Map of the Catalinas shows this trail (along with Pictograph Spring in Edgar canyon), it is not shown at all on the USGS 7.5 minute map.

• Hike Lemmon - Edgar Canyon 2-2019
• Hike Lemmon - Davis Spring 12-2018

Before getting to the Davis Spring trail junction, you get to the low point of the hike below Novio Springs. The Novio Springs area was spared by the fire and is lush and interesting. If you pick the right drainage (tip: hike up the drainage with water flowing) you can visit the wreckage of an old plane crash. This was an F-86 "Saberjet" from Davis Monthan that crashed in 1957. Apparently two of these crashed in mid-air during a training mission. Details in this article from the Green Valley hiking club:

• GVRHC - Butterfly crash
• local copy (2 pages, PDF)

From the David Spring trail junction (actually from Novio springs) it is a steady uphill chug of 1700 feet to get to the top of Mt. Bigelow at 8400 feet elevation. If you just did the hike as an out and back to Novio springs you could avoid 700 feet of climbing. But why? Even at age 70 I found it a reasonable thing to do on a summer afternoon.

We got to the top of Mt. Bigelow and hiked 3 miles along the road, past the Observatory and on to Bear Wallow. This was pleasant enough, and my wife was in the mood to jog ahead and fetch the car meeting me on the Bear Wallow road near the road junction. This made it a 9.5 mile day for me. For her it was closer to 10.0.