September 28, 2020
Ironwood Forest National Monument
This is an area to the west of Tucson.
It is south of Interstate 10 between Tucson and Casa Grande.
Unlike many parks and monuments it is administered by the BLM rather
than the Park service.
There are no ammenities, the roads are poor, there is no visitor center.
It is just a bunch of land set aside in a slap-dash last minute move on
June 9, 2000 by President Bill Clinton.
The monument is a checkerboard of land with sections and fragments of
Arizona State Trust land scattered all through it.
This is classic Sonoran desert country with Saguaro Cactus, cholla, and even
Ironwood trees. It should definitely be avoided June through August.
It will probably be unpleasantly hot in May, September, and even October.
The roads to Ragged Top will probably be passable to an ordinary car most of
the time, if driven with care and prudence. On all other roads a 4x4 vehicle
is advised and in general necessary. The usual advice about plenty of water,
hat, good footwear, snakebite, etc. applies.
Ragged Top
Probably 98 percent of the people who go to IFNM go there to climb "Ragged Top".
This is an enjoyable hike and climb to a 3907 foot elevation summit.
There is no trail, and there is a bit of class 3 climbing needed to reach
the summit. There are good descriptions elsewhere.
This area is closed at certain times due to Bighorn Sheep nesting (or whatever sheep do).
These times seem to be in the spring.
Getting there
I live in Tucson, so I will describe driving from there.
Silverbell Road
Drive I-10 to exit 236 (Marana Road). Exit south, go past the circle-K, and exit heading west
from the big traffic loop. Drive 6 miles. Rumor has it this is Trico-Marana road.
After 6 miles, you find yourself at a T-junction wondering whether to go right or left.
Go right. (This is Silverbell Road). You could have gotten off of I-10 at exit 242
(Avra Valley Road) and driven about 6 miles to Silverbell Road, turned right onto it,
and gotten to this same point in that fashion.
Regardless, drive another 12 miles or so and then look for roads to your left that head towards
Ragged Top. Ragged Top will be looming on your left. Continue driving a mile or two and you
will be at the junction with Sasco road.
Sasco Road
Drive I-10 to exit 226 (Red Rock). EXit south, make a right at a T-junction, then take the next
left and you will wander past some kind of suburban development, then find yourself on Sasco Road
and driving past lots of cattle in a feed lot. Keep going.
There is usually water where you cross the Santa Cruz river (here called Robles Wash).
Past here there can be washouts and rocky sections that will require slow driving.
Eventually you will be at the junction of Silverbell road coming in from the left.
This junction is sort of the center of the universe in IFNM. Keep going and you will
circle around south and then east, passing the Silver Bell mine.
Keep going and you will find yourself returning to Tucson on Avra Valley Road.
Sunland Gin Road
Don't even think about this unless you have 4 wheel drive and good maps.
Drive I-10 almost to the junction with I-8 and exit south at Sunland Gin Road.
You will drive through the metropolis of Arizona City, then head due south through
some miserable looking farm land. You could also get here by exiting I-10 at Eloy
(Sunshine Road) and heading due west on Milligan Road, which skims along the south edge
of Arizona City. However, Milligan is not paved, so this hardly counts as a short cut.
The game is simply to follow the pavement to the end.
From the Milligan / Sunland Gin road junction, go due south 12 miles
to where the pavement heads west. Go west 3 miles to where the pavement turns
south (left). Follow the pavement south 2.5 miles to where it ends.
Nothing tricky to get here, just follow the pavement to this point.
From here, things do get tricky. A well travelled dirt road heads southwest.
We did not take this. We almost immediately took off south on a much less
traveled dirt road that took us straight south for 1/2 mile, then headed
southeast to a large cattle tank that is shown on the USGS 7.5 minute quads.
This road is not shown on the quad. From the cattle tank south, the USGS quad
maps guided us. We followed along under some power lines and roamed our way to
the infamous Silverbell/Sasco junction.
Actually we drove the other direction, but we will go back and drive this way
someday perhaps.
It is worth noting that the mountains west of the lower part of Sunland Gin Road
are the Sawtooth mountains, which are the extreme northwest part of IFNM and
deserve some attention someday.
Have any comments? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Tom's hiking pages / tom@mmto.org