September 24, 2022
Tucson area hikes - the Santa Ritas
This area has many many great hikes, and I will someday get around to telling you about them.
I tend to favor the Santa Ritas because I don't have to drive though all of Tucson and up Mount
Lemmon to get to them, but your mileage may differ. Also, hiking up Mount Wrightson is one of
the best hikes and best views anywhere. I have done it too many times to count, and have no
intention of stopping anytime soon.
Hikes
I decided to divide the Santa Ritas into 4 sections.
- West side is Madera Canyon and other hikes accessed from I-19
- East side is hikes accessed from Highway 83
- South side is hikes accessed from Patagonia (Highway 82)
- North side is everything north of FSR-62 (Box Canyon road).
And here are the hikes:
the Arizona Trail
Although many east side hikes cover parts of the AZT, this deserves a section of its own.
Mount Wrightson
Well, here you go - my all time favorite hike.
The trailhead in Madera Canyon is at 5300 feet and the summit is at 9453 feet,
so there is 4150 feet of elevation gain, nothing to sneeze at.
- Trailhead (5300) to Josephine Saddle (7100) on old trail - 2.5 miles.
- Trailhead (5300) to Josephine Saddle (7100) on "super" trail - 3.7 miles.
- Josephine Saddle (7100) to Baldy Saddle (8850) 1.8 miles.
- Baldy Saddle (8850) to Summit (9453) 0.9 miles.
This makes the round trip 10.4 miles via the old trail.
Using the super trail adds 1.2 miles each way.
The super trail is an alternative from Josephine Saddle to the summit.
I may have used this once out of the 100 or so times I have done this hike.
There is little to recommend it as it traverses the hot sunny south
side of the mountain and avoids Bellows Spring and the wonderful climb through
tunnels of Gambels Oak on the way to Baldy Saddle.
On the other hand it offers variety and views as a loop on the descent.
Best used in cooler weather as it is exposed and south facing.
- Trip report, Mt. Wrightson backpack, June 18, 2020
- Trip report, Baldy saddle backpack, October 5, 2021
- Trip report, Gardiner Canyon, October 19, 2021
- Trip report, Melendrez Pass to Sawmill Spring, November 9, 2021
- Trip report, Aliso Spring to Florida saddle, November 30, 2021
- Trip report, Baldy grand tour, March 17, 2022
- Trip report, Cave Creek to Florida saddle, May 5, 2022
- Trip report, Madera Canyon, September 8, 2022
- Trip report, Baldy Saddle, April 20, 2023
- Trip report, Josephine Canyon, March 16, 2023
- Walker Basin and Temporal Canyon road
- Trip report, Temporal Gulch, May 18, 2023
- Trip report, Carrie Nation mine, July 12, 2023
For information on hiking from the east side, there is a lot to know.
Read the Gardiner Canyon trip report above.
Bog Springs and above
On June 11, 2013 I hiked to Bog, Kent, and Sylvester Springs.
It was a hot day (107 degrees in Tucson), but there was water flowing at
each of these springs. Only Bog Springs offers a convenient and attractive
basin - the other springs have water running as trickles that a person with
some ingenuity could make use of. Note that you have to do a loop hike
to visit all three springs (not that this is a bad thing). If you go first
to Bog Springs, the trail continues on to Kent Springs. Then if you want to
visit Sylvester Springs, you follow a rather steep abandoned road directly down
the drainage below Kent Springs. From Sylvester Springs you can continue to
follow the road down past the Bog Springs junction to the trailhead.
Elephants Head
Here is something that is not in Madera Canyon!
Have any comments? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Tom's hiking pages / tom@mmto.org