August 20, 2024

Santa Rita hikes - East

What I call "east side" hikes are hikes accessed from Highway 83, south of the Box Canyon Road (FSR 62). Box Canyon road itself provides access to some of the hikes, but the Gardner Canyon road (FSR 92) is the main way to get access to this area.

See also the south side hikes for Temporal Canyon which gives access to Walker Basin and connects to some of these trails.

Solitude

The east side hikes are not popular. Even on a weekend you will almost always find yourself alone on any of the trails. You may not be alone on the access roads, which are popular with hunters and the ATV crowd. On a weekday you will likely be alone even on the access roads. I consider this a benefit, but a person should also be realistic about some of the risks involved with isolation. If you have a vehicle breakdown, you will have a long walk or a very long wait. Cell phone service is unlikely. Some trails can be difficult to follow and an inexperienced hiker could get into trouble. Most of the east side hikes are at mid elevations which would at least be uncomfortable in summer weather.

Trip reports

If you are willing to do some additional driving that includes some not too bad dirt roads, there are some things to be said for hiking to the top of Mt. Wrightson via the Gardner Canyon trail. The mileage is identical (4.8 miles), but the trailhead on the Gardner Canyon side is 500 feet higher. And there are the additional advantages of solitude, except of course once you get to Baldy Saddle and meet people coming up from Madera Canyon.

From Tomasi's guidebook

See my "guidebooks" page for an explanation of this.

Distances are one way.
Elevations are highest point, or whatever seems right.

FSR 62 (Box Canyon road) access

FSR 92 (Gardner Canyon road) access

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's hiking pages / tom@mmto.org