bigelow road

New Bighorn Release Planned, Bigelow Sunset – 10/26/2014

Updated - Posted - Charles Miles

More bighorns being relocated to Catalinas, Arizona Daily Star, Doug Kreutz – The first news article that I have seen about the intent to release 30 additional Bighorns into the Santa Catalina Mountains before the end of the year. There are a number of interesting details in the article including: the intended primary source of sheep is from the Tonto National Forest and that “the exact sheep release sites in the Catalinas will not be disclosed to the public”.

The Bighorn Sheep Restoration Project Status update for 9/29 to 10/12 has been available for over a week now (all updates are currently available here) – no changes are noted in population numbers, some interesting research notes are included: “we will use the sheep location data being collected via satellite collars to quantify an “intensity of space use” for each sheep by constructing a utilization distribution (UD)”.

 

1410 Sunset off the Bigelow Road
Clouds in the Sunset from a hillside near the Bigelow Road not far from Mount Bigelow. October 2014.

I enjoyed an evening run on 1918, Secret and Bigelow Road – on 1918 thru Bear Wallow there are still fall colors on the trees and the fallen leaves on the trail were a treat – the big trees on Secret made the dark cool evening even more enjoyable after our long summer – this was the first time I can remember in recent months that it was cool enough for a long sleeve shirt! 4.9 miles, +/- 890′ of elevation gain/loss.

1918 and Bigelow Road, Fall Colors, Construction – 10/20/2014

Updated - Posted - Charles Miles
1410 Fall Color
Fall color above the the 1918 Trail. October 2014.

There was steady traffic on the highway and every trailhead I could see had at least one car – on such a lovely day it was inspiring to see so many people out enjoying the mountain. I parked at the Sunset Trailhead and took the unsigned 1918 Trail – the trail runs along a stream near the highway and into the Bear Wallow area – never far from the road, but so beautiful with the fall colors that the sounds of the cars are easily forgotten.

1410 Fall Color along 1918
Bright fall color in the sun along the 1918 Trail. October 2014.

Eventually I turned onto Bigelow Road – steady running to the top – back the way I came. 1918 and Bigelow Road to Mount Bigelow and back the same way – 7 miles, +/- 930′ elevation gain/loss (round-trip).

The changing leaves have been featured in several recent articles – both have some suggestions about places to go to see the colors: Autumn leaves flush Catalinas with color, Douglas Kreutz, Arizona Daily Star – and Hittin’ the Trails 4 You: Mt. Lemmon’s Fall color hot spots, Jeff Beamish, KVOA.com.

Another great post to with some fall colors in the Santa Catalina Mountains is Sirena’s Happy 5th Anniversary! – congratulations to Sirena on her blog’s 5th anniversary! Sirena’s Wanderings is a GREAT source of information and inspiration!

Road construction is on-going – on the weekends there are no delays but areas like the one below (with the pavement removed) located just down-mountain from the Ridgeline Parking Pullout are likely to cause delays on the weekdays…

1410 Construction on the General Hitchcock Highway
Pavement removed – construction underway – there are no current delays on the weekend days, but expect delays during the week – just below the Ridgeline Parking Area. October 2014.

Bigelow Trail, Butterfly to Mount Bigelow, Bigelow Road and the Highway – 9/12/2014

Updated - Posted - Charles Miles
1409 Golden Eye
Flowers!!! The flowers along the Bigelow Trail and Butterfly Trail up to Mount Bigelow were spectacular!

Dirt roads and paved mountain roads may not always be my first choice for travel on foot – but I have to admit that some of the most lovely vistas I have ever been to are along roads – and sometimes new routes magically open up once you abandon a strict trails-only approach.

Up the Bigelow Trail – lovely flowers and big trees, onto the Butterfly Trail up to Mount Bigelow, down Bigelow Road – great views and nice to see all the people out camping, onto to highway – Turkeys flying across and on the side of the road – and back to the Bigelow Trailhead – 6.3 miles, 860′ of elevation gain/loss.