The top of the Control Road – snowy and gated. December 2016.
I would be surprised if the Control Road came up in discussions about ‘Best Hiking Destinations in the Santa Catalina Mountains’ – and with good reason, there are so many great trails on the mountain that a long hike on a frequently driven high-clearance dirt road is a hard sell… But in winter, with sections of the road closed to vehicles, especially with the road blanketed in snow, the top of the road becomes an incredible hike! The wide road is easy to follow (even in enough snow to obscure many other trails), there are great views, tall trees, no vehicles and you can connect to the Crystal Spring Trail – well worth considering!
Sun, Shade and Snow – enjoying the snow on the Control Road. December 2016.Falls just below the Crystal Spring Trail. December 2016.Sunset from the Control Road. December 2016.
Clouds covering the mountains from the Golder Ranch Area. December 2016.
Snow!!! The snow on the mountain was spectacular today – we took photos from Golder Ranch Road and then hiked a few miles up the snowy Oracle Ridge Trail from the Lower Oracle Ridge Trailhead. By the time we turned around the snow was already disappearing – the forecast for the next few days is in the 60s and 70s, higher on the mountain there will be snow to enjoy – but lower on the mountain it is quickly disappearing…
Snow on the Oracle Ridge Trail at the Lower Oracle Ridge Trailhead off the Cody Loop Road in Oracle. December 2016.A Barrel Cactus along the Oracle Ridge Trail. December 2016.A snowy Oracle Hill from the Oracle Ridge Trail. December 2016.
I recently heard from the Summit Hut Book Buyer that both Todd Martin’s Arizona Technical Canyoneering and Tyler Williams’ Canyoneering Arizona are both out-of-print. Of the two Arizona Technical Canyoneering is more relevant to the Santa Catalina Mountains covering 6 different routes – Canyoneering Arizona only contains limited information on Sabino Canyon in the Revised Edition.
It is worth noting that Canyoneering Arizona was first published in 1998 when canyoneering was exponentially less popular than it is today!
I don’t know if either these books are going to be reprinted – or if new editions might be forthcoming…
Arizona Technical Canyoneering. First Edition 2007. December 2016.Canyoneering Arizona – Revised Version – 2005. December 2016.Canyoneering Arizona – Original 1998 Version. December 2016.
Smoke from the Bigelow Prescribed Burn – taken from Speedway Boulevard in Tucson. December 2016.
The Forest Service was careful to publish information about the Bigelow Prescribed Burn well in advance – but even so it was hard not to be alarmed by the impressive amount of smoke that the fire was producing, easily visible from Tucson it generated plenty of questions and it was hard not to wonder if the controlled burn had somehow gone awry…
A small pine along the Bigelow Trail in the Bigelow Controlled Burn area – many of even the smaller pines still had green needles and appear to have survived the fire. December 2016.
Hiking up the Bigelow Trail from the Bigelow Trailhead the impact of the fire was obvious – black ground, black tree trunks. I wasn’t until I reached the edge of the burn that I could really tell just how impressively effective the fire had been – fairly dense grass and shrubs cover the hill on one side / on the other the ground is remarkably clear.
Grass and shrub covered hillside on the left of the trail, burned – and cleared – ground on the right. December 2016.
We visited Kellogg Mountain just before the controlled burn – I wondered what impact the fire might have on the impressive thicket of New Mexico Locust growing near the top – but near Kellogg the Bigelow Trail was the edge of the fire and Kellogg Mountain was untouched.
Looking up at Kellogg Mountain from the Bigelow Trail – Kellogg was untouched by the Bigelow Controlled Burn. December 2016.
A brilliant sunset over Tucson from Point 6512 above Bear Canyon. December 2016.
The Bug Spring Trail from the Lower Green Mountain Trailhead provides an easy way to access ridge south of Bear Canyon – there are hints of a path on, or near, the top of the ridge, but only hints – if you follow the ridge for any distance you are bound to be pushing thru the brush and working around obstacles – you can continue past Point 6512, but it may be worth sitting, enjoying the ridge and waiting for the sunset…
Point 6512 above Bear Canyon – track from the Lower Green Mountain Trailhead. December 2016.Looking across Bear Canyon to Lizard Rock. December 2016.Sunset light south of the Santa Catalina Mountains. December 2016.
