Friends are hiking on the top of the mountain trying to escape the heat – but it is just so hot that it seems like a good day for a slow drive on the east side – sometimes with the windows down, sometimes with the A/C on – beautiful views and short walks from the Black Hills Mine Road and the Control Road.
Looking down into the San Pedro Valley from high on the highway there are a huge number of ridges and peaks to draw your attention – one particularly beautiful peak is Point 5817. Point 5817 is not a massive peak or towering spire – it doesn’t even have a name – but its large cliffs stand out from the surrounding terrain.
We drive around the north end of the Santa Catalina Mountains, down the San Pedro, past the junction with Redington Road, thru the Six Bar Ranch and out to the Davis Spring Trailhead. The road seems a little rougher than it did in 2014. The trailhead is empty – probably be true most days, I don’t think this area is popular with hikers at the moment and is likely more often used by hunters.
One of the tanks below Davis Spring is full and pipes still take water down to the corral. At the corral we leave from the trail sign, but our first guess at the trail is a cow path to nowhere – unsure if the Davis Spring Trail really still exists in any useful form we give up and drop into Edgar Canyon – a great decision that quickly leads to unique rocks, flowing water and reasonably easy walking.
A few minutes above a section of unusual rock we are surprised to find the Davis Spring Trail – and even more surprised that we can easily follow the trail past the junction sign for the Knagge Trail and nearly to Araster Spring before it eludes us on a grassy hillside.
Araster Spring is covered with leaves, the canyon is flowing nearby – a great spot for a a short break before the climb up to the ridge to the north. The hike up to the ridge is filled with steep climbs on grassy hillsides with great views of our destination, Point 5817.
Up on the ridge a barbed wire fence becomes our path and at a small saddle what seems to be a seat hangs on the barbed wire fence surrounded by an old gate, a section of fence pulled down by a tree, a pallet that probably held fencing supplies, old rusted out cans and a shirt nearly destroyed by the elements.
Shadows cover the landscape – from the summit of Peak 5817 the sunset lights up the Galiuros, a nice distraction before the slowest section of the hike – a loose slippery grass filled hillside back down to the trail.
If you are interested in visiting this area see the information at the bottom of this post on visiting Evans Mountain – there is information about the drive to the Davis Spring Trailhead from Tucson, several trip reports from the area and some information about the Six Bar Ranch.
Evans Mountain is an interesting destination – some maps show a trail that takes you to the summit – but I suspect that trail is now (at best) obscure (a summit register entry from 1994 reads “Trail? What Trail?”), Evans Mountain is between the well known Davis Spring Trail and the Brush Corral Trail – both of which have long stretches that are faint or have disappeared back into the landscape and Evans Mountain is only a few miles from the Davis Spring Trailhead – which is marked on some maps but about which there is not exactly an overwhelming amount of information…
*** 8/12/2017 – The 2017 Burro Fire burned over Evans Mountain and down to Edgar Canyon – because many of the hillsides we hiked up to Evans Mountain were covered with brush and grass (no large trees) I don’t think the the the fire will have created any additional obstacles to getting to the top of Evans Mountain, but be aware conditions may have changed in this area! ***
We didn’t bother with an early start – navigating new-to-us dirt roads in the dark didn’t have much appeal – thru Oracle, past San Manuel and just a couple of minutes on Redington Road before turning off onto the road that we hoped would take us up to Davis Mesa and the Davis Spring Trailhead. The first miles ticked by with much better road conditions than expected, but at the junction into the 6 Bar Ranch the road immediately changed – more rocks, more ruts, more sand and much slower progress, a couple of sections demanded the switch to 4wd and our progress slowed – not unexpected, but the smooth first few miles had given us hope for a much shorter than expected drive….
Eventually we arrived at the Davis Spring Trailhead – the drive made made this destination feel remote and the sturdy/clean trail sign seemed almost out of place. Luckily – as promised by the sign – an obvious trail leaves from the trailhead – we hiked past a tank fed by Davis Spring and down to a corral near Edgar Canyon where we found the Evans Mountain Trail #32 trail sign.
We followed the trail, and for a short time felt confident that we had found easy walking on the better-than-expected Evans Mountain Trail – but in retrospect we were probably lured too far east by well worn cow paths to correctly follow the trail’s turn south out of Edgar Canyon – eventually we began to simply pick the most likely route cross-country as worked steadily uphill towards Evans Mountain.
The ridgeline near Evans Mountain was a nice payoff for our climbing – great views! Soon enough we were at the top – from the register it looks like we are the only visit so far this year…
The trip back down was faster/shorter than the trip up – with no plan to even try to find the trail we simply picked a likely direct route and headed down – eventually following a lovely small canyon that had a small arch and a rather large drop near it’s junction with Edgar Canyon. Back along Edgar Canyon we took the cow paths back to the corral and climbed out of the canyon – what a great day! 8.3 miles round-trip with +/- 2700′ of elevation gain/loss.
Notes:
Based on the summit register Evans Mountains has at least one, and sometimes several, ascents each year. The summit, trailhead and access roads are easily found on (many) topographic maps of the area. The notes/resources below might provide interesting additional information if you want to visit this area (this list was last update 1/30/2019):
For several years I have looked down into the Peck Basin Area and wondered what was down there… I suppose that the easiest way to get into that area is via the Davis Spring Trailhead on the north side of the Mountain – but part of my fascination with Peck Basin is a curiosity about a trail that seems to be disappearing back into the mountain: the Knagge Trail…
I was dropped off at the bottom of the Incinerator Ridge Road, walked up to the Trailhead and soon enough I was headed down the Knagge Trail, familiar territory and notably easier to follow than it was last September with the plants along the trail brown and flat.
The Cabin, the mine and the current end of the well established trail all come quickly – and then off onto the ridge below. Unlike my last trip I don’t use any time trying to find the original trail – instead I just work on finding the easiest way down the ridge – an occasional cairn, faint paths that look for a second like a trail, brushy puzzles, beautiful open grassy sections, views down into my destination…
I am counting on water in the South Fork of Edgar Canyon and the canyon does not disappoint – clear rushing water!
I work down canyon trying to find the easiest path – up around a box, past an old shelter, thru a fence – here I see the first signs of the cows who live in this area…
I cut out of the canyon, over the ridge and into the drainage with Araster Spring and Peck Basin (this canyon is referred to as Edgar Canyon in the Cowgill and Glendening guide but the USGS 7.5′ Map labels the canyon to the south as Edgar Canyon…). I see more cows on the ridge above and follow their tracks and dung up canyon to Araster Spring and slightly beyond. Araster Spring is beautiful but slightly trampled.
Originally I had planned to camp here but the cows have made this area a bit less attractive than I imagined – I loop via hillside and ridge up to Point 4863 to spend the night – on the way stumbling across the Knagge and Davis Spring Trail junction sign! I find a good spot near Point 4863 – I only have to move one cow patty to setup where I want – and enjoy the view of the ridge I came from (with the blazing lights of Mount Bigelow) and the day’s journey!
I get moving a little slowly in the AM – lingering to enjoy the view –
And then up up up up back to the Upper Green Mountain Trailhead to meet my ride down! 13 miles and about 4000′ of elevation gain and loss.
flickr – 2014 March Peck Basin and Araster Spring via the Knagge Route