Cottonwood Tank, Touching Catchment Canyon – 12/30/2018

Cotton Wood Tank with Table Mountain in the background. December 2018.
Cotton Wood Tank with Table Mountain in the background. December 2018.

A 2017 post shows Cotton Wood Tank sadly covered in graffiti (picture below) – thankfully between then and now the graffiti has been painted over (picture above). I was slightly surprised, since this hasn’t felt like a very wet year, to see that the tank is to-the-rim full at the moment, even higher than last year.

Graffiti covering Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.
Graffiti covering Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.

Our destination for the day was the bottom of Catchment Canyon – I thought we would have time to explore up canyon but it took longer than I guessed to reach the canyon so we touched the bottom, took some pictures and, with the Bighorn Sheep Management Area closing in two days, said goodbye-until-next-year…

Looking up at Table Mountain from the shadowed bottom of Catchment Canyon. December 2018.
Looking up at Table Mountain from the shadowed bottom of Catchment Canyon. December 2018.
Buster Mountain and Alamo Canyon - Sunset. December 2018.
Buster Mountain and Alamo Canyon – Sunset. December 2018.

Cottonwood Tank – 11/24/2017

Water, reflection and Table Mountain - Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.
Water, reflection and Table Mountain – Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.

Cottonwood Tank is located on the west side of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness south of Catalina State Park. It appears that Arizona Game and Fish did maintenance work in 2017 and the tank is currently holding quite a bit of water.

Sadly, also apparently in 2017, a substantial amount of the tank is covered in graffiti.

Graffiti covering Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.
Graffiti covering Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.
A saguaro in the sunset - on the hike out from Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.
A saguaro in the sunset – on the hike out from Cottonwood Tank. December 2017.
A Phainopepla. December 2017.
A Phainopepla. December 2017.
Cottonwood Tank is in the lower-center of the map - inside the Pusch Ridge Wilderness, outside of Catalina State Park. January 2018.
Cottonwood Tank is in the lower-center of the map – inside the Pusch Ridge Wilderness, outside of Catalina State Park. January 2018.