After some scouting outings, I was ready to do a 50-mile trek. Solid summer training plus an FKT bonus. I'm thinking the temperatures must not have been too high, as most of this route is down low, and I even have extra clothes on at the start. That's pretty good for mid-May in Tucson. Or, "Tukson", as the name of the route suggests.
My report, with added photos:
Big day, and I really enjoyed linking up familiar trails to traverse the parks on the west side of town. It was all entertaining and fun, until I reached the northwestern-most corner, and then the last couple miles were slow and ridiculously rocky.
I was excited to see a route of this distance in Tucson and spent several days checking out the new-to-me areas. In particular, the two ridges in the Tucson Mountain Park are gems, and I like the unique way of circling the Desert Museum.
I stashed water in a few places, and later in the day husband John would join the adventure as my favorite crew person. He also dropped me off at the start and snapped a couple photos:
Thank you John and Tug-E, see you later!
Cat Mountain, as seen from Robles Park in the early morning sunshine:
The best way to cross Ajo Way:
Yes, let's go explore!
A portal into the Enchanted Hills:
Some kind of giant exotic eggs?
Raise your arms if you love saguaros!
Yes deer, you're still invisible in the middle of that vegetation:
Saguaro canyon:
A very well-made trail, thank you trail people!
Another view of Cat Mountain, and I think I took this picture from a ridge I hadn't been on until recently. It's fun to explore new places, even those smack in the middle of a trail system I've traversed a few times before:
At the start of Bobcat Ridge, an even more interesting sort-of trail I learned about only recently (and I keep seeing people on it whenever I'm up there):
It's a fun ridge with excellent views:
Back on the trail proper, with Golden Gate and its saguaro guards:
I did a loop around Bren, the peak on the right side of the above picture - another neat area to explore. Thinking about it now, the scouting missions were as equally entertaining as the FKT itself.
Then a couple more trails, picking up water stashes along the way.
Tucson Mountain Park has excellent signage at intersections:
Up on Brown Mountain (a series of small peaks that aren't exactly mountain-size), with a fun cactus in the foreground and Bren/Golden Gate on the horizon, looking back the way I'd come:
A colorful little sandy wash as a way to circle the Desert Museum without running on the road (slower but more interesting than the [?] FKT route):
View of the museum while trekking up the next wash:
Another set of red rocks, including one small scramble up:
Old stone house around the corner - there's a lot to see in this short section!
I was beating my time estimates by quite a bit and John wasn't quite ready to meet me at the King Canyon trailhead, so I detoured to the Desert Museum for lunch. It turns out you can get a half hour pass for free, plenty of time to pop into the café for food. Nice!
Enjoying a snack in the shade:
A raven greeter in the parking lot:
John showed up not long later, hello and thank you! It was really helpful to pick up my lights there, plus it was great to see him:
The afternoon climb toward Wasson went a bit slowly and it was a bit warm. This was the biggest ascent of the day, just keep on plugging away.
I think this is a mine cover - there has been a bunch of mining activity up in this area:
Yay for a lovely view of town plus the eastern skyline, and it's still plenty light out:
I was thrilled to reach El Camino del Cerro just before sunset. A nice view of the Catalinas in the waning daylight:
I navigated the next set of trails (including a key intersection without a sign), being careful to get the turns right. John popped over to see me at Picture Rocks Road and up at the Cam-Boh trailhead. One section left to cover! It was the only area I had not scouted, so I followed along closely on my phone track.
I was promised lots of rocks for the day, and there certainly are plenty of them. Nothing too crazy... until the final couple of miles. The eastbound trail along the Panther-Safford fenceline is super slow (not a good place to be in a hurry). But it will get you there eventually. The off-trail climb to the saddle and then even the descent from Safford were also challenging. Finally a bit of running to the finish where John was waiting.
I tried a selfie with a flash but that didn't go so well:
So John took a picture with a phone, much better:
Thank you Jayme, I really like this new route!
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