Arizona Trail Passages 11 and 12 (partial): Santa Catalina Mountains - Gordon Hirabayashi TH to Marshall Gulch - May 16-17, 2015
Day 2

Added 11 December 2016
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Sunday, 17 May 2015, Arizona Trail Passages 11 and 12 (partial): Santa Catalina Mountains - Gordon Hirabayashi TH to Marshall Gulch

A Scott's Oriole (Icterus parisorum) singing a happy morning tune. I was ready to go a little before Jerry and Andrea, so I decided to head out and do some birding in the riparian area just up the trail. The rugged mid-elevation of the Santa Catalina Mountains. A Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus coccineus) on AZT Passage 11. It looked like there were some good campsites in the area. The riparian area wasn't as birdy as I had hoped (though I did see a Scott's Oriole (Icterus parisorum)), but just afterwards, an Arizona Black Rattlesnake perched in a low branch by the trail let me know he was there with a vigorous tail shake. He was a big boy, and a cool find. I decided to wait there until Jerry and Cheetah came along to make sure they saw it, and only had to wait a couple of minutes. Jerry said that they saw another one a short distance back that I had missed.


A beautiful (and large!) Arizona Black Rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus) in a low branch. An Arizona Black Rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus) keepng a watchful eye on me. I was excited to find this Arizona Black Rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus). He was excited too, but in a different way.

We hoped to get lucky enough to see some Bighorn Sheep, but we didn't. Moving up through the oak elevations. View down upper west fork of Sabino Creek.

View to the Rincon Mountains in the far distance. View up into higher country. Jerry and Cheetah making their way up the trail.

Jerry and Cheetah at Romero Pass. The end of Passage 11 and the start of Passage 12. The trail up from Romero Pass. What? This thing gets even STEEPER????? A Plateau Fence Lizard (Sceloporus tristichus) on AZT Passage 12. We climbed up to Romero Pass, which marks the end of Passage 11 and the beginning of Passage 12. Again, this passage transition occurs in the middle of nowhere, so someone who is segment hiking has only the choice to continue on, or hike all the way back out. If I was king of the world, I would move the break point to Marshall Gulch. The climb up to Romero Pass is a healthy climb but from there, the trail gets steeper and rockier. So much so that it isn't recommended for equestrians. The trail climbs, and climbs, and climbs.


We stopped for lunch part way up, then kept on climbing. There were quite a few Plateau Fence Lizards (Sceloporus tristichus) and Ornate Tree Lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) along the trail, which I enjoyed watching and trying to photograph. The trail is very well done, which is a bit surprising given the ruggedness of the terrain. The trail navigates up and around large boulders, slabs of bedrock, outcrops and spires. It is a truly beautiful place.


Cheetah and Jerry ascending a ridgeline. An Ornate Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) trying to hide from me. A large Robber Fly species on Passage 12. Another Ornate Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) that's less shy than the last one.

Getting up into pine country. Hey, I can see my house from here!!! (Just to the left at the base of the cliff at center.) That's easily 20 miles away. As we climbed higher we got better and better views of the valley below. While hiking along a spiny ridgeline I looked out to the west I could actually see my house! Though at around 20 miles away, seeing it did require binoculars.

I love the juxtoposition of sculpted rock and tree in the higher elevations of the Santa Catalina Mountains. A cool hoodoo and a gnarled pine tree. A Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) hunts overhead.

Jerry is happy to be hiking through a relatively flat section of trail. Cheetah snaking her way through eroded bedrock. The trail winds up through some beautiful territory.

Or maybe it doesn't wind so much as just go straight up the mountain. Another Plateau Fence Lizard (Sceloporus tristichus) catching some rays. Wow. Just wow.

Cheetah taking the lead. A Gray Hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) enjoys a New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana). The trail starts to get less steep towards the top.

More bedrock in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Someone left these watermelon ales at their campsite. We packed them out. I tried one, I knew why someone left them, but then, I hate pretty much all beer. As we neared the top we passed a campsite at which someone had left a few unopened beers. Knowing how much Jerry and Cheetah like beer, I threw a few in my pack, and Jerry took some too. I actually tried one later, and it didn't not even come close to living up to the expectation I had for a 'watermelon ale'. I should have known that beer turns pretty much anything to piss. It was good to remove them from the wilderness anyway. They really were just litter.


I kept hoping that at the next campsite someone would have left something good like a hard cider, but I had no such luck. We did have amazing scenery and cute chipmunks though, which is even better. As we neared the top of the mountain I started seeing more birds, and wildflowers became more abundant as well. It really was a gorgeous area.


A Cliff Chipmunk (Tamias dorsalis) chomping on some oak leaves. We've still got a ways to go . . . A Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (Polioptila melanura) flits about looking for insects.

A cool old snag. Lemmon Creek. Eroded boulder ridge.

A tributary to Lemmon Creek. Lemmon Creek flowing over bedrock. A cool bulbous hoodoo on Mount Lemmon.

Cheetah makes her way through the land of giant boulders. Cheetah racing along the trail. Hmm.. It's cool, and would be fun to explore, but I'm glad the trail doesn't go up there!

More cool hoodoos. Block of rock. Did I say that the trail got less steep? I lied . . .

A Common Raven (Corvus corax) surveys his domain near the top of Mount Lemmon. A Golden Columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha) in bloom on Mount Lemmon. The top of the mountain (I think).

There's not much better in this world than a smooth, fern-lined trail. Unless that smooth, fern-lined trail also crosses a babbling brook. What's next, rainbows and unicorns? A nice pool high in the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Cheetah climbing up and over a massive boulder. An Hepatic Tanager (Piranga flava) on Mount Lemmon. Cheetah and Jerry at the Marshall Gulch trail junction.

A Western Wood Pewee (Contopus sordidulus) observes our progress up the mountain. It's all down hill from here. No really! Scientific experiment or alien hominid trap? You decide.

It was evening time by the time we got to Marshall Gulch trailhead. The AZT sign there shows that the trail is pretty much a blank slate (see below). Just head northwest until you see two pine trees . . .

We hung out for a while and Cheetah bragged about her monstrous toe blister (she always has to prove she's tougher than us boys by hiking through more pain). After a while we started the drive back down the mountain and towards home, with another beautiful AZT passage (and a half) complete.


It's always good to be following a creek in the same direction it's going. This AZT sign seems to be saying that you just head northwest until you get to two pine trees. Route finding from here could get a little tricky . . . I love this photo I got of a Yellow-eyed Junco (Junco phaeonotus) at the Marshall Gulch Trailhead.


Cheetah always has to show everyone up by getting the biggest blister on the trip. She's such a show off! Cheetah, Jerry and I happy and relieved to have made it up the mountain. We started at 4,800 feet and ended at 7,450 feet, with a lot of up and down in between.

We hiked about 10 miles today.

NOTE: This trip report only covers the first part of Arizona Trail Passage 12, from Romero Pass to Marshall Gulch. To view the trip report for the second half of Passage 12, see my AZT Passage 12 trip report.


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