Lava Flow Trail

Our second short hike at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument today was the Lava Flow Trail. this is a 1 mile loop trail. It was still about 29F with a chilly breeze. The park is at 7,000 ft.

Sunset Crater in the near distance

Behind us, we could see the San Francisco Mountains

To the northwest is O'Leary Peak, just outside the park boundary

Looking up at a Spatter Cone

Another spatter cone

view of the San Francisco Mountains across the lava flow

There was some ice on the trail today

Another view of Sunset Crater

view of a squeeze-up

squeeze up from the other side

View of Sunset Crater across the lava flow

There were some large chunks of lava

 

Lennox Crater Trail

We drove up to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument to do two short loop hikes. The first one was the Lennox Crater Trail, 2.6 miles with 200 ft of gain. It was 29F when we started with a chilly breeze. The park is at 7,000 ft.

We began at the east side and hiked along the lave field.

 

Through the trees we could see O'Leary Peak, just outside of the monument

zoom of O'Leary Peak with a fire lookout on top

There were a couple of view points along the trail where we could see the nearby San Francisco Mountains

Another view point further along the trail of the San Francisco Mountains.

zoom of the San Francisco Mountains

zoom of the highest peak (maybe Humphries Peak)

Butcher Jones Trail

We drove out to Saguaro Lake to hike the 5 mile round trip Butcher Jones Trail. We enjoyed this very  pretty hike.

We arrived at the trailhead during sunrise, it was 33F when we started hiking.

The trail began through the trees.

The Butcher Jones Trail goes most of the way around a peninsula on Saguaro Lake, so there are many lovely lake views. We saw lots of coots in the water.

View from Peregrin Point

a saguaro skeleton

new growth on damaged saguaros

The trail went through another section of trees

View going around an inlet looking towards Saguaro Lake and,

the view looking back into the inlet and over towards Four Peaks

Saguaro Lake from further down the trail

another look towards Four Peaks

One of my favorite views along the trail, looking south towards Saguaro Lake

This rock formation is on the end of the peninsula, so the trail here cuts across to the other side of the peninsula

View of Saguaro Lake and Four Peaks from near the end of the trail

End of the trail overlook

We followed a boot path we thought might lead to the lake, but it was getting marshy so we turned around after we spotted a cardinal in the bush.

On the way back, we took the short spur trail down to Burro Cove

View from Burro Cove

We found a nice spot at Burro Cove to take a snack break

Heading back to the main trail

This is a lovely hike both coming and going

 

Wasson Peak Loop Hike in Saguaro National Park

We drove down to the King Canyon Trailhead at Saguaro National Park (West) to do an 8 mile loop hike to Wasson Peak with 1,800 ft of gain. Our route: King Canyon Wash Trail to the Sendero Esperanza Trail to the Hugh Norris Trail to the spur trail to Wasson Peak and back down to the trailhead on the King Canyon Trail.

Starting up the King Canyon Wash, a 0.9 mile trail.

The wash was mostly in the shade, which kept us nice and cool this morning. Wasson Peak is behind the peak in the photo.

Shortly after joining the  Sendero Esperanza Trail, we spotted what looks like an abandoned cabin near the picnic site.

We hiked 1.4 miles along the Sendero Esperanza Trail  heading northwest. Lots of cacti and views along the route.

We saw several ocotillos beginning to bud.

buds on an ocotillo

Further up this trail, we found the remains of another abandoned cabin.

nest in a teddy bear cholla cactus

Looking back towards the southeast, lovely mountains in the distance

The teddy bear cholla had bright new growth on the ends

Buckhorn cactus in front of the Ridgeline along the Hugh Norris Trail

We headed east along the Hugh Norris Trail for about 2 miles, view to the north 

The gain up the Hugh Norris Trail was fairly gentle. I loved the views here to the southeast

So many saguaros!!!

The trail goes up and through the saddle on top of this peak

Looking back at Amole Peak as we hike up to the saddle

After coming a very short distance down from the saddle, there is a 0.3 mile spur trail out to Wasson Peak and back. Wasson Peak at 4,687 ft is the highest peak in the Tucson Mountains.

View to the north from Wasson Peak

View to the east from Wasson Peak

Several switchbacks go down on the King Canyon Trail from Wasson Peak, the views to the southeast are gorgeous!

Fruit on top of a barrel cactus

The King Canyon Trail was 3.2 miles down to the trailhead. Lots of winding trail among the hills, with distant views and

lots of saguaros

Looking back towards the peak in front of Wasson Peak, much further down the trail

Looking across King Canyon Wash to the cabin ruins near the picnic area where we were this morning .

Between the hills, we had lovely views of the distant mountains to the southwest

We saw several mule dear up on the hillside as we were near the trailhead.