Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
from the sandy wash. If you've been counting, you'll have climbed more than 700
steps from the trailhead to the saddle, and there will be far fewer steps ahead.
From this first saddle, you catch sight of the trail curving around fairly flatly to
the right and several hundred yards in front of you. Behind you, to the west, you can
see the farmlands of the Avra Valley. The rectangular water ponds in the valley are
a groundwater-recharging facility run by Tucson Water, using CAP (Central Arizona
Project) water channeled from the Colorado River via canals and pipelines. The trail
swings briefly south as it continues with more steps through a garden-like area of
truck-sized granite boulders scattered around, inviting exploration.
Soon you're heading back east, finally walking along a trail without steps—this
is the trail you could see from the first saddle. To your north, beyond the well-defined
boundary of the protected area of the national park, are views of the houses and trail-
ers of the Picture Rocks area of the Avra Valley, along with various mountains rising
out of the flat desert floor. Two conical formations near a mining area are named Twin
Peaks; to their right lies the double-ended mountain of Panther Peak and Safford Peak,
and to the far distant northwest is the steep profile of Picacho Peak.
The trail rises almost imperceptibly for a while and then makes a few quick
switchbacks to arrive at a second saddle, at about 3,350 feet elevation and 0.7 mile
from the first saddle. Suddenly, you get a view over the ridge to the south—the build-
ing with the curved front and parking lot, just over a mile away and 800 feet below
you, is Saguaro National Park's Red Hills Visitor Center.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search