Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Overview
Sentinel Peak, a small, outlying summit at the southeastern end of the Tucson Moun-
tains, overlooks the city and gives great views of downtown and the whole city
spreading out beyond, backed by the Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains. Many
visitors simply drive up to the upper parking lot and walk a few hundred yards to the
best city views. My description starts from the lower parking lot and follows an easy,
scenic trail through the upper parking lot to the summit.
Route Details
The huge letter
A
on the east side of Sentinel Peak, visible from much of Tucson,
stands for the University of Arizona, whose students constructed and then white-
washed it on the mountain in 1915, following a football victory. Since then, students
have whitewashed it annually, with a patriotic change to white, red, and blue after
9/11. It's even been colored green for St Patrick's Day! In recent years, Tucson's Parks
and Recreation department has maintained and whitewashed the logo.
The trail leaves the southwest corner of the lower parking lot at a sign for the Gil-
bert Escandón Jiménez Trail, named in 2013 for a local resident and hiker who has
been climbing the route for more than 70 years. The thin, rocky trail goes south and
starts by paralleling the road to the upper parking lot. Look over your left shoulder for
views of downtown. Very soon, the trail veers away from the road, and 0.1 mile later
it hairpins, crossing a small gully.
As you climb the hairpins, the Santa Catalina Mountains come into view to the
north. About 0.25 mile from the trailhead, you reach a T-junction where you turn left
(south). An additional 0.3 mile takes you to a ridge from which you can see the south-
ern end of the Tucson Mountains to the southwest and the Santa Ritas to the southeast.
The trail follows this scenic ridge to the east and soon comes to a view of a hill topped
with a stone gazebo, or ramada. This is the western end of Sentinel Peak, which is
circumnavigated by a one-way road going past the
A
logo and the upper parking lot,
though neither can be seen from this point.
The trail switchbacks down to the road, and you cross it at the point where the
one-way loop around Sentinel Peak begins. Hiking along the road is not recommen-
ded because it is narrow and curving, and it has no pedestrian path. Instead, pick up
