Pusch It!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Hiking to Pusch Peak

If you have ever been to Tucson or a surrounding area, you've probably seen the Catalina Mountains before. They're North of Tucson, stretch across a good portion of land, and have many peaks and canyons. We've hiked up several of these peaks, like Cathedral, Kimble, and Window, and we have hiked through a few of the canyons, like Pima and Sabino. We've driven up to Mt. Lemmon, the highest peak, a handful of times. But there was one very prominent peak that we had never hiked to: Pusch. The shortest one.

Poor Pusch. We were knocking it before we tried it. From everything we had heard, this hike wasn't even on an official trail, and it just runs straight up the mountain rather than being considerate enough to bring you there gradually. Given, this makes it less than 5 miles, but those miles are killer. It seemed silly to put that much effort in for a peak that only wishes it was as cool as the others. However, due to relentless peer pressure and a series of letterboxes, we finally gave in and decided to go for it.

I have to admit, letterboxing just hasn't been quite as appealing to me these days. It seems as though all the boxes being planted around us are drive-bys and require no effort or adventure. I'd much rather go on even a short hike to a box than go find ones that are sitting around in a park or behind a building. Originally, letterboxing was the only way to get me to go hiking, but now the tables have turned and the only way I'll letterbox is if it's on a hike!

However, the series that we found on the trails today was excellent, and they really were the highlight of this trail! (No offense Pusch.)

Another highlight of this hike to mention before I get to the not-so-fun parts: Spring has sprung, and the desert is blooming all around. There's no way anyone can deny that the desert is colorful and gorgeous this time of year. I especially love these flowers that grow off of cacti. How can a dry and hot desert plant produce such beauty?!

And here we come to the fun part. We were hiking on the Linda Vista loop trail, and at about the halfway point, we came to the "Trail" that leads up to Pusch. I use the word trail very lightly, almost sarcastically. This isn't a trail. If there's a sign that says this isn't a trail, don't do it. Definitely don't expect it to be a pleasant, leisurely stroll. Brace yourself for steep, questionable, and potentially dangerous situations.

They say you never know what you've got until it's gone - and that saying rings true for switchbacks. We complain about how steep or annoying switchbacks are while hiking up, but when we come to a trail that literally goes straight up a mountain, we find ourselves longing to take a more gradual way up, even if it means adding a mile or two to the hike. Pusch mercilessly takes you up a steep, rocky trail. Sometimes it's like gravel, and the rocks slide underneath your feet, other times it's a slick rock trail, and for a few glorious steps we would get a break from the steepness and rockiness and enjoy a brief period of dirt trail.

Sometimes, the hardest part isn't making it up these steep sections - the hardest part is knowing that you have to come back down through the slick parts. There was one part where we had to rock climb up a 10 foot drop. We took many breaks on the way up, usually using "the view" as an excuse to stop and look.

It wasn't all bad though - we were hiking with friends Mitch and Julianna, and together we all commiserated and persevered through the painful trail. Mitch had done this trail several times already, which helped out a lot as he was able to know where the trail was leading when it was difficult to follow. I was especially glad to have Julianna there too, because even as cool as these guys are, it's way more fun to hike with another girl! :) And I guess I should mention that I am always so appreciative of Curtis on hikes. He's so supportive and considerate, he helps me up or down when I need it, and I always feel safe with him. Because of these wonderful people, the hike was still enjoyable, and we had great conversations the whole morning!

Signs of man here - see the small remains of a dam in the distance?

Here's a look at the trail. Maybe it's not easy to tell, but it is going straight up. Yay.

Facing Northwest, with the Tortilitas in the background

The very last part of the trail to the peak was so easy, it was ridiculous. We turned off the "trail" that went on to Bighorn Mountain, and took the spur trail to Pusch Peak. We took off our backpacks and took in the view. 

Facing Northeast, at the North side of the Catalina mountains.

Like I said before, Pusch is the Westernmost peak in this mountain range, and stands thousands of feet below other peaks in the Catalinas. The trail gained 2000 miles over less than 2 miles, leaving us at a measly 5,361 feet above sea level. Still, the view from the top was unique and impressive, and gave a great look at Tucson, North of Tucson, and all the other peaks in the rest of the Catalina Mountain range.

Facing West, toward Tucson Mountain Park

Facing South, to the Santa Rita Mountains and Tucson

Zoomed in on our city :)

East, toward the rest of the Catalina Mountains

We stayed up at the peak for nearly an hour - long enough to forget about the difficult downhill hike we still had to do! The sky had a good cloud cover, which not only made it cooler, but also made the views even prettier. We ate and took lots of pictures and enjoyed not hiking. :)

Julianna and I! :)

Bros.

Our happy hiking group!

Some cool living things we saw at the top were the swallows. They were soaring all over, and made a fun "zoom!" noise when they flew right past us. We also saw a couple hummingbirds that came quite close to us.

The scary living things we saw was a swarm of bees! We were sitting there eating dehydrated fruits when suddenly, we heard this loud buzzzzing noise! "Get down!" said Mitch, and we all ducked close to the ground, hiding the fruit. It was scary, but also cool, as we were able to see the swarm moving from one place to another. They passed by and we relaxed. We survived...little did we know, this was only round one. Us 1, bees 0.

We started to head back when it was close to 1. Just as we expected, going down was just as difficult as coming up. We took each step cautiously as to not slide down the rocks. I used Curtis many times to step down from tall drop offs. 

We were nearing the end of the "not a trail" section when we heard it again - more bees! It all happened too quickly - one stung Curtis before we could even react. They were swarming around him, and he took off running to get away while the rest of us dropped to the ground again. Then Mitch suddenly said in a panicked voice, "Oh crap, these are killer bees! We need to run!" Julianna and I both did as he said, now terrified. Killer bees? KILLER? That's just a word, right? They don't actually KILL you, right?? These are the thoughts that flashed through my mind as we ran down the steep incline. Just seconds ago, each step was careful and deliberate, now we were running as fast as we could down the slick rock without even a second thought. We kept going till we reached Curtis, and no more buzzing could be heard.

Mitch then explained what happened: These weren't your ordinary bees, they were Africanized Bees (misnomered Killer Bees). These bees are a hybrid of the Western honeybees, first introduced to Brazil in the 1950's to increase honey production, but they escaped captivity in 1957 and have since moved all over, from South America, to Central, and finally North America in 1985. They're currently mostly found in the Southern states of the US. 

What makes these more dangerous than your typical bee is that they are much more aggressive and protective of their hive. They have assigned "Sentry bees" that swarm around the hive to protect it, and if anyone comes near, they attack. They start by "head-butting" anyone who comes too close, then follow that up by stinging. Once one has stung, the others will sense that and all swarm to sting that same area. There have been many recorded deaths even in the US. Mitchell knew all of this, and he said when we were lying on the ground waiting for them to pass, he saw them start head butting Julianna and I, and knew right then that we had to get out of there.

God was certainly watching out for us on this hike - it was a miracle that we only got away with one sting, and thank God that Curtis didn't have any sort of allergic reaction! He hadn't ever been stung before, so we had no idea how he would react to it. According to Mitch, he's never seen anyone have as little of a reaction than Curtis did. Mitch had a first aid kit and was able to remove the stinger, and we were able to continue on. Praise God!

Well, running away from the bees made that last part of the "not a trail" section go by quickly, and before we knew it, we were back on the Linda Vista trail. We found the last letterboxes in the series before calling it a day and making it back to our Jeeps. Oh, but we did happen to hear the buzzzzzing one more time, and saw another swarm. We escaped that one without too much of a scare - Us 2, bees 1.

Because of the bees on this hike, we warn anyone in AZ who might want to do this hike to wait until later in the fall. It's only going to get worse over the summer, and it isn't safe at all with their hive being somewhere along the trail! We emailed forest services to let them know of the potential danger. Just hiking the Linda Vista loop trail should be fine though. 

Also, I don't understand why anyone would want to hike on the "not a trail" to Pusch anyway, so just go hike any other trail in the Tucson area. Really. ;)

Hiking in the Tortolita Mountains

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Hiking in the Tortolita Mountain range

We planned to do this hike the week before leaving for Supai - we needed something else to look forward to once that adventure was over! Even though we were planning on hiking 12+ miles, we still let ourselves sleep in and took our time getting ready. Only 12 miles? Last Saturday we did 20. Ha!

Facing South/Southwest. The mountain range in the distance on the left is the Santa Ritas; the closer one on the right is Tucson Mountain park.

The Tortolita Mountains are in Marana, Northwest of Tucson. We had never done any hiking in this area, but we had been warned to not attempt in the warmer months. Out here, if the sun is shining, it will beat down on you wherever you are - there is no shade! As you can see from all my pictures, it was very overcast most of the day. Thankfully it never rained, but it was quite chilly when we left. Once we started hiking, we were able to stay quite warm though, even without jackets!

Facing North, halfway to our destination

The trails all begin around the same area on the Wild Burro Trail, which follows a wash through a canyon for 1 ½ miles then branches off in all directions. We chose which trails we'd be taking by where the letterboxes were, and set off on the Upper Javelina trail. This one took us up a hill and over some ridges for about a mile. The hardest parts on this trail were these large rocks that we had to climb over or get around. Sometimes we had to stop and look for where the trail was going. I wondered if they actually made the trails around the boulders, or if there was a large rockfall recently! 

We would say that this wasn't strenuous at all - but now I have to wonder how difficult it would be if we hadn't just done Havasupai last week. It's hard for me to accurately describe these trails when comparing them to the more difficult things I've done. Throughout this whole hike, we had less than 1000 feet in elevation change, so I think it's okay to say it's one of the easier areas to hike in the area.

Oh, and we especially appreciated that these trails are dog-friendly! Charlotte did so good and walked almost the entire way. I think she enjoys hopping up and over rocks. If she had the choice to walk on the flat trail or on top of the rocks that lined the trails, she always chose the rocks. Always. Then she would decide to stop on one and just stare out at the view, taking it all in. While it was a tad annoying because we wanted to keep walking, we couldn't help but let her have her moment - it was just adorable. :)

Near the end - the white thing on the right is the second bathtub we've come across while hiking.

After the Upper Javelina Trail, we followed the Wild Mustang Trail for ½ a mile before getting on the Cochie Spring Trail for the last 3 miles. It really didn't feel too long because for most of that, we were walking along a mostly-flat ridge. We ended up hiking 6 miles in less than 3 hours. We probably could have gone much faster if it weren't for Charlie...but where's the fun in that? ;)

Curtis and Charlie, letterboxing!

We had a chilly lunch sitting on the dam, being creeped out by the old windmill creeeeaakingg as the wind blew. The only one not afraid of it was Charlie...once we reached the end, she started smelling around and checking out the area. The only way we could get her back was with peanut butter.

Charlie with the creepy windmill!

Just the two of us...

...And now with our small dog!

She makes taking selfies fun :)

Facing Northeast, somewhere in the Tortolitas

After having a quick lunch and practically freezing to death, we began hiking back. Curtis helped Charlie down or over a few rocky spots, and carried her when she was being stubborn, but she did well with keeping up with us. We only saw 3 groups of people all day, which Charlie loved, and the only wildlife spotted was a stink bug, which we did not let Charlie meet.

On the way back, we took some different side trails to get another box. At this point, I knew Charlie was getting tired, so I thought it'd be best if she stayed with me while Curtis went after the box, but Charlie decided that she wanted to show how loyal she was by following Curtis at his quick pace. She would go chasing after him, whimpering the whole way, while I tried to keep up with her. When Curtis stopped to take a break and appreciate her efforts to keep up, she laid down and fell asleep almost right away. I then decided to sit with her and make sure she got some rest while Curtis went on to grab the box, and then came back to meet us. 

After this, Curtis carried Charlie until we reached the wash and the Wild Burro trail. She really seems to enjoy walking through sand or loose dirt and kicking it up as she goes. We made it back to our truck around 4 - making our total for today 14 miles in 6.5 hours. Not too bad, but not as impressive as last week. :)

One example of the large rocky bits that the trail went...around? through? Who knows!

We finished by grabbing one more box and going to Culvers for dinner. Once we got home, I carried our exhausted Charlie into our apartment and laid her down on our bed, where she stayed from 6 that night... until 8 the next morning. :)

Red Ridge Trail

Hello from the desert! Yeah, we're still alive down here. There's no denying it's HOT. Highs have been in the 100's all week - it even smells hot! However, as you'll see, there isn't really much different about our lifestyle compared to during the winter months. We like it this way. :) Here's pictures and stories for our adventures this weekend:

Letterboxing in Marana around 1pm 6/13. Looking out at the Catalina Mountains. We just went for a drive-by box, and then a mile long walk. As you can see, there really isn't any shade…hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!!

On our "hot date" - 105 degrees ;) Curtis says he was making that face because of the heat. I refused to sit on that hot bench.

"Curtis, look up!"

"It's too hot!"

At least there was a breeze…a hot breeze, but breeze nonetheless!

Happy to report there was no scary wildlife on the trail this day. The only thing that could make it better would be a vehicle with air conditioning. But hey, #firstworldprobs, am I right? At least our truck still drives! :) 

Our next hike took place yesterday, June 14, on the Red Ridge Trail in the Catalina Mountains.

Wow, a great view right at the beginning? Yeah, that's because for this trail, you drive up the Catalina Highway to Mt. Lemmon, and hike the trail down into a canyon, then back up. It was about 6.5 miles round trip.

We went with Mitch, Roxy, and Mitch's dog, Shadow. There were no letterboxes on this trail, (well, before we hiked it at least!) this was all altitude training for hikes with much higher elevation. 

The weather was in our favor - since we were around 8000 feet above sea level to begin with, it was much cooler at the start. It warmed up of course, but as we went further down, there was more and more shade. 

We made it to our destination in 1.5 hours. 3.25 miles, losing 2500 feet of elevation. It was very steep, there were some points where it was easier to run than walk. It was especially hard on our knees, but we took it easy and pressed through. This stream (above & below pictures) was at the end of our path. Sadly, not clean enough to sit in and cool off!

The end of the trail is interesting to Mitch & Curtis because there used to be cowboy camps and gold mining in this area. We walked around a bit and explored the area before having a small picnic.

The above picture is a very special location - this is where Curtis & Mitch went camping in December of 2012, and on that night they discussed and prayed over the idea of Curtis proposing to me. And of course, that's what happened a few short weeks later!

Another cool piece of history - but not our history - the patent date on this gold processing equipment was 1890!

More signs of a cowboy camp…and also the "demon mountain cows" that Curtis & Mitch claim exist but I have yet to see proof!

After about an hour of resting at the bottom, we began the hike back up…but didn't make it too far before the steep trail had us all out of breath! I knew the whole way up that it would be difficult, but actually having to do it was more difficult than I thought.

We wanted a picture with Shadow, but she would only pose with us if Mitch was there!

Mitch, Roxy, & Shadow

Such a good dog - just one of the very few times she actually sat down for a break!

Above is a picture of the trail - it got very narrow at some points, and we recommend long pants if you plan to ever hike this trail. 

Selfies while taking a break together. This isn't the best one but I thought it was pretty cute. My hair gives you an idea of how windy it was!

The better one. So thankful he's so patient with me and encourages me, while not pushing me too hard!

The above picture and below 3 make up a panorama of the view to the North. Sometimes Google pieces them together for me (since my camera doesn't) but it didn't this time. Use your imagination!

We also found some blossoming flowers on the way up - we completely missed them on the way down, but I was grateful to see them now to take another break!

Finally finished! Shadow rode on Curtis' lap the whole way up & down the mountain. After getting back to Mitch's home, we spent a fun afternoon and evening with friends, complete with delicious steaks and a game of Risk. And that was our weekend!