Aqua Caliente Hill Hike in Freezing Temp

All the times I have sat in my car, low 30's, cloudy, windy or calm, in cycling gear, reluctant to get out and join a group for an Ohio winter ride.  I was always glad I did get out and do the ride and for the first time, I experienced that in AZ but not in cycling gear, hiking gear.  I drove to the trailhead on the far east side of Tucson.  Temperature was 39, wind was howling as it often does on this side of the mountains. I was motivated to hike so got out and began a solo effort to Aqua Caliente Hill.

Nestled between the Catalinas and Rincons, this "hill" is a fun climb and I was eager to see if I could bag a Strava KOM.  4.5 miles to the peak and along the way following an easy to follow trail you encounter a great false summit fake-outs.  The trail zig-zags up the face of the above but.....

….just prior to the peak, the trail veers right and you pass the peak and then see....

….ugh and is that snow up there?  The high today was forecast to be 50 and a full 17 degrees below normal, again. It was 71 degrees on Monday and much lower every day since, including of course today, Saturday.  It will be another 4 days of this and then a return to normal.

What an awesome view as I catch a group and look to the east at a vast expanse of mountains with snow on them.

The group waves me through and about half way up a very steep final climb, I encounter the snow.  Nothing serious at first but then with about 200 yards from the summit....

….ok, still not deep, maybe 1" but it is packed and icy in places so that slows me as I pick my foot steps carefully but eventually make it....

….to the peak and there find a couple of guys sheltering in front of a tree.  The wind was howling and my gloved hands were numb.  They offered me a seat on one of the rocks but I did not want to linger.  They had a very interesting stove that is fed by twigs and it put off decent heat too.  Note one guy was wearing shorts!  The temperature or maybe wind chill would have been under 30 up here.

The group arrives and after signing the summit register, I snapped.....

….a few images and.....

….headed down.

That portion covered with snow was treacherous but once through there, I hustled down and close to the bottom, could see precip falling in the distance. The temperature warmed and I was able to take my gloves off and unzip my jacket.  I finished with 9.5 miles and 3000' of climbing.  As for Strava…...

….I must be the king of 2nd place.  I did get the KOM for the top half of the climb so was happy with that. Well, onward and upward.