Everything You Want in a Hike

Gates Pass Road where at the top, there is a small parking area with restrooms.  Bushmaster Peak is on the right side of the ridge and the entire loop is only 4 miles.  When leaving home, I brought two bottles, became thirsty and began drinking from one.  I intended to stop at a market and buy another but forgot so now, miles from a store, I have a little over 1 liter.  Hmmm, should be enough as long as there are no complications.....

There are a myriad of trails leading from the parking lot where visitors have scampered around but eventually I find one leading up a ridge.  I also have a gpx track but it shows shoving through a ravine up to a saddle where the ridge trail meets.  The gpx route is from 2003 and may predate the trail I am following. Windy day and a lot of dust in the air, obscuring the view yet still, a great view.

Hey!  There is the Old Tucson Studio where many western movies and series have been filmed.  Including Tombstone, Gunfight at the OK Corral, The High Chaparral series, Little House on the Prarie, etc...

Oh geez, Jumping Cholla cactus.  Stay away!  Those suckers seem to just jump at you, hence the name. 

The trail is fairly easy to follow as I have risen above the park and now walking mostly flat along a saddle to the next major climb that will take me behind the mountain range seen in the first image.  Note the mountains in the distance, barely visible where normally they would be vivid.

The trail climbs to the left and then to the right.  Lot of loose gravel and at times, a small bit of exposure.  Nothing too bad just requires that one pay attention.

This hike is in the Tucson Mountains, which I rarely visit as I find the hiking in this range boring but this was turning into an interesting event.  I am walking behind the mountains and about to come out to a saddle prior to what I think is Bushmaster Peak, there in the distance.

At the aforementioned saddle, I can see the parking area where my hike commenced.  At the time of the hike, I thought I had just been on the peak and thought the trail would drop into this canyon.  Instead.....

.....it stayed on a narrow spine of rock and headed toward......

.....this wall where a faint trail went up.  OK, now my fluid level became a concern.  The gpx track did not go up this but rather well to the left.  When I walked down to where the track showed I should be, nothing to suggest anyone had ever passed through.  I thought it possible the faint trail went up to a peak but perhaps ended requiring me to turn around and come back down. I scouted around, considered my options.  I returned to the saddle and.....

...studied the option of going directly to the parking lot, off trail.  I know, looks easy but what you can never see is where the slope ends and a cliff allows no way forward.  I look at the spacing of the Saguaros, which is encouraging so I decide to hike to that formation in the middle where I can study more options.  Reaching it, I decide to circle to the right and head for that large boulder where it appears there is a break in the terrain.  Sure enough.....

....there is but some sketchy down climbing.  And yeah, always watching for rattlers.  Don't want to place my hand on a ledge and have one of those snag me.

Hooray, I reach the bottom.  Entirely different perspective from here.  I continue hiking up and down small ridges until.....

.....yay, my car!  I am out of fluids but for a camel like me, all is well. Later I found out, yes, I should have gone up the slope via the faint trail and then it follows a rocky ridge and descends to the parking lot.  Oh well, a reason to come back and do it correctly.  Fun hike with lots of boulder hopping and route finding.  Finished with only 3 miles and 1100' of climbing.