Finger Rock Guard Hike

We reach the parking lot at the top of Alvernon Road to begin our hike to Finger Rock Guard, the prominent spire of rock, right of center.  To the left is Finger Rock, not reachable without climbing gear and to the left of that, Prominent Point.  It is 9:20am on an unusually cool morning, 48 degrees.  I've completed this hike 4 times, taking around 6 hours so we are fine with the kind of late start time.

Tracy on the left, Amy on the right.  Tracy is a member of SARA (Southern Arizona Rescue Association), very fit and having a 31 lb pack for the exercise as a handicap, seemed appropriate.

There is a short, steep start and then the route is moderate for about 1.3 miles as it parallels a ravine.  Then.....

....the trail steepens but at least we had great views to the southwest and of course of the small diameter, Finger Rock to our left..

Finger Rock Trail, which oddly does not take you to Finger Rock (upper left above) but instead to Mount Kimball, is bordered by tall grass and other vegetation.  I've not hiked very often the last couple of months so have not seen how overgrown are the areas around the maintained trails. Not a surprise given the very healthy monsoons of the last two years but I did begin to wonder what the off trail portion of our hike would be like.

Ohhhhh, what wondrous views we have the opportunity to enjoy.

We reach a point where the Finger begins to disappear behind the Guard and soon reach a plateau at about mile 2.8 which signals the start of our departure from the maintained trail to a social trail.  However, there was so much grass, I wasn't certain this was the point so I hiked a little farther, confirmed the plateau had been reached and we waded into thick grass. I was glad the cool temperature probably drove the rattlers into their dens.  It would suck to hear their distinctive buzz, look down and have no idea where were the fangs, beneath the grass.

We descend, steeply into a ravine.  I suppose because the down climb is a north facing slope, the social trail was not overly difficult to follow as we reach the bottom. It is a beautiful spot with water trickling into a small pool. Then....

....the next .7 miles is a grueling climb having an average grade of 31% but at least the grand views are always there too.  My previous trips were at about the same time of the year and I covered this section in 23 minutes but today.....an hour and twenty minutes!!!!!  

Between not seeing the trail, frequent checks of the gps route, stepping on hidden obstacles, etc... well, it was brutal.  My companions began some low level grumbling and I feared a revolt.  

We finally reach the saddle below the Guard.  Once we reach the labyrinth of spires and rocks on our way to the top, there will be no more grass yet still, more of the stuff to navigate before we reach that point.  One of us thought to look at the time and it was almost 1:30!!!!!  Four hours to reach this point and likely another hour to the top and then, too late, way too late if we wanted to avoid hiking in the dark.

There was common agreement we should turn around.  It sucks because you put in all this work just for the pleasure of navigating the labryinth to the top of the Guard.  In the distance, Table Mountain and to the right, Table Tooth.  Awesome view! 

Amy poses to show all the trail junk that had accumulated on her clothing.  Not sure all the clothing will survive the onerous plucking of junk from the fabric.  After a snack and drink....

...we begin the descent to the aforementioned ravine, then a brief up climb and then down the maintained trail. The hike was slightly less than 8 miles but 4000' of climbing and all that bushwhacking!!! Brutal yet it left me disappointed to have not completed the hike so I'm likely to go back, start earlier, and enjoy the top of the Guard experience.