The Bathtub Hike

A day of some rain and a cool down in our temps so went on a fun hike out of Catalina State Park.  Odd that the destination is not on the park map as it is a well worn trail with much use.  The route is commonly referred to as the "Alamo Canyon Loop" or the hike to the "Bathtub".

 We began our hike at the Romero Ruins trail but quickly left it via a well worn trail, climbed some stairs and were off and running.  OK, full disclosure, there are several junctions and I guessed wrong at two of them but eventually, we did get going.  After about 1.5 miles of on route hiking (way more because of my mistakes) you emerge above a fairly steep ravine.  For perspective, way at the top of the above image are a couple of guys.

We followed the trail where it entered the ravine and then did some boulder hopping to a very nice overlook where we got a good look at the falls that tumbles into the bathtub.

I climbed a crag and had good views up canyon.  We explored....

….up canyon too and came upon a broad slickrock area with more water running.  Beautiful spot.  We returned to the trail of this counterclockwise loop and after descending, enjoyed a nice walk through a nice grassy area where many of the....

….dormant Mesquite and other trees had a heavy population of Mistletoe.  This parasitic plant sucks water and nutrients from the host tree and causes the death of many trees.  Finished with 6 miles and 1000' of climbing.