Wilderness of Rocks 8-14-10

Posted: 7/27/2010, 7:12 am Post subject: Wilderness of Rocks 8-14-10

Starting to put together a plan for a weekend in the Wilderness of Rocks area with a hike to be planned for Saturday and the possibility of throwing a few ropes up some where in the area to climb a route or two on Sunday. Plans are just beginning and I thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone else was interested. Join us if you will if not we shall go anyway and just alter plans as needed! Awesome looking place and I have never been there so I am looking forward to it!

Planned hike is Mount Lemmon/Lemmon Rock Loop http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=785
Start this hike on the Mt. Lemmon trailhead at the very top of the Catalina highway. Meet at the TH at 0900 Saturday morning!

Planned Camping area is the general area of Mt Bigalow
Go 1.1 miles past the Palisades Visitor Center (which is at milepost 19.9 on Mt. Lemmon Hwy ) and turn right onto Mt. Bigelow Road, there is a sign. Make another sharp right and follow the dirt road down. Campsites will mostly be on your left, the ones on the right did not appear to be very flat. The road ends at the radio towers (at the Butterfly TH)
http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Phoenix,+Maricopa,+Arizona&ll=32.414748,-110.728927&spn=0.0146,0.041199&z=16…the college-aged kids we were camped near were at the last campsite near the towers. They were no trouble, and far quieter than a typical AZH gathering, aside from having some car alarm issues (like someone else we know around AZH Wink

)

Turns out AMC is having a climb in the area on Sunday which will provide us with a good lead climber or two so Todd and I signed up for that . Since neither of us can lead climb.

Thinking we won't head down till early Saturday AM cause I have been working a lot of late Fridays lately so it is just too ify as to weather or not I will be off in time to go down Friday.

Planning continues.......any further suggestions?

wanderingsoul · Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 2285 Location: Gilbert AZ

Sorry Diane, I had to unregister myself. I'll PM you. Dr wasn't keen on my idea of hiking camping this weekend. Crying or Very sad

I was looking forward to this.
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azbackpackr · Posted: 8/12/2010, 4:37 pm Post subject:

Bigelow.

SkyIslandHiker · Posted: 8/13/2010, 7:52 am Post subject:

Here's what the Wilderness of Rocks was like last weekend:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TucsonHikers/message/4293

Great hike Deborah!

Bill
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azbackpackr · Posted: 8/13/2010, 9:45 am Post subject:

Hmmm, you failed to mention that one of that trio was me! One of my hiking companions had experienced flash flood on a hike. We could see by the bent grasses along the banks that the water had been much higher recently. So we turned around. We drove up to the top of the mtn. and hiked Lemmon Rock Trail down and back up again, and stopped to visit the lookout as well. It was a fun day.

After a week down there I am dying to move back!

desertgirl · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 3350 Location: Chandler, AZ

I don't think I am going -- decided to stay home & do chores Sad

Enjoy your climb Diane!
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azbackpackr · Posted: 8/14/2010, 3:28 am Post subject:

Here is one of two hikes I did in the Wilderness of Rocks area last weekend:
http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=12067

SkyIslandHiker · Posted: 8/14/2010, 1:18 pm Post subject:

Nice photos, Elizabeth. BTW, what's up with the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act sign at the Lemmon Rock Lookout? The only improvement I see is the portable shower Smile

Bill
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azbackpackr · Posted: 8/14/2010, 1:44 pm Post subject:

You got me.

SkyIslandHiker · Posted: 8/16/2010, 11:43 am Post subject:

Believe it or not, that "stimulus" sign at the lookout was was gone yesterday. What a waste of tax payer money. I looked around and sure didn't see any improvemens that would warrant the cost of that sign:
http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=149509

Bill
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azbackpackr · Posted: 8/16/2010, 11:59 am Post subject:

I wish I knew if it was trailwork, to open up the trails as the trees fall?

SkyIslandHiker · Posted: 8/16/2010, 12:33 pm Post subject:

Just heard from a reliable source that stimulus money was used to upgrade the electrical sytem at the lookout. Good project but still doesn't warrant the cost of that sign.
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Hikngrl · Posted: 8/16/2010, 3:59 pm Post subject:

Well the hike dwindled down to just the two of us and Todd and I got out of town much later than we expected so we didn't get to the TH till way to late to attempt the whole loop and be able to be in good shape for the climb the next day so since there were people countiong on us for the climb we decided to take it easy and do an out and back for a ways into the loop.

We found a nice little spot in the pine needles just before ya leave the pines and spent a bit of time chilling then headed back out. There were wild flowers galore and the area is just beautiful! Will look forward to another chance to go and do the whole loop. Next time I will start the day no further away than Tucson so we can get a much earlier start!

The climb was just beyond words fun! Can't wait to get out there in our AZ wilderness again really soon!
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desertgirl · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 3350 Location: Chandler, AZ

So when are we going back ? Mr. Green

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wanderingsoul · Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 2285 Location: Gilbert AZ

Sounds like you had a nice time, despite the late start and all.
Chillin in the Pines a hike and a climb. Sounds like a full weekend Wink

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Wanderingsoul (Michelle)

Positive Thinking Is the Spark that Makes Dreams Happen~~~Unknown