Note that parking at the Madera Canyon trailheads requires a $8 fee (or some kind of pass, such as the one I have since I am of advanced age).
I am now hiking with a Garmin GPS 66i, so I have detailed mileage and other information that I include. A person by no means needs a GPS on this trail. You would have to be daft to get off the trail or lost.
Early October in 2021 is some of southern Arizonas best weather. Along the trail, flowers of the Asteraceae family (sunflower family) are putting on their usual end of summer show. After a summer of hearty monsoon rains, the springs are all running nicely and there is even still water running in the creek.
I began hiking at 1:30 in the afternoon, and arrived at my intended campsite at 5:40. This was at least an hour later than I envisioned and I barely had time to get my tent upo before sunset (which is 6:00 PM this time of year). Here are details of the hike up:
11:37 AM - jump in my car in Tucson 1:40 PM - start hiking from the trailhead, 5400 feet elevation 2:30 PM - rest stop at 6200 feet, 82 degrees 2:53 PM - short stop at little saddle, 6500 feet, 1.8 miles 3:25 PM - Josephine Saddle, 7000 feet, 2.57 miles, 74 degrees 4:28 PM - possible bivy spot, 7785 feet, 3.62 miles, 76 degrees. 4:45 PM - Bellows spring, 8000 feet, 3.91 miles, 70 degrees. 5:37 PM - Baldy saddle, 8600 feet, 4.69 miles, 64 degrees.My moving speed up to Josephine Saddle was 1.7 miles per hour. At the end of the hike my moving speed was 1.5 miles per hour. Probably nobody else cares much about this, but it is an important number for me as I consider my abilities at age 69. I note that I took almost exactly 4 hours to cover 4.69 miles, so a conservative "rule of thumb" at my age is to predict 1 mile per hour progress when various stops are included.
Bellows Spring was running nicely. I was planning on this as a water source, and filled up 3 liters of water, which was more than enough for both dinner and breakfast. As usual, I used it without filtering, but by law I must caution you that you should never do this.
Temperatures dropped to 50 degrees in the evening, which felt quite chilly along with a bit of wind, especially for someone who has grown used to hot Tucson summer temperatures. I slept under a down quilt in my Nemo Hornet tent. The forecast indicated a chance of rain, otherwise I would have cowboy camped under open skies. As it was, there was no rain, though I could see a lot of lightning far away to the east, probably in the Chiricahua and Pinaleno Mountains.
I was up shortly after sunrise. I had forgotten my headlamp, so there was little to do for 12 hours other than try to sleep. I forgot my tent stakes also (I had expected my tent to be a single package, "ready to go"), but managed without them with some inconvenience.
I have always considered a day hike to the summit of Mt. Wrightson a strenuous but entirely reasonable day hike. It is a round trip of 11.2 miles with an elevation gain of 4000 feet.
I met a woman named Jean from Quail Springs and had a nice talk with her. She told me that she hikes to the summit of Mt. Wrightson every week! This is something I proposed doing at the start of the summer (but never did). She says that she sometimes hikes to the summit twice a week, in particular when she and her husband are getting ready for a backpack trip in the Sierra in California. Jean is almost as old as I am, as she was kind enough to reveal, so I find this an inspiration.
I saw quite a few deer! And they all seemed quite tame and unconcerned that they were grazing less than 100 feet from me. No doubt the deer are also doing well with all the vegetation prospering after all of our monsoon rains.
At Josephine saddle I made the choice to descend via the Super trail, which is not what I ordinarily do. My desire to investigate Sprung Spring was the main factor along with a desire for variety.
8:48 AM - start hiking down 11:27 AM - Josephine saddle 7163 feet, 2.16 miles 1.6 miles/hour 12:17 AM - "Fern junction" 6606 feet, 3.7 miles, 1.8 miles/hour 1:27 PM - Back at my car at the trailhead, 5652 feet, 5.9 miles 1.9 miles/hourSo, the hike down took 4.5 hours, 30 minutes longer than the hike up. The extra is due to interesting conversations along the way. My moving speed was an average of 1.9 miles/hour, significantly faster than my uphill speed. Nonetheless, for planning purposes a speed of 1 mile per hour still holds. I credit the easier grade on the super trail for most of my ability to move faster, but going downhill also must be acknowledged.
This snake was in no way threatening. It was in a panic to get away from me, and of course I was observing it closely. Eventually it got up off the trail and in the shadow of a bush and into a tidy resting coil and that is where I left it.
I have learned to observe new creatures carefully to try to collect an inventory of details for later identification when I get to my library at home. He had a rusty red-brown color, intermittent bands from side to side at fairly wide intervals, many spots below the midline on each side, which is something new and unique, and a face "painted" with a vertical white line in the middle and two semi-horizontal lines on each side. This information made identification as the Ridge Nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi) quite easy when I got home.
My camera was of course at the end of its battery life (and in fact turned itself off as I was trying to take a photo), so I include photos from the net. This is one of a handful of small and rare rattlesnakes that inhabit the mountains of southern Arizona. This is the first one I have seen in 50 years of actively roaming, so I consider seeing it pretty special.
And who would have known? This is the Arizona state reptile. It is certainly the most attractive of all the rattlesnakes I have seen in the state. I'll also mention in passing, the black tailed rattlesnake. I have also seen these in the Santa Ritas, and they are calm and pleasant creatures that seem to like boulder fields in the pine-oak zone.
There are two main disadvantages to the Super trail. It is longer and it is sunny and hot. However, my measurements show that it adds only 1.2 miles to the distance (between the trailhead and Josephine Saddle). There are several positive aspects that I realize on hiking down it this trip. First, it has views! The Old Baldy trail is always in the forest and never has views whereas there are numerous pleasant views from the Super trail. The other is the more pleasant grade. My old legs could just stretch out and get into a rhythmic pace on the Super trail, whereas the Old Baldy trail is steep, relentless, and in some places rugged.
My main reason though for choosing the Super trail on this descent was a desire to visit Sprung Spring. I was pleased to find Sprung Spring attractive and filled with water. This was only a month after a vigorous monsoon, so I wouldn't expect this all the time. In general, it may only be possible to obtain water using a filter from seeps uphill from the Spring. Also, near the bottom of the trail, I found running water in the stream which was something I also wanted to investigate.
So, the super trail has its place. The name is stupid, but don't blame me for that. If you are one of these people who can manage an early start, the super trail would be in the shade all the way to Josephine Saddle. In hot weather and mid day sun though, I would avoid it.
To be complete, I should note that the Super trail also has an upper portion (above Josephine Saddle). I met a woman coming down this who said that she likes to make a loop, coming down from Baldy Saddle via the super trail, simply because the longer and more gentle grade is easier on her knees. Be advised that this circles around the south side of the mountain and is open and sunny. During cool weather, this would offer both variety and nice views much of the way along. It does not however visit McBeth spring, this is along the Temporal canyon trail.
Stevia sp. (either S. plummerae or S. serrata) below Josephine saddle. Ageratina herbacea Heliomeris muliflora (check the sandpaper leaves) Tagetes lemmoni (mountain marigold) - aromatic leaves Dysphania graveolens (goosefoot, Amaranthaceae), literally everywhere, red stems.At this time of year (late summer, early autumn) the Asteraceae are putting on their big show. The grasses also are in fine form at the end of the summer and are worth admiring (and are so often overlooked).
I was able to observe a plant in bloom that I have been watching for some time. It has big round polygonal leaves and is quite conspicuous in some of the lower parts of Josephine Canyon. It is Roldana hartwegii (Hartweg's groundsel). The plants have now produced big clusters of small yellow "sunflower family" flowers. Yes it is an Asteraceae. Not what I had expected given the foliage.
I look up Roldana in good old "Arizona Flora" and of course it is not there. No doubt it used to have a different name. Surely it was not overlooked by the botanists of old. On a hunch, I check Senecio and sure enough there is a Senecio Hartwegi in Arizona Flora (page 948). It is italicized under Senecio Seemanii, so apparently there was head scratching going on about it when Arizona Flora was put together. Going back to the key to try to piece together a description, we find "Leaves suborbicular, about 10 cm, palmately 5-7 nerved from the base and conspicuously reticulate, shallowly repand-lobed and repand-dentate. Heads very numerous, small, in a broad panicle". That is a lot more than we usually get and sounds just right. The word "repand" is new to me -- it means "with a slightly wavy margin" or undulate.
This is modern botany's great failing and big mistake -- this endless renaming of things. Things should get a name and keep it, doggone it. But they are smoking the evolutionary crack and think they are working their way to a comprehensive family tree. It is a fools errand and it certainly makes working with the literature nearly impossible or at the very least a major pain in the ass. A pox upon them.
I have become fairly familiar with the plants in the Santa Catalinas, so I am always particularly interested in species that I see in the Santa Ritas and never see in the Catalinas. The above (Roldana) is one of these. The Santa Ritas (along with the Huachucas, Patagonias, and to some extent the Chiricahuas have a strong connection to the Sierra Madre in Mexico. Zoologists note a line that runs more or less along interstate 10. The Catalinas and Rincons are north of this line and have a much weaker connection to the Sierra Madre. Something to bear in mind. Some other species I see in the Santa Ritas, but not in the Catalinas:
Pinus engelmannii - Apache Pine Silene laciniata ssp. Greggii - Mexican campion -- bright red and conspicuousI have always thought it surprising that S. laciniata is not found in the Catalinas.
What I see is this. When you are young, you have the opportunity to put in the work, make you motto "no pain, no gain" and get in great shape. The return on your investment steadily decreases as you age. At some point you have to put in significant effort just to stay in shape. Getting in better shape is a thing of the past. Eventually you work hard and despite all your efforts, your fitness still declines.
This is not to be negative, it is just how it is. Note of course that if you "give in" and neglect working out, you simply go to seed in a big hurry and things are all that much worse. So if you are an old goat, keep at it and be sure to slow down a bit and enjoy being out there.
Jean told me about a 77 year old woman she met who was hiking the JMT in California. This woman said that a big problem she had was all the people who want to stop her, ask her questions, take her picture. She is kind and realizes she has a "duty" to be an inspiration to people.
So I am on a roll with this idea of "Mt. Wrightson once a week", the next week I visited the east side (Gardner Canyon), but there is a seperate trip report for that.
The observant reader will have noticed different elevations for the same point on day 1 and day 2. Blame Garmin. Perhaps blame the uncertain precision of elevations from GPS satellites. However I think that a difference in elevation of 163 feet for Josephine saddle is suspect. Is it possible that the Garmin uses a barometric sensor for elevation data some of the time, just calibrating it when the unit powers up? Certainly something to investigate.
Tom's hiking pages / [email protected]