Rincons - Douglas Spring

April 2, 2021 hike: Rincon Mountains, Douglas Springs Trailhead to part way up Cow Head Saddle Trail, heading toward Mica Mountain peak.

What a change! Last week at nearby Esperero it was in the low- to mid-60s, great hiking weather. This week it was in the high 80s in the neighboring Rincons. That plus strong sun and a very long trail with a lot of vertical made for a very intense hiking experience. It felt like I was "table-ready" after being roasted for 6.5 hours. At least there were some nice shady forest sections.

This trail is relatively easy hiking. I could trail-run large parts of the trail, covering a lot of ground. But, running in high heat up a mountain turns an easy trail into a beastly experience. I think I lost over 5 lbs despite drinking over 3/4 of a gallon of water. Still, it was a great day out and the heat kept down the human traffic.

Photo 1 shows typical lower trail flora and terrain. Unfortunately, there is a lot of this, making this one of the less photogenic trails.

However, a nice selection of flowers were out as is shown in photos 2 to 6. The beautiful hedgehog cactus in photo 6 was a special surprise at the end of the day. Blooming seems much reduced this year, likely due to the drought.

Photo 7 shows the view from Cow Head Saddle Trail, which runs along the front ridge of the high Rincons. This photo was taken from around 6,300 feet up, which was as high as I got on Friday. It was still very warm, even up there. You can go a lot higher, as this trail leads to Mount Mica, the highest Rincon peak at 8,619 feet, but I didn't have the time or energy to hike the additional 4.5 miles and 2,300 vertical feet to the peak in that heat. You can see the length of the Catalinas in the background of the photo with the Foothills communities at the bottom of the mountains.

Photo 8 shows a large rock structure just above the Cow Head Saddle Pass. I hiked up to that rock structure.

Photo 9 shows the lovely forest trail that makes up the upper part of the Douglas Spring Trail leading to Cow Head Saddle Pass. There are lots of nice tall Ponderosa pine and oaks up there.

Photo 10 shows the valley that the Douglas Spring Trail follows to Cow Head Saddle Pass. This is beautiful sky island country with many Mexican Jays squawking in the trees.

All-in-all it was a great, if intensely hot and exhausting, hike.

Hike stats: about 18 miles with 3,630 feet of vertical to 6,330 feet in 6 hours 25 minutes.