February 3, 2023 hike: Rincon Mountains, Douglas Springs Trailhead to part way up Cow Head Saddle Trail, heading toward Mica Mountain peak.
Who doesn't love a 19 mile ramble across desert and into the mountains on a beautiful day? It was a day of sun and haze/cloud with enough breeze to keep cool, but not so much that it was cold.
The Rincons were beautiful as the snow on the high mountains contrasted with the lush green mountainsides. The views from the top were spectacular in all directions, with nearby Rincon Peak and Mt Wrightson to the far south glistening snowy peaks.
Photo 1 looks northwest at the front side of the Catalina mountains facing Tucson. Tucson's northern suburbs spread out on the desert floor below the mountains. The photo shows the Big 3 mountains of the front side of the Catalinas, Mt Kimball the rounded treed peak just to the left of the center of the picture (7,258 feet high), Window Peak just to the right of the center of the picture (7,468 feet) and Cathedral Rock further to the right of Window peak (7,957 feet).
Photos 2 and 3 look up at the snowy high part of the Rincons from near Douglas Spring Camp, which is about 6.4 miles in from the trailhead.
Photos 4 and 5 show some of the stunning mountain views that are the reward for trekking so far. Both shots look southeast to Rincon Peak, the highest peak in the southern Rincons at 8,664 feet.
Photo 6 is another shot taken from the top of my hike. It looks south to magnificent snow-capped peak of Mt Wrightson, the tallest mountain in the region at 9,456 feet.
Photo 7 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 8 looks down at the steep lower canyon part of the trail about a mile and a half from the trailhead. There are lots of nice views, impressive terrain and lush desert vegetation in this area.
All-in-all, it was a great hike! The comfortable temperatures and generally good trail surface enabled me to cover a lot of distance, as I could trail-run much of the route. It was a great, albeit tiring, workout!
Hike stats: 19.3 miles with 4,183 feet of total climbing (3,780 feet of elevation gain to a peak of 6,530 feet) in 6 hours 13 minutes (5 hours 38 minutes excluding lunch and photo taking time).
