February 14, 2020 hike: Romero Canyon to Romero Pass. Romero Pass is a trail connection point, connecting up to the high Mount Lemmon trails and down to the Sabino Canyon trails.
Romero is a beautiful and satisfying trail, especially after escaping the hiker traffic at Romero Pools (about 1/3 of the way up).
Great weather but sadly, no interesting animals.
The trail is generally nice although there are steep rocky sections and the top is a bit sketchy. There was a bit of snow (minimal) at the top.
I have to admit that I got a little too enthusiastic near the end, resulting in a horizontal slide on my right side on the rock and gravel. Just part of the fun and thankfully the damage was only modest.
Photo 1 looks east about one-third of the way along the trail. You can see the canyons and high mountains bordering the middle part of this trail in this picture. The picture was taken near the end of the climb through front-side range that leads to Romero Pools, a set of stream pools on the lower part of Romero stream. The trail climbs from the flats near the parking lot through the front-side range and then descends to the pools. This is good workout climb with some spectacular scenery. It is often very busy, but most hikers stop at the pools and you are often on your own from then on.
Photo 2 is a similar shot to Photo 1, but taken in the morning. Photo 1 was taken in the mid afternoon.
Photo 3 was taken in the mid section of the trail, looking up toward the high mountains and Romero Pass. The trail traverses a plateau beside the Romero Creek valley through this section of the canyon. Note the snow in the high mountains.
Photo 4 shows a dramatic stream gorge along side the mid section plateau.
Photo 5 looks east from early in the front side range. The mountains and canyons are very rugged in this region.
Photo 6 shows some of the pool landscape in the Romero Pools area, about one-third of the way up the trail.
Another great day in the Catalinas!
Hike stats: 14.1 miles round trip and 3,300 foot elevation gain, 6 hours of hiking/trail running.
