Ventana Canyon

January 29, 2021 hike: Ventana Canyon. I was going to hike the Rincons, but the recent snow looked like it started at a low elevation. So I opted for south facing Ventana, reasoning that the sun would have melted a lot of the snow.

Good theory, but it didn't work in practice, as the upper half of the trail had increasingly deep snow. The last 45 minutes up was through 6-inch deep snow with water rivulets underneath. I didn't quite make the top because this slowed me down so much.

Still it was a beautiful day, even with howling wind gusts in the higher elevations. The winter wonderland scenery in the upper part of the canyon was stunning.

The other great development was a 5-star animal sighting. I saw a coatimundi! Actually, I had 2 separate sightings, a younger mid-sized one (the animal in photo 4) and a large adult later in the day. This is only the fourth time I've seen them in all my years of hiking the Catalinas.

The recent snow and rain also contributed to some minor stream activity. The main streams are still dry, but there was a little action in some of the high tributaries. And, the aforementioned sub-snow rivulets were a constant feature of the snow-covered trail at the top, although they didn't amount to anything by the time they reached the main streams.

Photo 1 shows the lower part of the trail.

Photo 2 shows the very striking rock formations in the early part of the canyon, with the photo being taken from part way up the steep face of the canyon leading to the high country.

Photo 3 shows the whole lower part of the canyon from the top of the steep face of the canyon. I think the lower Ventana Canyon is the most beautiful part of the front Catalinas - it is breathtaking!

Photo 4 is the coatimundi, a reddish-brown animal with a long somewhat striped tail (not the bushy white and black of a ringtail) and a long pointy nose and white ear, eye and nose markings. They root around a lot.

Photo 5 shows the 6-inch deep snow in the upper elevations.

Photo 6 shows the massive rock formation at the top of the canyon.

Photo 7 shows a panorama of the west to north side of the canyon with the photo 6 rock formation on the right side of the picture.

Photo 8 shows the middle and lower part of the canyon, with great rock formations all along the top of the eastern side of the canyon.

Once again, a great day out!

Hike stats: about 9.3 miles with an elevation gain of around 3,000 feet to around 6,000 feet. The snow definitely cut into my distance and elevation stats this week.