Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

March 21, 2017

1429m

Tucson / Saguaro National Park, AZ

Wasson Peak is a popular objective in the west unit of Saguaro National Park west of the city of Tucson. It’s also known as the highest peak in the range of Tucson Mountains and the summit offers an unobstructed 360-degree panorama of the surrounding Sonoran Desert landscape. This might not seem as famed as taller peaks such as Mt. Wrightson but equally worth a visit IMHO. The standard ascent route is via the well-maintained Wasson Peak trail which ascends through King Canyon, and then loops back via Gould Mine.

This was my last day in the Tucson area and I wasn’t particularly keen on pushing hard. The hot weather, the fact I had to drive northwards to Phoenix and the temptation of sleeping in saw me locking my objective on Wasson Peak. The elevation and mileage suggested it as a reasonable half-day outing. In the morning I slept in till whenever I wanted, leisurely checked out and then went for a nearby McDonalds for some food. It was already 9:30 am when I eventually started the hike and needless to say the sun was already beating down mercilessly.

One thing that makes this peak stands out is the endless Sonoran Desert scenery with saguaros everywhere anywhere. Eventually I got tired out taking those pictures so just went on. The plod through King Canyon seemed like quite a drag but mostly due to the temperature. The bulk part of the elevation gain didn’t start until a couple miles into the trip when the trail ascends out of King Canyon towards a high saddle where it’ll meet Sweetwater Trail. I took a long break just above the saddle as I was seriously running out of energy in this heat. Most others hikers were coming down already suggesting I should have started a couple hours earlier.

Eventually I figured I had to keep going so resumed my slow ass pace up the trail and my speed did not pick up again until hitting the upper portion of SW Ridge where the views finally opened up towards all directions. The plod along the final summit ridge was quite a drag too but at least the elevation gain was mostly finished, and once on top I took a lengthy break regathering my strength.

My plan was to do the full loop with another ascent of Amole Peak along the way but at this point I just wanted to go back. But I knew I would regret later so the decision was eventually made to push on, and down the west side from the high saddle I went. The ascent of Amole Peak required some brief off-trail travel and is written in a separate trip report. The trail seemed to have dragged a long ways down Norris Ridge before eventually splitting up at a critical junction. I took the left branch which looped back via Gould Mine. I did not bother to check out the mine site and instead, went straight back to car for a much-needed air conditioning.

The thermometer was reading 35 degrees which was not to my surprise. It was certainly beyond the “comfortable zone”, but here I made it back and got both summits bagged so there’s nothing to complain about. Not doing any further lingering I directed my iPhone app towards Phoenix so up northwards I went. There were still a couple hours to kill in the late afternoon so not wanting to just waste the valuable daytime hours I went to check out Saguaro Lake. The scenery there certainly worth the spent.

Eventually the sun went down and I leisurely drove back to the city of Phoenix. The objective for the following day was Camelback Mountain and that meant I would spend the night in this city, and not wanting to spend another 70$ ish I opted to sleep in my car and that’s a really bad call thank to the crazy temperature even at midnight…