Tanque Verde Peak, AZ
November 28, 2010

Hikers

Description

We began hiking around 8:30 am, starting from the main Tanque Verde Ridge trailhead on the Saguaro East loop drive. Round-trip distance was 18 miles, with a total elevation gain of about 4000 feet, and we did it in about 7.5 hours. We saw a few other hikers in the first few miles of the trail, and two backpackers around the Peak on a multi-day hike, but otherwise had the trail to ourselves. The weather got windy, cloudy, and slightly rainy, but fortunately didn't give us a downpour when we were out on the trail.

Additional descriptions of the route are available here, here, and here.

Photos

	Medium Large	Starting at the trailhead
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	Medium Large	Looking back at Tucson. Off in the distance you can see Kitt Peak and Baboquivari Peak towards the left and the Tucson Mountains to the right. The light-colored patch in the center is the air force base and "boneyard" where old planes are stored.
	Medium Large	Rincon Peak is the pointy peak in the back right
	Medium Large	The Santa Catalina mountains, north of Tucson
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	Medium Large	Neat yellow-fruited cholla cactus
	Medium Large	Side view of Tanque Verde Peak
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	Medium Large	Very windy summit photos. We were at the peak for about one minute before heading back to a more sheltered spot. || || \/
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	Medium Large	Panorama looking towards the east. Rincon Peak is on the right, and Mica Mountain is on the left.
	Medium Large	Neat mossy stuff growing on the trees near the summit
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	Medium Large	Outhouse construction at Juniper Basin campground
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	Medium Large	Neat rock
	Medium Large	Clouds and a bit of rain over Tucson
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	Medium Large	Sunbeams!
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	Medium Large	Cute backlit cactus. It's not a soft as it might appear here...
	Medium Large	The final stretch back to the car