Atascosa Lookout is located on a subpeak of Atascosa Mountain, in far-south Arizona near the city of Nogales in Santa Cruz County. It's a well-known summit and lookout which listed on the National Register of Historic Lookouts. A fine trail leads from a nearby road to the lookout, and is a very popular hike. We had been interested in this peak a long time, and figured this time of year would be best for hiking in this region. We left open a full weekend for the hike, originally planning to hike it saturday, then camp for the evening and drive home sunday. But plans always change...

We set out friday afternoon (the 20th) from the Phoenix area and hit much traffic on the Interstate-10 between Phoenix and Tucson. The plan was to get a campspace at the Gilbert Ray campground in the Tucson Mountains Regional Park, near the western portion of Saguaro National Park. We've camped here before and it's convenient as a base of operations when we set out for other hikes in the region. We arrived in the dusk and I had enough light to set up the tent. The day had been overcast and a small 'disturbance' was expected to pass through, with slight chances of rain. But so far friday, the weather was basically high overcast clouds. During the night the wind picked up and flapped the tent. Even though it was firmly set, the flapping and noise kept me awake, and Beth as well, who was taking refuge in the cab of the truck. I gave up around 1:30 a.m. and set up an ad-hoc camp in the bed of the truck, where I did manage to get some sleep. The next morning a strong cell of thunder and rain blew through, lasting for about 2 hours and dropping a fair bit of rain (and snow on the higher peaks). By the time the weather cleared it was near 10 a.m., too late for us to get in the hike, so we canceled it for the day. I suggested we bag camp and take a cheap hotel in Nogales, and try again tomorrow (sunday).

We drove the 70 miles to Nogales and found a Motel-6, arriving a bit after noon. Since neither of us slept well the night before we took a long nap that day, then enjoyed some authentic Mexican food at a nearby restaurant before getting an early night. Both of us slept like logs. We awoke early sunday and set out for the trailhead. From Nogales we went north a short distance on Interstate-19 to the Pena Blanca (AZ-289) exit. Pena Blanca is a small lake formed by a dam, popular with fishers and a place to camp as well. From the interstate we went 10 miles toward the lake, turning off the highway right at the 10th mile marker, left onto Forest Road 30 (if I recall correctly), which is marked as Ruby Road on most maps. This is a reasonably well-maintained dirt road that runs by the historic towns of Ruby and Oro Blanco before coming back onto pavement near the ranching town of Arivaca. On Ruby Road we went just under five more miles to the trailhead. A small parking area is on the south side of the read near a lone tree. Otherwise, it's not obvious at all. The trailhead marker is not easily visible while driving. We pulled in about 10 a.m., talking with some hikers coming out, while I taped up Beth's ankles for our hike in. A whole group of college-age kids rolled up in three vehicles and piled out, setting to hike up the Lookout as well, so we bided our time and let them go first. We got hiking a bit before 11 a.m.

The trail immedaitely gains moderately up a slope, switchbacking twice then making a long traverse and contouring on the west side of a small knob. A day after the rains, the ocotillo were all blooming their pretty red flowers. Just after the trail turns north we got our first views of the gigantic volcanic tuff cliffs that guard the mountain's upper reaches. Behind the big cliff we could even make out the lookout! We reached a small saddle and passed through a gate, then continued on the good trail as it gained at a steady uphill grade, contouring mostly with the mountains and switchbacking only a few times. We took a nice break at the 1 mile mark. At this time a fully armed and armored Border Patrol agent walked past us, automatic weapon across his chest. Hey, nothing new to us - we saw all that and more on Miller Peak two years ago! He said hi, we said hi, and that was that. Given we were just about 6 air-miles north of the border, we weren't too surprised to see this. Just part of hiking in the borderlands.

After our break we gained a small saddle then followed the trail as it bent north again, now on the east flanks of the mountain, in the only place where the cliffs have not formed an impenetrable rampart around the upper summit. Here, the trail makes numerous switchbacks up the grassy and wooded slopes, but in short order it gains the main upper summit plateau, where we could again see the lookout just a few hundred feet ahead of us. We took a break here again, then hiked the last bit to the top, arriving a bit after 1 p.m. The dozen or so college kids were all there, taking it easy. They seemed pretty cool overall. We found a nice spot on some rocks near a concrete footing and had a lunch and some drinks. When the crowd finally got moving down, we scampered up to the lookout itself and went in. It's kept open for visitors; inside is a log to sign in, plus some old furniture and various sundries like playing cards, a Crest tube of toothpaste, et cetera. I guess you can stay there if you want.

I had designs on scampering over to the summit of Atascosa Mountain, the highpoint of the range, but one look at the terrain to get there suggested we come back another time. I had figured maybe an hour out and back from the lookout, but in reality it would probably take me longer, and so I decided not this time. No big deal. After spending nearly 45 minutes at the Lookout we began our descent, taking it slow and steady. We arrived back to our truck about 4 p.m., and got moving, driving home that evening. A successful hike and fun one, too. Despite not making the summit of the range, I felt great and so did Beth. The Lookout is definitely worth the hike, of its own accord.