Peak 3041 rises southwest of Tucson, slightly outside the city limits although for practical purposes, this is still the city with homes, businesses and traffic. It is the southernmost peak in the Tucson Mountains. The next peaks to the south lie on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The peak's elevation (and name by extension) is taken from Lidar; the maps do not cite an elevation for the peak.
I was in Tucson celebrating Thanksgiving with this lady I met on the internet. We had a fine time, including attending a minor league hockey game on Friday, which was a lot of fun. Saturday (today), I needed to get rolling although I wasn't under a strict timeline. I left her place around 10 a.m. and headed south. I had a couple other peaks on the docket, in case I got shut out from one.
For this peak, I followed Interstate-19 south to the Valencia exit, then west to Cardinal Avenue, then south to Los Reales, and west to Sorrel Lane. The peak is plainly visible from a few miles away, a double-humped peak in which the southern one is highest.
The city's water company has a covered facility on the peak's lower slopes. There is an asphalt road that goes up to a gate, but being on this track is probably not legal. I parked in a clearing between this track and Sorrel Lane. There weren't any prohibitive signs, and the neighborhood looked friendly.
I walked the asphalt track to a gate and determined this is not the way I want to go. I then walked back to my car (all this in about three minutes) when a local came walking up. He was real cool and friendly. He affirmed it's okay to park where I did, saying people do it all the time. It was nice to know that what I was doing wasn't seen as suspicious.
I found a wide trail that branched northwest, so I followed it. It gains elevation and curls in toward the peak, then gets narrower and much steeper. This was fine with me. I wanted to be up and down quickly.
The trail then gains beside a cliff band, then steeply angles up some more, coming to a set of electronics at the top. It was the usual stuff, looking like communications apparati. There were signs about this being private property and no trespassing, but there was no fence. In such a case, where is the boundary between trespass and no trespass? The signs? When there is just one sign, how does the boundary get inferred elsewhere?
In any case, I kept my visit extremely short, literally ten seconds to tag the high rocks, then to get back below the higher sign, where I then snapped a few images. Views were very good, today being clear, cool and dry with blue skies. The big volcanic Black Mountains rose to the south, on the TON land.
I didn't delay. I turned right around and walked down, making good time. I was back to my car quickly, just 35 minutes from start to finish. I had hiked less then a mile and had barely broken a sweat. I was happy to get this little peak and this it was logistically simple. It was a good way to work off the extra weight from the turkey and fixins from the Thanksgiving holiday.
I got back on Interstate-19 to Interstate-10 going eastbound. About 25 miles ahead there is some construction going on at the Empirita Road exit where one lane each way is shut down. This has been going on now for about a month and I have no idea how long it will be like this.
A few miles before, one of those automated signs said it was 75 minutes to Benson, which is just 20 miles away. The bottleneck at Empirita is to blame. I was caught in it a few weeks ago and it was nuts. People try to merge at the last possible moment. I bailed and got on southbound AZ-83 into Sonoita, then AZ-82 and AZ-90 into Sierra Vista. Since I was still fresh as a summer breeze, I decided to hit the gym in town, then do some grocery shopping. I was home about 2 p.m.
This little detour adds about fifteen miles, but saves potentially an hour. Even late at night, the bottleneck can extend a half mile. I hope whatever the state is doing at Empirita, they finish it quickly.
I was in good spirits. I had an enjoyable weekend eating lots of food, watching hockey, hiking a little bump, and having a very good time with my internet lady friend.
