Pictures from the Gardner Canyon Trail

Back in March 2008 Jason sent me these pictures from when he did the Mt. Wrightson from Gardner Canyon hike.

Picture of Bridal Veil Falls flowing

A Bill Bull sent me this on 12 March 2010:

I thought you would like to see Bridal Veil falls gushing on Wednesday, March 10. A bit too much water, because the flow shot over the ledge that creates the veil effect (such as to the left of the main flow). Yes, really nice to walk the wet trail through the valley-floor forest of Esperero.
Thank you,
Bill

Update on Mt. Wrightson from Gardner Canyon

On 4 June 2010 Jim Moutray sent me this update on the Mt. Wrightson from Gardner Canyon hike:

About a month ago after using your site including comments by Jason Adler our daughter and I went up the mountain. We drove to the trailhead in a high clearance 4 X 4, as you say a 2 wheel drive could do it carefully. Shortly after leaving Walker Basin area the trail is lost in the downed trees etc. We went up the side of the mountain which blocks a view of
Wrightson, heading in a NE direction. It was difficult but doable with 2 trekking poles each. After getting to the top of the ridge and heading south a mile or so Mt Wrightson came into view. Heading toward Wrightson keeping the elevation we had gained we saw the "meadow or park" area to our left and hit the Super trail about 20-30 min later. We enjoyed the rest of the hike to the top.

On the way down we stayed on the Super Trail as long as possible then down into the "Park" area. It is really a mess, probably much worse than When Jason was there. Down dead trees keep you from finding and staying on a trail. We did have high winds in March and April. It was quite difficult to make progress and a challenge to determine about where the Walker Basin area was. I had taken good looks back on the way up from Walker area or would have been in trouble. We took considerable longer to come down thru the park area to Walker than going up north of it cross country. Total time to the top from trailhead was 4:45, down was about 4:15.

I would not recommend that anyone approach Wrightson from Gardner Canyon. Think about 3 men with chainsaws and camping equipment could fix the missing part of the trail in 3-4 days. I would volunteer to help with a donation for an effort to do a fix. If I were younger would help physically, am 71 and fit but have limits. Thank you for your help with Sierra Club, maps etc. We live about 13 miles from Wrightson and would love to hike it again with guests and family that come, and to recommend it to others. At the top we visited with 2 couples that had tried a few days before to come thru the burned area but gave up. On that day they came in thru Madera Canyon.

Hiker update on Mt. Lemmon from Catalina State Park

Today a John emailed me this update on the Mt. Lemmon to Catalina State Park hike:

I had intended to send you this email after I did the hike last summer (August), but I put it off until now. I am going to be doing the Turkey Creek to Manning Camp hike next week, so I figured now was a good enough time to send you my impressions of the hike.

The section "Romero Canyon Trail, FS #8 (old trail camp to Romero Pass)" is heavily overgrown near the end. There were times when the trail basically disappeared in the vegetation below your feet. I managed to get up to the top of the pass, but it was very difficult with all of the vegetation growing ON the trail.

When I did this hike, there were very few water sources. I imagine this is why you listed it as a Spring/Fall hike only. This was particularly problematic in the section: "Mt. Lemmon Trail, FS #5 (Romero Pass to Wilderness of Rocks Trail)". At one point I was down to less than a half liter after carrying 5 full liters from the campsite in Romero Canyon.

Overall, your description of the hike was spot-on. I did this hike over three days, making it a little less strenuous than a full day-hike. I was surprised my first morning by a hiker that said she hiked all the way past the campsite every morning from the Romero Pools trail. The next instance I met anyone on the hike was in the Wilderness of Rocks area. As I made my way up the mountain I passed several more people, but the solitude along the Romero Canyon trail was priceless. I enjoyed this hike, although I don't think I will do it again in the Summer. If I do manage to build up the nerve to do this hike again, I will probably go downhill next time as well.

Have you received any updates on the Turkey Creek to Manning Camp hike? Any additional information would be appreciated. Thanks for your work on the website, I and many other hikers appreciate it.

Many years ago when I hiked from Sabino Canyon up to the Wilderness of Rocks during a drought (1996?) there was no potable water at all in the Wilderness of Rocks. Lemmon Creek had some pools of water, but the water was so salty it was undrinkable.