December 11, 2019 King Canyon Trailhead. Gould Mine- Sendero Esparansa - King Canyon - Figure 8 on the track

Started at the Gould Mine Trailhead sign. Time 9:47 

Linda and Nancy went on this hike on a beautiful day in the desert. We start on the Gould Mine Trail that goes down to a wash and up out of the wash to go along Kinney Road. Then it starts to climb gradually toward Gould Mine. We meet up with Sendero Esperansa and where we turn right toward the mine. The trail takes us past the dynamite storage facility and the old mine which has a large grate over the top. From there we backtrack along Sendero Esperanza until we see the "Mam-A-Gah Picknick Area" and go up the knoll to the structure that provides shade and tables. We are not ready for lunch at this point as it is only about 10:40. We start up a trail from the left corner of the area and walk until we see a stone house, then proceed down into the King Canyon Wash. On this hike, we go down a short trek down the wash to see the petroglyphs. We return to the top of the wash and continue to hike up the wash. The hike is a figure 8 so we see where we veer to the right into a wash. There is a sign that indicates the trail is straight up the wash, but that is for our way back. The trail we took was taken off the maps about 20 years ago, it used to be a road (according to a passerby on the trail). We hiked up this trail until we came across a trail leading out of the wash on the right. This trail had a nice incline and lead us along a ridge. We stay on this trail and have lunch on a corner near a large number of rocks at noon. We continue on this trail until it meets with Wasson Peak trail, Sweetwater Traill and King Canyon Trail, the time is 12:40. This is sometimes called the Sweetwater Saddle. From here the King Canyon Traill takes us down a scenic trail. We need to stop several times in order to see the view because there is loose gravel and we have to watch our feet when travelling this path. We hiked back to the wash and go toward King Canyon trailhead where we take the King Canyon Trail. The hike was 6.8 miles. 

Start of Gould Mine Trail

Can see the dynamite structure

Gould Mine

                                         

Dynamite Structure 

                                 

Lo

Looking down Sendero Esperanza Trail

                                                       

Stone House near the Picnic Area

Man-made Dam on the King Canyon Wash

Petroglyphs near the start of the King Canyon Wash 

                                                             

                       

                                                                     

Start of Old King Canyon Trail

                                   

View from Old King Canyon Trail

The Old King Canyon Trail

View of the Old King Canyon Trail from King Canyon Trail 

At the junction of the King Canyon Trail and the King Canyon Wash. Both go to the Trailhead.

Looking Down onto the King Canyon Wash

The King Canyon Trailhead sign

Back to the Parking Lot - Time 1:40 -
About 4 hours and 6.8 Miles

                                                         

Hike Description - 

Medium Hike from the King Canyon Trailhead: Gould Mine - Sendero Esperanza - King Canyon to Sweetwater Saddle.

Long Hike: From the King Canyon Trailhead to Wassen Peak 

Since this is a National Park each car should have an American Golden Passport Card. 

All Trails Map of the area. 

Directions, distance and time to the trailhead:

From Florence Blvd, take I-10 south to exit 236. Turn right and then a quick right onto Marana Road. Drive one mile and turn left onto North Sanders Road, drive four miles. At the stop sign turn left onto Avra Valley Road. Drive one mile and turn right onto Sandero Road. Proceed 9 miles and turn left at the entrance to the park, onto Kinney Road. Drive 2.4 miles to the Red Hills Visitor Center for a pit stop. Coming out of the Visitor Center turn left onto Kinney road then turn left at the dead-end (W.Mile Road Sign). Drive along Kinney road for about 2 miles, there is a sharp left into the Trailhead parking lot, no road sign not paved. The Desert Museum sign is in view, but you do not want to go that far. 

Google Maps to King Canyon Trailhead  

Google Maps - Red Hills visitor center to King Canyon Trailhead

November 18, 2019 Prehike Bulldog Gate Trailhead for Bulldog Wash Trail and Idaho Pass

David and I (Nancy) went to scout this hike. We had a GPS track that was labelled Idaho Pass. The track took us on the immediate trail left of the road. Once on this trail, the track turned toward a wash and back toward the property lines of N. Cactus Road. There was no trail to be seen, just washes that had been grown over. If we had kept going we would likely have arrived at the trail that would take us to the right and onto the road, but we thought that the start of the hike would not have been a great hiking experience. After giving up on the track we found a trail with fresh footprints. We talked to some hikers who said they were going on a loop that would take them to their cars on a trailhead to the west of us. Their hike was about 4 miles. We followed the trail back to the road and followed it up into the mountains until we came across a road that took us on a loop to the trailhead. We talked to other hikers, they said there was a good trail along the top of the ridge, that we would be able to see the Town of Goldfield. We took the road for a while then turned onto a trail that was close to the trailhead toward the mountains. These were largely ATV Trails that did not take us to a navigatable trail. We came back to the road and decided we had enough for the day.  There are more interesting trails along these mountains. I could not find a hike on this trailhead on All Trails Website. Later I found this on Gaia Maps. The black dots are power poles. We decided to go on an alternate hike this Friday, November 22, 2019 to Romero Pools and Romero Springs in Catalina State Park.
The lesson from this scouting hike was that just because there is a GPS track, it doesn't mean there is a trail.

Trailhead

Gaia Maps Website map of this area

A Potential Trail

GPS Track that I had uploaded, but this did not follow a trail. 

It may have picked up a trail later, but we didn't think this would be a good trail to take hikers. 

April 4, 2019 - Prehike - Wild Mustang - Wild Burro Hike starting at the Upper Javelina Spur Trail

Upper Javelina, Wild Mustang and Wild Burro Trail

Mike, John, Nellie, Jerry and Nancy hiked this beautiful hike. 

Trail Rating - C+

Trail Length - 8 miles (about 5 1/2 hours)

Location - Dove Mountain, Tortolita Mountains 

Elevation - Range from 1398 feet in the wash to 4029 feet in the high trails 

Landmarks - High Country Hike, springs, stone structures and wash.
Time of Year - The flowers were out and very pretty. Maybe late March might be a good time to hike. 

Directions, distance and time to trailhead: - Go southeast on I-10 to exit 240, Tangerine Road, turn left and follow Tangerine Road for 5 miles. Turn left on Dove Mountain Blvd and follow it for 4.6 miles until you come to a roundabout. Take the first right turn off the roundabout onto N. Secret Springs Drive and continue a short way to a guardhouse. After checking with the gate guard, proceed up the road .8 miles to the third right-hand turn and go right at the sign for the trailhead and park in the dirt lot. There are washrooms available.  It is 57.4 miles and took 58 minutes.

Description of Hike 

In order to find the Upper Javelina Spur Trail we walked to the entrance of the parking
lot and across the road where we find a path that reads Hotel Spur trail. Follow that trail
for a short distance until we see another Hotel trail sign (Flag poles are to the right), turn
left and follow this trail. This trail leads to a sign indicating that we have are on
Upper Javelina Spur trail. This trail starts as a path but very quickly turns into a  steep
trail winds up through boulders and rock to scenic viewpoints of rock structures and
vegetation. We were there on April 4th when flowers were abundant. The trails in Tortolita
Mountain Park are colour-coded. The Upper Javelina is Red, Wild Mustang is Orange and Wild
Burro is Purple. (Description of the hike continues below - amoung the pictures)

The Upper Javelina Spur trail joins the Upper Javelina Trail and further along the
trail, we come to a junction of the Upper Javelina that goes back to the Ritz Carlton
Hotel and the Upper Javelina that goes toward the Wild Mustang Trail. It climbs to an
even greater view of the Mountains in the far distance toward Tucson.

This hike joins the Wild Mustang trail (colour-coded orange) where we hike for about
3.5 miles to areas of vast open spaces and yucca plants that grow at high elevations.
The trail leads down into a wash and back up again in two or three locations.

The Wild Mustang meets up with the Cochise Springs Trail, but we keep on the Wild Mustang.

This display provides geographical information about the Mountains in the distance. 

Desert Mariposa Lily

                       

Wild Mustang Sign

At the top of this trail, it meets the Wild Burro trail (colour-coded purple). After a short distance, there is a spring, on Alamo Springs Trail. A good place for lunch.
This is a picturesque stop on the top of a wash with large boulders. There is a bench,
a stone watering structure and a sign that explains the Springs.

Alamo Springs for Lunch

From there the trail heads down steeply into the Canyon where there is a stone
shelter and a hand-dug well with stones.

The trail goes into a wash and follows the wash until we come
across a set of stairs that leads to the Wild Burro Trailhead and parking area.

Trailhead with washrooms

GPS track and Data