HikeArizona.COM

Anyone interested in going from Catalina State Park to the ski area in March? My knee's ready to rock and roll.

I second on the 21st. All in favor......

Aye! for the 21st.
Bob, you been to Rito's yet?

i'm in for the 21st

No. Remind me... is Rito's food?

Fio Ritos?

Rito's on 14th Street just south of Roosevelt. Best green and red chile in the Valley.
Fiorito's is good too. I miss a lot of the restaurants in Tucson. Mainly Frankie's and Rigo's. And El Guero Canelo! Damn!
Back to hiking. The next thing to do is figure out a shuttle unless everyone wants to do a 25-mile deathmarch.
Some people go down while others go up?
Leave an appropriate # of vehicles at the top the night before?
Rent a van to leave at the top the night before?
The issue I just thought of is if we would be allowed to leave a vehicle/vehicles at the top overnight.

I think most of us want to be hiking uphill, lest we be called the wimps of the trip... How many Tucson people we have on board? Just one, Fraley? Maybe one of us PHX people could go down the night before and help him set up the shuttle. I'd be up for doing that if needed. People backpack in the Catalinas, so leaving a vehicle overnight shouldn't be an issue in the right parking lot. We should probably cap the group at 4-6 people so that we can get away with just one shuttle vehicle.

I believe that JeffMacE and nickfraley live in Tucson. Bob (rljamy), myself, and my roommate live in Phoenix. I've never met you, Vaporman, but I did see your car at Snowbowl when Wally, myself, and rdavisiii (I think that's his username, haven't seen him on here recently) hiked Humphrey's on the 4th of July in 2007. At least there was a car there that's license plate read "VAPORMAN." My buddy John from Tucson also wants to go if his schedule permits. He was boozing it at Thunder Canyon when I called him so he still has to check his schedule.
My roommate and I are planning on going down Friday night to stay at John's place. John is a world-class mountain biker, BTW.

If no one I know is on shift at the station I'm not leaving a vehicle up there overnight. However, I can arrange a ride down for Nick and I and a max of one more.

Yea, that was my car up at the Humphreys TH. Hmm, I'd like to get in on one of the shuttles if possible. I suppose I can turnaround and run back down the mountain if needed. Let me know what I can do to help. We do still have a month to work the shuttle system out though.

What do you think the start time will be for this one? And how longggggg will it take? Not sure if I'll head down Fri or Sat(way early).

I live in Tucson and want to do a good hike that day - but I don't think I'd be up for the whole enchilada (being that I'm not NEARLY as fast as you all). If'n you wanted, I could drive up to the top, do the Wilderness of Rocks loop and meet ya'll and shuttle whoever needs it down. Just an offer - could be fun. I have room for 3 more in my truck (4 if you like eachother's post-hike stench).

Is the Mt Lemmon Ski Area open or running the lifts with people skiing the runs?

jhodlof wrote:Is the Mt Lemmon Ski Area open or running the lifts with people skiing the runs?

Yes...note - we will have to walk the road down from the observatory to the ski area, since the gate is locked.

I would expect this to take about 9 hours, factoring in a lunch break and stopping to take pics, etc...Nick?

or we could hike down Aspen Draw

Yes, good point; that's probably a better idea....

Snow could be an issue, but it would also be an issue going down the road. It's been pretty warm, and I wouldn't expect to see much more than patches of snow unless we get a storm between now and then.

Yea, me neither. Maybe a bit here and there once we get above 6,000'

I think the only possibility of snow being an issue would be on the Meadow Trail and then on the way down to the ski area parking lot on either the Aspen Draw Trail or the road. Even then I don't think the snow will be a problem unless it's more than 3-feet-deep.

Yea, I doubt there will be any in the track of any of the trails, actually...