HikeArizona.COM

Hello,

First post and all.

I've hiked Pusch ridge/peak 6 times now and all times before there was a book to sign. Took the wife up last weekend and there was no book?

Last time I went up was some time before 2008, book was there.

Any body in the know?

Thanks,

Bill

It seems there are some hikers unaware of the very long tradition of having a register on top of a peak, and they want to get rid of them. On the other hand, many peak registers are very well-hidden, and that may be the case now up on Pusch. I know that for Mt. Kimball there used to be one, but then it became such a popular hike that the register was destroyed. I tried several times to restore it (back in the 90's), but it always got wrecked again by someone, apparently on purpose.

Also, the rise in popularity of geocaching, also known as geotrashing, has made many hikers rightfully very unhappy about seeing yet one more ammo box out there in nature where it doesn't belong.

There are peaks all over Arizona with only a few names in their logbooks. Those are fun to see, because often the signatures go back decades. They are usually well hidden, in a very small jar, under a pile of rocks. I have placed a few myself, in the White Mountains. It's fun to go look to see who has signed them.

Another problem: As peaks have become more popular some newbs think they can use up a whole sheet of paper, write a poem, go on about their miraculous spiritual visions or their ultra-fantastic hiking experience or other drivel that no one else wants to read. The tradition is that you sign your name and the date, possibly adding the name of your town and the name of your hiking club, and brief mention of the weather or other conditions, but not much more than that!! It is considered rude to waste paper in peak registers.

Some people don't care about traditions. I think some traditions are kind of fun to keep going. I see no harm in having peak registers. Educating the public about what they are for is going to be a lost cause, so on extremely popular peaks I think it is better to not have one, or to have it extremely well-hidden, unless there is someone who wants to hike up and maintain it regularly.

"Entry is prohibited into areas beyond 400 feet off designated trails between January 1 and April 30 (i.e. no off-trail travel). Designated trails are trail no. 62 Pima Canyon, 42 Finger Rock, 410 Pontotoc, 49 Linda Vista Loop, and 8 Romero."

This closure has been place during lambing season for over twenty years. Don't get caught up there unless you are prepared to spend some time in court.

Good thing there is a trail all the way to the top...

Yes it is. But it makes going on to other parts of the ridge problematic. Especially annoying since there aren't any lambs up there to be bothered!

OK, I see what you are saying. I've messed around up on the other ridges a few times when it was too hot to go to the top so it must have been in the summer. I just can't see anyone enforcing that?

I have only seen birds, rabbits and 1 tarantula. Never anything else except for what I will call coyote scat and maybe bobcat but have never seen anything.

As late at the middle 1980's there were fairly good sized herds of bighorn on both sides of Pima Canyon. They aren't there now. My theory is that when Oro Valley began to explode <population wise> they just no longer enjoyed the views so moved on.

BillyDoubleU wrote:Good thing there is a trail all the way to the top...

But is it a designated trail?

From Tucson Hikers Yahoo group:

The Southern Arizona Hiking Club has determined that the following peaks and canyons are included in the off-trail restriction:

PEAKS: Bighorn, Buster Mountain, Fingerguard, Gorp, Little Kimball, Peak 4910 (Cleaver), Prominent Point, Pusch Peak, Rosewood Point, Table Mountain, Table Tooth, Valentine, Window Peak.

CANYONS: Alamo, Deadhorse, Finger Rock, Montrose, Pima, Pontatoc, Romero.

Well, the whole thing is silly because everyone knows there have been no sheep for years. I saw a ram in Pima Canyon, about a 6 months or a year AFTER the AZGFD had declared there were no more sheep in that area. This was sometime in the 90's, but I have no idea what year it was. I called AZGFD, and they gave me what amounted to a phone interrogation, trying to determine if it was really a sheep I saw. Hmmm. Yeah. Pretty sure I can tell a sheep from a deer. ;)

The ram stopped on the side of the hill above me and I looked at him and he looked at me for quite some time. He seemed unafraid. He had very big horns that made a full circle curve. He only moved off when I had tired of standing there looking at him and I started hiking again, but he didn't run, he just ambled off in that nimble-footed way they have. It was quite a nice experience. I was the only one in the canyon at the time, since I had started hiking in before dawn, which is what I used to do to avoid seeing people during most of the hike. This was before Diamond Don's obscene housing development went in, also. (That happened after I moved to Springerville.)

I'll have to do that again sometime, hike in before first light. As I recall, it was summer.

Trail 49 Linda Vista Loop goes nowhere near as high as the summit. It is only a foothills loop. What do you suppose the 'rusty sign' that many trip reports refer to says?

Whatever. Have fun. Make sure you die with your boots on

I prefer Tevas... :STP:

BillyDoubleU wrote:Hello,

First post and all.

I've hiked Pusch ridge/peak 6 times now and all times before there was a book to sign. Took the wife up last weekend and there was no book?

Last time I went up was some time before 2008, book was there.

Any body in the know?

Thanks,

Bill

I was up there in September, this is what it looked like...it was between two or three boulders at the peak.

azdesertfather wrote:

BillyDoubleU wrote:Hello,

First post and all.

I've hiked Pusch ridge/peak 6 times now and all times before there was a book to sign. Took the wife up last weekend and there was no book?

Last time I went up was some time before 2008, book was there.

Any body in the know?

Thanks,

Bill

I was up there in September, this is what it looked like...it was between two or three boulders at the peak.

Man,

I looked all over, my wife looked, even a another guy up there with 2 kids looked...

We didn't find it.

I'll have to go and look again...

BillyDoubleU wrote:I'll have to go and look again...

Awww, what a shame....

Maybe you should take one with you. A jar or coffee can with lid, a little notebook and some old pencils, or lottery pencils. Jars are used on less popular peaks, but that one is so busy, probably should use a can. And it should be kind of hidden. Just remember that it's probably in the off-limits area until May 1, so you should probably wait until the so-called lambing season is over with. I would imagine the local ranger district has a map that shows which trails are considered designated.