I went out in an attempt to run Gunsight Pass, which I have heard is a very scenic and easy/moderate -rated trail in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson.

Well, before I got to the pass there were signs pointing to supposedly more difficult things so I went that way. Then I got completely lost because route finding out there is ridiculous!! There is an intersection every 2 feet, half of them going to camp sites, some to abandon mines, a few just dead end on a shelf road (had to back up probably 1/4 mile on one of them)... good fun!

Well, the gem of the trip was a route I find that very stealth-ily breaks off one of the back trails, winds around some good shelves for a few miles, and then climbs up and dead ends (enough room to turn around there) on a summit that overlooks Tucson.

Typical scenery out there...


Hmmm... this doesn't look like it's used too much. Let's go that way!


Yea, this is getting better and better! No tire tracks even!


Oh crap, don't drive off the edge!!


So this is the summit. I didn't even realize it was a summit, just thought it was a dead end, because it really isn't much higher than the surroundings...


That is, until I climbed to the north about 20 yards and found this:


Some other assorted goodies on the trip. It's nice of the forest people to put up these signs so you know where the abandon mines are to go play in. I never would have seen it otherwise.


Hole goes straight down... not going in there!


Parts of that unused section of trail were a bit washed out, but nothing too bad.


It was a really good time! We should do a trip to the Santa Rita's, it probably would take Phx people less time to get there than it does to get to the Chiva Falls area since you can just stay on the highway to get across Tucson.

wow that looks like a great play area...
nice job exploring
Oh and the new tires look sharp...what size did you get (sorry for the off topic, pm if prefered)

No worries, they are 275/70/17...

Sweet views!

haha you and the 'african' grass

That looks like a fun trail to do!

Hey is there any good camping in that area?

Miss_R2FJ wrote:

Hey is there any good camping in that area?

Yes, tons of camping! There are large sites and small sites near the road, and places to camp in craazzzzy places where there is no way people will bother you.

If the camping were only between 2 rigs, there are a few really cool places I found... challenging trails that dead end at little turnarounds with a fire pit already there. Very cool.

Nice tires!! (they were the first thing I noticed)

Another run that includes camping is always good by me.

Cool, sounds like we need to plan some camping down there then!

I'd be in for a trip down there, camping and/or wheeling.

Sounds Fun.

I have quite a bit of climbing gear for abandon mine exploration too

Maybe we should consider this area for Pres Day weekend if Jonnie won't be able to do his run then?

Pres day should work for me. Just a 1 nighter though.

OH, and for the drive back if you love Mexican food then we have to stop at Mi Niditos in South Tucson for dinner before heading back to PHX. Unfortunately they are closed on Monday's so to make it would require a Sat and Sun run.

1 more post to move beyond mall queen - done. Now back onto the thread.