W7A/SC-001 Josephine Peak and W7A/AE-014 Mt Wrightson

The Santa Rita Mountains are South of Tucson and contain some beautiful trails.  The high point is Mt Wrightson, which I have previously blogged about; at 9,453 feet elevation, it is higher than Mt. Lemmon in the Santa Catalina range.  But since the summits in the Santa Ritas don't have a public road to the top, they provide a much nicer wilderness experience.

Hiking Wrightson alone is a good challenge, but the trail system in the area provides a great double-activation opportunity for hams who want a tough but rewarding day.  The "Super Trail" loop around Mt. Wrightson goes past Josephine Peak, a 10-pointer that is almost 1,000 feet lower than the summit of Wrightson, but is actually considerably harder to reach.

I've done this double twice as of this writing, first on March 8, 2018, and second on July 26, 2019.  The March hike was cooler, but the July hike provided more daylight hours.  In March, there was still snow on the trail above 8,500 feet; in July, a monsoon storm actually prevented me from completing the activation of Wrightson, although I did reach the summit.  Overall, I'd recommend late fall or spring as the best time of year to do this double.

Starting from the top of the road in Madera Canyon, I took the Old Baldy Trail up towards Josephine Saddle.  It's a steep trail but very beautiful.  On the way up, sometimes there is wildlife to be seen - I spotted a few deer in July, but I have not yet seen a bear there, although they do live in the area.

Upon reaching the Saddle, there is a plaque to commemorate the passing of some Boy Scouts who were caught in a storm in 1958.

At the saddle I turned left to head up towards Mt. Wrightson.  The Super Trail turnoff is a bit further up the trail and although there is a sign, it could easily be missed as it clearly does not get the same usage.

Hiking generally Eastward on the Super Trail takes you towards Josephine Peak.  This section of the hike continues the climb, and is less traveled but quite nice.

Along the way, Mount Hopkins looms with its giant observatory building prominently guarding the summit.  This is also a 10-point summit, and I'll blog about this one in another post.

When the first view of Josephine opens up, it's both spectacularly beautiful and a bit intimidating.  This is heavily forested mountain terrain!

Somewhere around 4 miles in, the trail reaches Riley Saddle.  There is a sign pointing to Josephine Peak.  This is where things begin to get interesting!

Apparently, there had been a trail to the peak in the past, but it was obliterated by the Florida Fire in 2005.  When I hiked in March 2018, someone had begun rebuilding a trail, at least for the first quarter mile or so.  Apparently the USFS did not appreciate this and in 2019, I discovered that the trail was mostly gone, and a few of these signs were posted warning hikers against unauthorized trail building.

From Riley Saddle to the top, the hike becomes a very challenging bushwhack, with some very dense sections and some very steep sections.  It's actually easy to get into a dangerous place during this bushwhack!

In March, I tried a route up that put me into some extreme exposure; a fall would have been devastating.  In July, I foolishly took a route up a steep gully with the hope of saving some distance; upon reaching the top, I found myself facing into a deep cave that appeared to be "occupied" and I had to scramble back down, again praying not to fall and feeling fortunate that I didn't get eaten by some large fluffy creature.  The best way to avoid serious danger on this bushwhack is to steer to the left (North) face, and go up in the treefall there, rather than try to scramble up through the rocky sections on the Western side.

The top of Josephine is actually a nice spot to activate, with bushes and rocks available to put a mast up, but no shade.

During the summer months, ladybugs sometimes come out in force at high elevation.  They can be a bit overwhelming...and yes they do occasionally bite!

After activating Josephine, the focus turns to Mt Wrightson, which is majestic during the bushwhack back down.

Upon reaching the Super Trail, rather than turn left to return from where I came, I turned right (NE) to begin the trek towards the summit of Mt. Wrightson.  On this side of the peak, the trail is a bit less forested and more rugged than on the West-facing side.  It's about 3 more miles from Josephine to Wrightson, but with the bushwhacking and climbing it does take a while.

The summer season in Southern Arizona can have some bad monsoon storms.   During my hike in July, when I looked back towards Josephine, I noticed dark clouds forming which had not been there earlier.

Sure enough, the rain began soon aftewards.  I didn't mind the cooling effect of the rain, but it made me nervous about whether the weather would prevent me from completing the double activation.  Not hearing any thunder at all, I decided to forge ahead.  The rain eased up a bit as I approached the saddle below Mt Wrightson.

In March, this area had snow, although it wasn't deep.  March is late in the season here, so it's possible to find the ground dry, snow-dusted, or even heavy snow.  As the hike approaches the summit, there is a fairly steep series of narrow switchbacks that are a lot of fun to hike.  When it's snowy, they can even be difficult to negotiate; fortunately, during my hike the snow wasn't bad enough to create any serious challenge.

The top of Mt Wrightson is quite exposed and definitely not a good place to be during a thunderstorm.  Unfortunately, during my July 2019 hike, although I reached the top, I did not activate.  I actually was pushing up my mast, with the dipole hanging off the top, and just as it reached maximum height, a huge CRACK and a boom of thunder just about startled me out of my hiking boots!  I jumped and snagged my antenna's wire, ripping it out of the balun at the top...and proceeded to pull the mast down in record time.  I threw my stuff into the bag and made haste to get off the high point asap.

The hike down from Wrightson is quite beautiful.  There are a couple of springs along the path, and plenty of greenery on the Western side of the peak.

Either of these two summits is an honest day's work to activate; but their unique location and the trail design allows them to be combined for anyone looking for a good hard challenge.

One odd fact about these two summits:  Josephine Peak is in the "SC" region and thus qualifies for the SOTA Summer Bonus.  However, Mt. Wrightson is in the "AE" region, and thus qualifies for the SOTA Winter Bonus.  This despite the fact that they are both in the same grid square!

Date First Activated as a Double by KR7RK:  08 Mar 2018

GPS Track Uploaded to SOTA Mapping Project Tracks Site:  Yes

Approx Hiking Distance:  14.2 mi

Approx Elevation Gain:  4,600'

Summit Elevation:  8,478' (Josephine Peak), 9,453' (Mt Wrightson)

Summit Grid Square:  DM41nq (both summits)

Summit County:  Santa Cruz

ITU Zone:  6

CQ Zone:  3

W7A/CO-002, Ramsey Peak and W7A/AE-013, Miller Peak

I was desiring a very long hike after my busy season ended, so early in the morning of April 18th, 2019, I got up early and made the long drive from Oro Valley to the Ramsey Vista Campground in the Huachuca Mountains.  This mountain range lies along the US/Mexico Border, near the town of Sierra Vista.  My targets for the day were two summits, W7A/CO-002 Ramsey Peak, and W7A/AE-013 Miller Peak.  I actually thought there might be a possibility to add a third summit, W7A/CO-001 Carr Peak, which I had previously activated, but only if time permitted - as it turned out, I skipped Carr.

I parked in the campground, hung my USFS pass in the window, and began my day of hiking about 7am.  Early on, I could see the mountain looming in the distance, its rocky eastern sides looking rather intimidating.

Starting on the Hamburg Trail, I began the hike.  The first 2.5 miles or so were actually downhill, dropping about 700' into Pat Scott Canyon and the Hamburg Mine.  It was nice and cool, with a decent trail and plenty of trees.  I even found some running water in a few places.

After the canyon, the steep climb began with multiple switchbacks.

Ramsey Peak was drawing closer, and continued to look rather interesting.

At about 4.7 miles in, I reached a junction with the Crest Trail.  Turning North, I took a path that would take me across Pat Scott Peak on the way to Ramsey.  There were some interesting sights including some discarded old mining equipment (which is not unusual in Arizona).

There were a few sections with steeper climbs and more evidence of human presence from days gone by as I continued onward.

Eventually the trail became less apparent - there clearly were not as many hikers who go this far up.  But it did level out for a while and was pleasantly forested.  I saw a deer run by and breathed in the fresh air as I prepared for the coming bushwhack.

At about the 5.5 mile mark, I reached a boundary sign to inform me that the trail was about to enter the Fort Huachuca Army Base.  This is where the bushwhack to the summit begins, and there is a fence to define the boundary of the Coronado National Forest and the US Military property.  Although I doubted that the army would have anyone stationed up there, I decided it was probably best not to be bushwhacking through the forest on the military side of the fence.

So, I began the final ascent up to the summit.  At first, it looked relatively simple - a mild slope in the pines.  However, that did not last long! 

It was a tough, dense, and at times rather steep bushwhack to the summit.  It took me almost another hour to hike that final mile.  But I did reach the summit, and had a nice activation starting at about 11am.  I was testing out a shorter (and lighter) push-up mast so my antenna wasn't quite as high as normal, but it all worked out well.

Since I had plenty of hiking ahead, I only ran 20 and 40 meters, for about 45 minutes, before packing up.  The bushwhack down was just as rough, and I was glad to be back on trail after a mile down.  I headed back along the Crest Trail, but at the junction I kept on going instead of turning back down towards the canyon.  I was really enjoying this trail, being alone in the quiet forest, with plenty of scenery.

There are quite a few trails in the Huachucas, but fortunately I had carefully mapped out my route and saved it to my GPS in advance.  The Crest Trail is actually part of the Arizona Trail, and although I didn't see any other hikers all day, I'm sure there had probably been some through-hikers in this area within the past few months.

Some areas of the hike took me through sections that had obviously experienced forest fires.

My second summit target, Miller Peak, was a fairly good hike away from Ramsey.  Around 5 miles into the hike between the summits, I reached what I believe was "Bathtub Spring".  This is also a trail junction and I stopped to take a drink before starting the next climbing section.  I was very sweaty and grubby by this time, but I decided not to take a bath.

Continuing on, I soon saw Miller Peak tempting me in the distance, roughly 2.5 miles away, and about 700 feet higher.

I was beginning to get a bit tired at this point but the magic of the outdoors kept me feeling excited.  As I got higher, there were even a few sections of trail that had a snowy surprise to cool me off.

I reached the final spur trail to Miller Peak and turned up for the final ascent.  It was rocky and rough, but not too far to reach the summit.

I set up and began operating about 4pm, but kept it very short as it was chilly and I knew I only had a few hours of daylight to finish my hike.

The hike out was very nice, with long shadows and the stillness that slowly takes over wilderness as evening approaches.  At one point I saw a deer who seemed surprised to see a human out here in his domain.

I walked so close to Carr Peak, in fact my final section of the hike took me right past the summit and around it, but there simply was not enough time to scurry up and activate.  When I came around to the North side of the peak, I could see into Sierra Vista, and nearby was the famous tethered border surveillance blimp that has kept an eye on the area for many years.

The hike down after Carr Peak is rather steep and rocky, which was a bit tricky to navigate safely in low light.

I finished the hike right when twilight was pretty much done.  The moon was full and was peeking through the treetops to add a mystical aura to the finish. The total mileage for the hike was 20.2 miles, with total elevation gain of around 5,400 feet.  I was tired but very happy!

Date First Activated by KR7RK:  18 Apr 2019

GPS Track Uploaded to SOTA Mapping Project Tracks Site:  Yes

Approx Hiking Distance:  20.2 mi

Approx Elevation Gain:  5,400'

Summit Elevation:  8,737' (Ramsey Peak), 9,466' (Miller Peak)

Summit Grid Square:  DM41tk (Ramsey Peak), DM41uj (Miller Peak)

Summit County:  Cochise

ITU Zone:  6

CQ Zone:  3