Sky Island
Glen Lewis
When the heat soars and the desert canyons
become ovens, there is still a paradise in the outdoors. We call them Sky
Islands.
Mount Wrightson is a pinnacle of a Sky Island just south of Tucson. I made
this ascent with a member of the local online hiking community, Lizard, and
of course my regular girl as well. We set out to summit this 9,453' peak
also know as Mount Baldy for its treeless rocky peak. It was 10.6 miles with
a 4,000’ climb for the route we chose. The trail was relentless. It went up
and no other way would it go. This is not rolling terrain. The switchbacks
are brutal but they shoot you straight to the summit where you are on top of
this little corner of the world. There is no higher place.
Despite this area's proximity to Tucson,
it is still very wild with bears and the occasional Jaguar, whose species is
back on the rise. There is a mountain range in southeastern AZ which used to
have beautiful native parrots. They were hunted to extinction for their
plumage. This is truly a magical place. 99.999% of the city inhabitants
never get off pavement so my hope is it will stay what it is.
Here at Baldy Saddle a lone tree looks up to the summit from one mile away.
My traveling companions observed a bear going over the closer ridgeline as I
took this photo about 30 yards away.
Further up we came to a surreal little slope of thousands of flowers and
hundreds of butterflies.
This seemed unbelievable. The brutal heat was a few thousand feet away and
this paradise did not realize that any other world existed.
In the cool air of the summit which was close to 75 degrees, we found a
group of Ladybugs with a summit of their own. This was on the very top at
9,400'.
The switchbacks on the way down were so steep and tight that they were
stacked on top of each other.
We passed Bellows Spring between Josephine Saddle and Baldy Saddle. It was a
tiny oasis, just as this whole mountain is a tiny oasis in a vast desert. It
was a day of surreal beauty in the strange world of the southwest shared
with good companions and the odd bear. If it’s too hot to hike the lower
deserts, go high. You will find a totally different world up there.
Note: The desert floor was over 100
degrees and the sky was blue with few clouds but I still took my light
fleece, rain pants, wind breaker and rain poncho. All other normal gear was
taken too. A storm can form literally out of nowhere this time of the year.
One hour the sky is perfectly blue and the next hour or two you have a
thunderstorm shooting to 20 or 30,000 feet. That is the monsoons. The temp
at the summit was 75 degrees and a summer storm could instantly lower that
by 30 or 40 degrees. Evaporation is a powerful thing. Been there done that.
I carry a heavier pack than most out here. It makes a difference near the
end though.
I am a bit stiff in the joints today but it was worth it.
©2003 Glen Lewis