Skookum Traveler: Mount Wrightson (AZ)

I was meeting my brother and others in Safford Friday afternoon (November 1st), so the morning gave me a suitable time window in which to trudge up another mountain, to sneak a peak, so to speak. My research led me to Mount Wrightson, a highly regarded objective an hour south of Tucson. At 9,453 feet, it’s the highest summit of the Santa Rita Mountains. With an elevation gain of just over 4,000 feet in five miles, it is also one of the more ambitious dayhikes in the region. The weather could not have been more perfect.

38. Mount Wrightson: I left the trailhead in Madera Canyon around 10:30 am, opting for the more direct Old Baldy Trail, rather than the gentler but longer Super Trail. Both converge at Josephine Saddle, where a marker denotes the tragic demise of three young boy scouts who became lost in a snowstorm near the saddle a half century ago. The trail continued up the ridge and into an upper basin with occasional views of the valley below and the peak above. Yellow crags jutted up from the forest where a series of short switchbacks brought me to the high crest north of the mountain. The final scenic spur to the top gained the last 800 feet in less than a mile, and I was on top by 2:00 pm. There I met two couples, including a mother and son repeating a hike they’d done when he was a kid. She rightly (Wrightly?) bragged that her parents had also made the trek when they were in their 70s. I wanted to stay, but alas, I had obligations in Safford that I was already running late for. There are other good hikes in the area and I will have to return at some point. But for now, I raced down the mountain, happy that my knee was still holding up well despite the abuse.

Miles (RT): 10.4 miles; elevation gain: 4,000 feet
Cumulative mileage and gain: 165.8 miles / 47,000 feet