Pusch Peak (AZ)

On Halloween, I flew to Tucson where my brother and I were hosting a weekend memorial in Safford for dad, who passed away a year before. My plane arrived early enough in the day that I had just enough time for an energetic hike up Pusch Peak, a few miles north of downtown. Pusch, at just over a mile high, is the westernmost summit of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Given the distance and elevation and a 5:30 pm sunset, I calculated there was just enough time to nab the summit before dark. The weather was perfect, sunny and not quite 80 degrees.

37. Pusch Peak: I hit the trail at 2:00 pm and meandered among the prickly pear and creosote into the saguaro zone, with the rocky summit looming dead ahead. As warned, the climb was steep, but the trail was in better shape than I had imagined from the descriptions online. It was just a matter of upward trekking as the valley beneath me slowly fell away from one turn to the next. I saw no one else on the mountain, though Pusch is sure to be a popular weekend hike. I was on the splendid summit by 3:50 pm, which allowed a short rest and still the hour and a half I needed to descend before dark.

From the top, the views into the Santa Catalinas and out across Tucson and Oro Valley were fabulous. Although I was a long way from Mount Lemmon, the high point of the range, I enjoyed once again, one of those top-of-the world moments that make peakbagging a more sensible and honorable endeavor than some might presume. On the way down, the brilliant light of the pre-setting sun turned the mountain to gold and lit up the stately saguaros like little monuments. This one was going into the journal as one of the most enjoyable of the Sixty.
Miles (RT):  4.1 miles; elevation gain: 2,700 feet

Cumulative mileage and gain:  155.4 miles / 43,000 feet

Summit rock.

Out by sunset.