New Trails with No Names

We hiked a new to us trail today.  As is the case with much of Tucson Mountain Park, it's not on the maps and doesn't appear to be named.

As we headed out we could see Little Cat (farthest right, but closer to us) and Cat Mountain (farther back).

We were headed in this direction.  Gates Pass is on the other side of the ridge.  We think that's Ringtail Ridge.

On the way up we discovered a nasty batch of Buffel Grass.  It's estimated that in 100 years the Sonoran Desert will have been taken over by this grass.  It's very disheartening.  The root system is so large it requires a caliche bar to dislodge it.

We kept going up.  It's surprising that anyone took the time and effort to construct trails here.  Part of it is a water course, but part is actually constructed.

Look on the far right and you can see Little Cat and Cat Mountains.

We gained some elevation.  The trail entered a stretch that was really steep and full of loose rocks, so we turned around.  Coming down is way harder than going up.

See the dip in the center of the picture?  We were just about to crest the ridge there when we bailed.

Coming back we saw more deer.  It's interesting how often we see deer on hikes.  The cross bow hunters are always complaining that they don't see any.  I guess they are not traveling far enough to intersect with them.  There is another fork in the trail that we want to take next time to see where it goes.