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Nov 07, 2022 — With a morning to kill, I set out for a triplet of peaks with a kitty naming convention in Tucson Mountain Park: Bobcat Ridge, Little Cat Mountain, and Cat Mountain. They're all nice little summits just outside the suburbs of Tucson AZ, Cat Mountain being the tallest and offering some nice scrambling, while the first two peaks were nearly trails the whole way. Starting from the Sarasota Trailhead, I headed along the Sarasota Trail, then headed along the marked Explorer Trail, which separates Bobcat Ridge from Little Cat Mountain.
Shortly before reaching the saddle on the northern side of Little Cat Mountain, I left the official trail and took a rocky social trail north to head up to Bobcat Ridge. The trail was in good shape the whole way up, following the ridgeline mostly th whole way and reaching the summit without fuss. I could see Golden Gate Mountain to the west, and Cat Mountain looked nice to the south from here. I backtracked to the Explorer Trail and continued to the saddle above. A social trail led me up the northern slope of Little Cat Mountain, ascending steeply, but brush-free. This social trail faded once reaching flatter ground, so I stuck mostly to the rim and made my way to the Class 2 summit block of the peak. I headed back and picked up the Explorer Trail, taking it to the base of Cat Mountain.
There didn't seem to be a standard route up Cat Mountain, so I took the option that looked most appealing from the road, the northwest ridge. Others seem to prefer the east ridge, and maybe an easier route exists from the north, but I recommend this route option, which has nice views and a short bout of sweet scrambling. I headed up the northwest slope of Cat Mountain, where I located a small gully leading to a notch (Class 2). Once past the notch, there are a couple of options. On my ascent, I continued higher to the ridge crest onto some short, fun Class 4 moves with an airy feel, but this can be avoided by keeping just left of the rock outcrops. I only included the non-Class 4 section in my stats and map, barely Class 2.
Past here, I gained the ridgeline, which only has some light scrambling before reaching the crux, which appears to be an unclimbable face from along the ridge. I reached it and ascended from the north, where an interesting Class 3 slab with a teeny amount of exposure led to some fun moves up a slickrock chute. The chute ended at a final Class 2+ move to gain the summit ridge, where an easy grassy slope led to the summit. I backtracked and took the Sarasota Trail back to the trailhead, forming a loop around Little Cat Mountain.
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