Hike Santa Rita Mountains Traverse (Florida Peak, Mount Wrightson, Mount Hopkins) Coronado National Forest, AZ

Apr 04, 2024 — I stared up at the Santa Rita Mountains the day before, hoping I'd suddenly been granted superpowers that could melt snow really quickly. It was hard to tell what I'd be up against on my big planned outing since I certainly hadn't even considered there'd be snow up there this late in the year. I somehow convinced myself that the snow had disappeared overnight and decided to go for it, knowing if I'd gone home without doing so I'd be pretty annoyed with myself. I'd hiked Mount Wrightson years ago via the standard Old Baldy Trail, but I left many of the high points within the range unclimbed. With such an excellent trail system running throughout, I felt I needed to revisit this southern Arizona sky island and hike the whole ridgeline as a big loop. Today my itinerary included McCleary Peak, Florida Peak, 88 Mac Peak, Rice Peak, Mount Wrightson, Josephine Peak, Mount Hopkins, and Pete Mountain.

I began at my normal start time of "irresponsibly late", parking within Madera Canyon and starting up the Super Trail. Less than a mile along this trail is an unmarked spur trail. Taking this allowed me to hike over a small ridge and over to the Kent Spring Trail and thereby create a loop. Even though it's an unofficial short section of singletrack, it might as well be a trail. The Kent Spring Trail is little more than a steep old road that ascends past Sylvester Spring and up to Kent Spring. Here I met a junction with the Four Springs Trail, which traverses pleasantly along the slope well below the main Santa Rita crest. I was quite enjoying myself and only saw little spatterings of snow, a false sense of comfort overcoming me. The trail started gaining enough elevation that I could more easily see the impressive cliffs of the range's ridge crest above, as well as nice views toward Mount Hopkins further out to the southwest. The trail ascended more gradually as it made its way up to the saddle with McCleary Peak.

Once I crested the ridge, I was able to see how wrong I was about the amount of snow on the ground, but chose not to think about it just yet. I took a decent social trail up to McCleary Peak, an unranked summit that looked pretty from below and seemed worth the excursion. There was only a little brush to contend with, and even some very light Class 2 as I neared its summit. I backtracked to the saddle and continued along the trail, which descended a few switchbacks through prickly post-fire growth. Then it contoured east and would normally be trivial, but I had to take my time on the steep snowy slope. I'd opted to only wear a pair of old trail runners that boasted an impressive lack of traction.

I reached the junction with the Crest Trail. Florida Peak sat about a mile to the east, requiring a couple hundred feet of vertical loss to reach Florida Saddle below. I picked up the Sawmill Canyon Trail, which continued nearly to the summit of Florida Peak, but instead wraps below it. Leaving the trail briefly, a short and grassy off-trail hike got me the last short bit there. I backtracked to the junction with the Crest Trail, where I looked up toward my next summit, 88 Mac Peak. I tried to determine my best option considering the snow. Normally I would have just taken the Crest Trail until it joined the crest just south of 88 Mac Peak and hiked to its summit as a quick out-and-back. The snow along the steep slope scared me, so today I just headed straight up the ridge to 88 Mac Peak. It was a little brushy, but not much to complain about and I felt like I made the right choice given the circumstances. Overall a very tame, if steep, ascent. The last push to 88 Mac Peak had a lot of snow buildup so I couldn't see how rocky it was below, but I can't imagine it exceeds Class 2.

From the summit of 88 Mac Peak I could see the traverse to come, and I was surprised to find cairns leading down to the saddle where I met up with the Crest Trail again. If there's no snow you'll probably likely want to just hike this as an out and back, skipping my northern steep ascent. I found myself with a similar choice as earlier, deciding to stick to the ridge rather than side-hill on the snowy and treacherous slope where the Crest Trail normally would be. I wasn't upset about getting more views, and since the snow was deep enough there was no brush to contend with.

Despite how jagged and intimidating the Santa Rita ridge crest looked from below, it gave way easily. I made it to Mount Rice and then Mount Ian with little resistance. The snow covered my route at times so I couldn't say for sure, but I doubt there's any scrambling harder than Class 2 anywhere. The short spurts of rock that I did get to touch were trivial obstacles, though there was a section of avoidable Class 2+ toward the summit of Mount Rice.

A poorly-cairned route brought me down to the Crest Trail from Mount Ian, and Mount Wrightson's snowy form loomed ahead of me. Fortunately, many people had hiked up to the summit before me, so I postholed on the well-packed trail along the cliffy switchbacks and safely made it up.

I took the Super Trail as it wrapped around Mount Wrightson's southern slopes and down to Riley saddle so I could next hike to Josephine Peak. At one time there was a trail here, a sign reading as much, but after a fire the route to Josephine Peak now leaves much to be desired. In the old trail's place is ample bushwhacking, though there are enough clearings that I was able to move at a somewhat decent pace. A semblance of a trail keeps left of the crest for a short time and then I just picked my way along the crest the best I could. About halfway to the Peak from Riley Saddle, the terrain became a lot more pleasant and I was able to reach the summit without the same level of bushwhack stress as the first half. Higher up there's a rocky outcropping that you want to definitely keep to the left of before hiking the last few hundred feet. The views were nice, but Josephine Peak was not a pleasant add-on.

Now back on the Super Trail, I made much faster progress down to Josephine Saddle. Josephine Saddle is a key junction for the standard route up to Mount Wrightson, and I expected to see more hikers here than I did. I picked up the Agua Caliente Trail, which is mostly forested with some occasional views into Madera Canyon and toward the rocky face of Mount Wrightson. I passed Jack Mountain, a bump on the ridge with a faint social trail, a quick excursion.

Mount Hopkins is not only a significant lump in the Santa Rita Mountains, but also a hub for astronomical research. The road leading up the mountain is restricted to authorized personnel, primarily for access to the astronomical observatories located near the summit, such as the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. I didn't see any signage the whole way up that barred foot traffic, but there are no official trails to the summit. At around 7400' I left the Agua Calient Trail to join the ridge, where a social trail leads steeply up to the road about 400 feet above. From here I just hiked the road as it spiraled up Mount Hopkins, expansive views in every direction. I could even see Elephant Head far below.

I returned to the Agua Caliente Trail, following it along the western slope of Madera Canyon, Pete Mountain my final summit of the day. I passed the junction with the Vault Mine Trail, which I'd return to after Pete Mountain, and continued to Agua Caliente Saddle. Fortunately, a social trail exists to the summit so I didn't have to bushwhack almost a mile in each direection. The social trail hikes up and over an extended lump along the ridgeline before starting steeply to the summit of Pete Mountain. I didn't have trouble losing the trail until the last couple hundred feet. I stared out at the full traverse I'd hiked from the top for a bit, finally realizing how hungry I was, prompting me to keep moving. The Vault Mine Trail brought me back, mostly a hike through the forest with many tight switchbacks, finishing the day with a stroll next to a flowing creek.