Hike Bug Spring Trail Part 3

Directions: to get to the Bug springs trailhead, From Tanque Verde Road headed east in Tucson turn left and drive north on Catalina Highway and continue more than 7 miles to the Molino Basin Recreation Area trailhead. Continue driving past Molino basin for another two miles just past Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site to the signed Bug Spring Trailhead. This hike is about 4.6 miles one way. Heading north, the trail has an accumulated elevation gain of about +1,500 feet, and about -600 feet.

This trail offers access to the dramatic landscape of the Santa Catalina back Range, with its deep canyons and soaring ridges. There are views of the Rincons, Aqua Caliente, the Santa Ritas, and Tucson. A trip along this trail will treat you to good views of the high ridges and peaks of the Front Range. There are views of Upper Soldier Canyon and Upper Bear canyon. The trail follows the ridge between Bear Canyon and Molino Canyon during the first half of the trail. The next section of the trail dips down to into woods with the trail following the stream through the woods. It was a beautiful day when we hiked on this trail. The temperature was in the mid 70's and with a 30 to 40 miles per hour breeze blowing up along the ridge, but otherwise was a nice 15 miles per hour breeze, and it was a beautiful partly cloudy day. The one way length is about five miles, and you will need to stop and rest along the way on this one with all the climbing and scrambling over rocks. I didn't complete the trail, because my knee was bothering me, so after walking about 4.2 miles, I stopped with one of the other hikers on the saddle before the trail goes down to the upper Bear Canyon picnic area. That last 0.4 miles down to the picnic area was uninteresting, and I was hungry, so we stopped and had our lunch and enjoyed the vistas.

The trail is very rocky and moderately steep, with some sections of dirt and sand part of the way.

It was a nice 45 minute lunch with my sandwich If you take this hike, don't forget to bring plenty of water, because the high desert is dry and you'll need at least 2 liters of water, and possibly 3 liters would be better, per person.