Bushwack up Pusch Peak Hike - part 3

This trail starts at Linda Vista trailhead. This trailhead is just off East Linda Vista Road, just past Egleston Memorial Drive on the right side. It's a parking lot at the time of this writing which can accomodate 10 or so cars, and is often filled, so go earlier if you want a spot.

To get to Linda Vista Road, you go north on North Oracle drive from Ina road approximately 2.5 miles to Linda Vista Blvd, you turn right and this road becomes Linda Vista Road. After you turn on Linda Vista, you only have to drive about 700 feet until you reach the trailhead parking on the right.

This is not a trail for someone who is faint of heart, nor is it a trail for someone who is afraid of heights. The trail is steep, and rocky, and one should wear bluejeans and boots and because it's a bushwack, watch out for holes to step into so you don't sprain your ankle or fall and suffer an injury.

It's almost a trail, but not quite with the trail becoming very faint in several places. It's possible to download a gpx file for your gps unit from Hike Arizona. You might want to consider doing this just to make sure you can find the trail if you get disoriented or confused.

The trail is about 2.1 miles one way, but don't let that fool you, the trail gains about 2,600 feet in that short distance, so it's very steep at places, and generally at least modestly steep. Do the math, it's steep hike.

There is a nice description on hikearizona.com for this hike, It's an Arizona trails website, and it's a great resource for people who are looking for a hiking trail, especially near Tucson, Az.

hikearizona.com provides lots of very useful information, including distance, elevation, AEG, elevation gain, average duration time of hike, and a write up of what to expect.

The main idea is to get fresh air, good exercise that is a good experience and is good for me, and is a pleasant pastime. the views along the way are very nice.

If you want to take pictures, you might want to leave early in the morning to get the right lighting for good pictures.

It's the desert southwest, and it's really too hot in the summer to do outside exercise without getting a heatstroke, plus it's restricted from hiking this trail from January to April by the Arizona fish and wildlife who are worried about the long horn sheep, and this is a highly controversial policy to say the least. I recommend doing this hike in November or December. The wildlife such as rattlesnakes, gila monsters, tarantulas, scorpions, and other things come out in the summer.

It's magical to hike in Arizona in the late fall and winter. Only risk in winter is that you can have rainstorms, which translate to snowstorms in the mountains from December- March. Ice is the enemy of the mountain hiker on steep trails. Low friction surfaces are not good.

Hiking poles and crampons are useful in dealing with snow and ice, but one still needs to be careful. But the rewards are definitely there for the careful planning winter hiker.

On the day when we hiked up Pusch Peak, it was clear skies, with a little smog haze over Tucson, but overall it was a very nice day. It is a beautiful canyon and very scenic. You can see over to table mountain and up the west side of the Santa Catalina mountains. You can also see to Mount Kimball. You can see 50 or 60 miles or more on a clear blue sky day without haze.

It's a great way to spend a day hiking down this 8 ish mile trail. We spent about 6 hours for the round trip up the peak and back down. We took our time on the way up averaging about 1mpg going up and about 2mph going back down.