Cold, Wet, and Fun… Wasson Peak Hike
Yesterday, Pete and I hiked the 7 mile King Canyon trail to Wasson Peak. When we made the decision to hike, the weather forecast didn’t say anything about chance of rain, let alone snow.
The hike started out well; steady uphill as we made our way into one of the Tucson Mountains canyons. Though, about 15 minutes into the hike, we should have known we’d have future problems when it started to lightly rain. As we made our way through the multiple wash crossings and got up to higher altitudes, that light rain turned into light snow. Upon reaching the point in the trail where the King Canyon trail meets up with the Hugh Noris Trail, it was close to blizzard conditions in the mountains with very low visibility. Had we been able to see much further than 20 or 30 feet, we would have seen the remnants of the Copper King Mine dotted along the valleys and canyons as we made our way up the trail.
By the time we reached the top, we were force to put on any extra clothing we had with us. I was lucky that I brought my full winter coat (thinking I may need the shell if it were to rain up there) and Pete brought a rain poncho to keep out of the wind. There was about 2″ of snow at 3:45pm when we arrived at the peak and our hands were getting quite cold from the wetness. We took few pictures at the top due to the cold conditions and our GPS receivers went buggy with the cold. Luckily, the trail was well marked even with 2″ of snow covering the upper reaches. On our way back down, we snapped a few more pictures to show what the surrounding canyons and mountains looked like as the snow was calming down.
Other than the fact that we totally didn’t expect snow and we were both wearing cotton pants (something I will never do on a winter hike again), it was quite a nice hike. I’d like to do it again to actually appreciate the views from the top, but I’m in no hurry to do so.
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