The second range I’ll be traversing on my long-route and photography project is the stunning Santa Catalina mountain range, which sits north of Tucson. This range has varied elevation with a generally high average elevation. The range’s lowest elevations are around 2,640ft and maxing out at 9,171ft on the summit of Mount Lemmon. This range has quite dramatic relief with over 6,000ft of elevation gain from base to high point. I’ll also be doing a side quest on this section to do my first ever bit of caving!
The Santa Catalinas will take me from low desert scrublands to the very familiar mixed conifer forests I’ve known all my life. As far as the Madrean Sky Islands go, the Catalinas are a magical range and I’m very curious about exploring them!
The Santa Catalina mountain range is a prominent range in the Madrean Sky Islands, and partially delimits the mountain ranges in the northwest of the sky island region.
Section 2 of my SIT (Sky Island Traverse) is the first section where I’ll be able to utilize the Arizona Trail! I’ve wanted to hike the AZT for many years and while I’m not thru-hiking that this year, it’s cool to be able to hop on it for some of my SIT route.
This is what I’m thinking my stats will be for Section 2:
Distance of Hike: 65 miles
Elevation Gain: 16,500 vertical feet
Notes: I’m assuming the distance and elevation gain here are accurate. I guess I’m not 100% sure, because some of these areas aren’t accessed a ton. Conditions can create rereoutes that are not predictable. And I really don’t know exactly what my caving side-quest might be like. The actual caving will not be long; the trip to get to the cave might be.
Section 2 is an adventurous endeavor!
Section 2 of my Sky Island Traverse has me in some popular spots between wilderness! Catalina State Park, Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon to name a few.
Section 2 has running water in a few spots, so I’m excited about that! In Section 1, I had to filter from cow pools, which I never love. I also had to cache water ahead of time, which was fine, but it was very time consuming. The Santa Catalinas are well known for their beautiful water features; especially in Sabino Canyon.
Some of the wildlife I am hoping to document in the Catalina Mountains include: coatimundi, desert toirtoise, rattlesnakes aaand pretty much whoever else would like to show themselves. After the Tortolitas I have to say, I am just honored to observe any wild lives here in the Madrean Sky Islands. It would seem that there is always someone to spend time with and I am happy to call this region home. But yeah- coatis are pretty much number one on my wishlist for this range.
The biomes of the Santa Catalinas vary widely and I am looking forward to the surreal experience of backpacking through multiple biomes in the span of a day. I’ll of course be moving slow at times in order to study what I’m observing and to work through my photography project. So some days I’ll be focusing on single biomes. I can’t quite imagine the varied terrain I’ll be exploring in Section 2!
One of the stunning mountain views from 9,000ft in the Catalina Mountains.
To learn more about the Santa Catalina Mountains, check out the Wiki and Peak Bagger.
There will be no shortage of Saguaro cactus on the lower elevation portions of this section.
As I complete each section, I will be posting detailed reports on that section of the hike, including gear lists, some photos and probably some teaser videos. And of course, I’ll be sharing some of the section’s highlights in more real time to my IG stories, which many of you have come to enjoy over the years.
I’ll also be sharing my GPX routes as I complete sections. So if you are someone that enjoys seeing actual routes, rest assured knowing I’ll make those public, along with the permits I acquired to legally do the routes.