Quantrell Mine Trail Hike

I know it is hard to read, but the 3rd line down says "Very Steep Trail". We laughed at that one. Since it doesn't show Quantrell Trail, we went on the road to the left of this sign. Another time, we will try this trail.

Beautiful rock colors and trees - white oak!

Wow - what a trail! Have we really walked this far!!!! Didn't seem that long!

Aren't we cute? This was about 1/2 way up to the top. We decided they should have a picnic table and outhouse with water here.

Yes, we found snow and I made a snowball to throw at Jim. Of course, I missed! We are actually hiking to the east of Elephand Head. We could see Pinion Pine trees in it - big surprise. We never noticed them from below.

After hiking up about 1000' to 5880 elevation, we saw several cell phone towers. After climbing on a large rock, we discovered a rainbow cactus! What a huge blessing and oddity! This type of cactus grows in very few locations. It is usually found at lower elevations, but since it is so protected here, it is, obviously, doing quite well. We did reach the end of this trail and we were higher that Elephant Head! We could see the snow on the Catalinas in Tucson. It was an amazing hike and well worth taking! We are still not sure that we were on the actual Quantrell Mine trail, but this wide road was easy to hike. The only challenge was the elevation. However, since there were many switch backs, it really wasn't too bad. We took our time and stopped as needed and the total time for the hike was about 2 1/2 hours.

Garwood Dam Hile - Saguaro National Park EAST

This property, which is now a part of the Saguaro National Park East, was first homesteaded by two women in the 1920's. Nelson Garwood purchased the land in 1945. He built a nice homestead for himself and built the dam. He was a Navy Veteran of the Spanish American War, fought in the Boxer Rebellion in China, stoked ships in the Great Lakes, was a fireman on the railroad, built race cars and owned a Ford agency in Ohio. After moving to Tucson in the 1930's, we became involved in real estate. During WWII, he worked at Davis-Monthan Air Base. He eventually earned a pilot's license and bought a plans. He built himself an airstrip and maintained it by dragging railroad ties and heavy steel beams which were attached to his jeep. He also built a hangar for the plane. The hike is beautiful. Enjoy the pictures!

Beautiful vistas from the top of Pink Hill.

Here's why the trail is called "Pink Hill".

We named this one "Happy Family".

Several pictures of one huge saguaro! It was deserving of so much attention.