Oracle Ridge to Red Ridge

I have no idea why, but the north side of the Catalinas aren't nearly as well traveled as the south side. Go figure. Because some of my favorite hikes are on the north side. Like this one. I started out on the south end of Oracle Ridge trail. The north end terminates in, drumroll please, the town of Oracle. Oracle is where I'll start my proposed four day camping trip. This day, I walked about three miles of the trail until I came to a saddle and turned west toward Red Ridge. What is Oracle Ridge like? Like this.

Again, this part of the Catalinas suffered in the wildfires of a few years ago. Still, I saw a lot of deer tracks. And deer! A few scattered cougar and bear prints. And a lot trees that looked like this. If that's not a frozen scream of pain, I don't know what it is.


Once on the saddle, it switchbacks down to the floor between Oracle Ridge and Red Ridge which parallel each other toward the summit of Mt. Lemmon. There's a pretty stream here, it runs north, toward Oracle and Pusch Ridge.



There's a secret spot before you get here. A great spot. I'd show you a photo, but some of you idiots might actually go there and do something stupid. So, unless you have the personal initiative to go see for yourself, you'll simply never know. Ha! From the valley floor, the trail turns onto Red Ridge, which runs between Oracle Ridge and Reef of Rock, pictured to the right. The trail runs pretty much straight as an arrow to the top of the summit. You gain about three thousand feet in three miles. Even that wouldn't be so bad, but the trail isn't maintained anymore. It's littered with dead trees and detrius from the fires. Stuff has started to grow, but like the survivors of any holocaust, they're tough and untrusting little buggers, covered with thorns that tug at your sleeves and ankles. The trail is almost impossible to discern at points. I got a little lost a couple of times. And once, when lost, I saw the trail and decided to take a shortcut to it down a fairly steep slope. I took a shortcut all right. On my ass for about sixty feet. It was sort of fun. Until I got home and my buddy said that it wouldn't have been fun to "get cornholed by a stump." Wise words. These are my friends. In any case, here's the high point of the trip, literally, if not figuratively. Right near here, a huge muledeer, a big ass buck just stepped out of the trees to take a look at me. He didn't seem very concerned. I can't even scare a deer. Sigh.