Santa Catalina Mountains Archives – GlassMountains Trip Reports

Pusch Peak, Arizona, November 2024

December 5, 2024 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Saturday, November 30, I climbed Pusch Peak on the western edge of the Santa Catalina Mountains of Southern Arizona. This peak is closed for bighorn sheep lambing season from January 1 through April 30. I needed to visit it soon if at all this winter season.

Morning view of Pusch Peak from the Linda Vista Trail

That morning I drove to the Linda Vista Trailhead. I was fortunate to find a parking spot. From the trailhead I followed the Linda Vista Trail east, then turned to follow the unmaintained Pusch Peak Trail higher towards the peak’s summit.

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Table Tooth, Arizona, December 2022

January 2, 2023 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Saturday, December 31, I joined Dave Kohnke, Peyton Kohnke, and Annie Fahey for a Southern Arizona Hiking Club climb of Table Tooth above Pima Canyon, near Tucson. Table Tooth has only 280 feet of prominence, but is a rock tower requiring some exposed scrambling high above the canyon.

Table Mountain and Table Tooth across Pima Canyon to the NNW from Valentine Peak

I climbed Table Tooth four years earlier, and found an alternative route gaining the exposed summit ridge that avoided the most difficult part of the climb. Dave hoped I could share that with him on this day, and I hoped I could remember how to find it.

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Valentine Peak, Arizona, December 2022

December 22, 2022 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Monday, December 19, I joined Dave Kohnke, Thomas Holt Ward, and Tony Krystoff for a Southern Arizona Hiking Club climb of Valentine Peak above Pima Canyon, near Tucson. Valentine Peak has only 146 feet of prominence, but is a rock pillar requiring some route finding and scrambling on exposed rock high above the canyon. None of us had visited the summit before and the SAHC information on the route was vague. We were a small team of experienced desert mountaineers and were eager to solve the puzzle.

Looking up Pima Canyon, with Valentine Peak on the right

We left the Pima Canyon Trailhead in the blue light before sunrise. We soon entered the canyon and spent most of the morning in the shade cast by the high ridges above us. Following the trail up the bottom of the canyon we eventually spotted the tower of Valentine Peak ahead of us up canyon.

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Prominent Point, Arizona, December 2018

January 7, 2019 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Monday, December 31, I joined the Southern Arizona Hiking Club for a climb of Prominent Point, a peak rising to the east above Pima Canyon in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Prominent Point has only 624 feet of topographic prominence due to its proximity to Mount Kimball. But the “hike” was strenuous and it felt like another mountaineering experience for me in this rugged wilderness.

Looking up the SW ridge of Prominent Point towards the upper saddle

We left the Pima Canyon Trailhead before dawn with headlamps. It was windy and cold as we walked the rocky trail into the canyon. After about an hour we left the trail and began climbing up slopes to the east. We eventually gained a steep ridge which avoided some of brush as we climbed. A cold wind blew across the ridge and I wondered how intense it would become as we climbed higher.

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