Short Hike to Deer Camp

We are going to Deer Camp today. About 1.5 miles from the parking lot. So, 3 miles total out and back. Elevation gains minimal, with some rolling hills. I will be hiking at a slow pace. The camp is marked by an old rusty windmill and cement trough. There are wonderful vista views along the way and some of the most impressive Saguaros I have ever seen. I would also like to take a short .2-mile exploratory wander up a social trail to see all of Deer Camp on the other side of the creek. Looks like an old windmill and foundation and a footpath to some pools in the creek itself. We can help each other navigate carefully over there.
“The best hikes usually save the best for last, with scenic payoffs such as waterfalls and summits. That’s not the case on the Hope Camp Trail. Instead, the reward is all around you, courtesy of Mother Nature, the National Park Service and the Wilderness Act. Although the trail itself is located entirely within Saguaro National Park, most of what you’ll be seeing to the north and to the east is the protected landscape of the Saguaro Wilderness and the Rincon Mountain Wilderness. It’s not the best-known trail in the Tucson area, but Hope Camp winds through a gorgeous section of the world’s most beautiful desert.
This is a nice walk paralleling the southern flank of Tanque Verde Ridge and the Rincon Mountains along an historic route to some old line-camps, sites of roundups when these were functioning ranchlands.”
This is a fee area:
If purchasing a weekly pass, we are entering on foot.
https://www.recreation.gov/sitepass/2917
Passes issued to Saguaro National Park visitors have a 3-guest option. We should be able to accommodate everyone should you not have a pass. The Park Ranger was checking passes at the trailhead entrance on our last visit.
Meet and park at the Trailhead:
Loma Alta Trailhead
6578 S Camino Loma Alta · Tucson, AZ
Drive to the intersection of Old Spanish Trail and Camino Loma Alta. Head north on Camino Loma Alta. This trailhead is at the north end of Camino Loma Alta. It turns into a dirt road.
Park at the Loma Alta Trailhead or park along the graded Camino Loma Alta Road. There are plenty of spaces for cars and trucks.
This is the gps for the trailhead: 32°08'00.0"N 110°41'14.0"W
Do not follow the directions from your house in your map app using this point! It will take you through the Rocking K Ranch, which is gated, private land. Only use this point from OST and CLA if you can’t find your way north up CLA to the trailhead.
Afterparty at the Rocking K Market! Really yummy food and assorted beers.

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