Sunshine Adventure Hike 5/24: Old Baldy - Mount Wrightson 🥾☀️

Sunshine Adventure Hike 5/24: Old Baldy - Mount Wrightson 🥾☀️⛰️

Let’s enjoy a long and challenging adventure hike in Madera Canyon up to Mount Wrightson! We will be hiking the Old Baldy Trail to Mount Wrightson Summit, a full day hike with cooler temps and gorgeous views.

This trail is 10.6 miles out and back with 3969 feet of elevation gain (!!!) according to AllTrails, very long (though not technically challenging)…the profile map is a wide upside down V: steady incline and decline, with some spots near the top slightly overgrown but otherwise a supposedly clean and smooth trail (loose gravel has been reported in recent reviews)

There is a definite bailout point at Josephine Saddle, approximately 2.4 miles up…from there it’s another 3 miles to the summit, and some of the best views around town. We will do our best to keep the group together, but as a challenging adventure hike, it is always totally fine to turn around on the out and back if things feel a little too long or hard.

We will convene at the trailhead at 6:50am for introductions and begin our hike at 7:00am. This will take us 7.5-8 hours with some small breaks and a fifteen at the top, getting back to the car by 3pm…please plan accordingly with battery packs and hydration for this long hike.

There is no fee for parking, simply follow the Madera Canyon Road to the end, or put in “Mount Wrightson Trailhead” in your gps. Cell reception is basically nonexistent close to the trailhead, so if you’re running late, do the best you can to catch up to us 😁

Please bring lots of water and sunscreen, hiking poles will be very useful with incline stretches on the way up and all the way down. The weather forecast right now calls for upper 60 degrees at the start and lower 80 degrees by the time we finish, definitely on the warmer side (though the starting elevation is higher and thus cooler than Tucson)

Given the length of this trail, please make sure you are prepared for this hike, physically and provision-wise. Lots of water, snacks, backup batteries and clothing layer options are highly recommended.

We will be taking pictures and posting them to our group Facebook page. Thank you for your consent to post by joining our hike 😎

Hope to see you out there!

Thanks,

Jon Powers
520-360-5854
SunshineSocialHikes.com