Tucson Mts: Bowen House via Hidden Canyon/Bowen/Yetman Trails

Length: 5.0 mi Lasso CEG: 575'

• Rating: D/C - Beginner +
  _ Duration: 3-5 hours
  **RESTRICTIONS: No Guests, Dogs, Firearms or Tobacco

_ Parking and trail head location: https://goo.gl/QSBQfW
_ This is the curbside parking at the Starr Pass Marriott Resort

The Hike:
This trail starts at the Starr Pass Resort & Spa Lorraine Lee Hidden Canyon trail head
In 2009 The Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved naming this 1.5 trail after the late Chicana activist Lorraine Lee.

The Hidden Canyon Trail (https://goo.gl/Xe8dgu) switch backs up the north side of the canyon to the ridge for 1.0 mile. At .85 miles there is a nice vista point where we will be able to see the Tower Peak to the west and the Tortolita Range and Dove Mountain to the east. From this point we will also be able to see the Camino de Oeste trailhead (https://goo.gl/BwxLPq) which is the eastern terminus of the Yetman Trail.

At 1.0 mile we reach the summit. At this point we have gained most of the 575' of Cumulative Elevation Gain (https://goo.gl/gMxQX1) (CEG) on this hike.
From the summit we will get a good view of the north end of the Starr Valley. Big and Little Cat Mountains and Second Ridge can be seen from here.

For the next .60 miles the Hidden Canyon Trail winds down to the Bowen Trail using a series of rocky, sometimes steep switch backs. On this section we will lose most of the elevation gained on the hike to the summit.

Now we will take the Bowen Trail northwest for .5 miles to where it intersects with the Yetman Trail (https://goo.gl/FDV5VA/).

The Yetman Trail is named for Tucson's best known desert rat and naturalist David Yetman (https://goo.gl/gPN32q). Yetman was host of the Emmy Award winning TV documentary "The Desert Speaks (https://goo.gl/cSQQXZ)" which ran for 10 years. He also served on the Pima County Board of Supervisors for 10 years. Additionally he is a research social scientist with the Univerity of Arizona's College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Southwest Center. Yetman (https://goo.gl/SHFVM6) has been at the Southwest Center (https://swc.arizona.edu/) since 1992.

Once on the Yetman trail we will continue south through the Starr Valley about a half mile until we reach the Bowen House. This section takes us through open desert and in and out of Mesquite lined arroyos.

The Bowen House
In the late 1920s Sherry Bowen brought his wife, Ruby, to Tucson from Rockford, Ill., in hopes that the climate would improve her health.
The Bowens homesteaded in the Tucson Mountains and built first a cabin and then what now remains of the current house which was built out of native stone.
Sherry and Ruby moved to New York City in 1944. By this time the Bowen homestead consisted of 200 acres. Their homestead became part of Tucson Mountain Park (https://goo.gl/z1wuzA) in 1983.
Once we reach the Bowen house we will take time to enjoy and explore the wonderful ruin as well as a leisurely rest/snack break.

We will return by backtracking on the Yetman trail to the Bowen trail which will take us back to our starting point.

As always - Hike at Your Own Risk

If you are new to the group please read these:

About the Tucson Hiking Meetup Group (https://goo.gl/tPJFiM)
Tucson Hiking Meetup Group - No Show Policy (https://goo.gl/K52bM1)
Hike Rating Scale (https://goo.gl/ZzDBGG)

If you have questions or need to reach me:
Cell: 304.290.8066
WV-Mike (https://goo.gl/tKEqiF)