Tucson Mts: Wasson Peak - Ho! Ho! Ho! Hike

Welcome to Mike's Quiet Hikes

• Mileage: 8.0 miles TOTAL - Out and Back
• Total elevation gain: 1700'
• Rating: C - Intermediate
**RESTRICTIONS: No guests, dogs, firearms, or tobacco/vaping
• Cell phones: SILENT during hike
We will take the time to enjoy the views and scenery and take photos.
Hike Route - Google MyMap
AllTrails Route

By RSVP-ing "Yes" to this event you are agreeing to hold the event host/organizer not liable for any personal injury, death or property damage that occurs during the event or in transit to and from the event.
We will be hiking in Saguaro National Park.
Anytime you are on National Park property, you may be required to show the correct pass.
See: Fees & Passes QR - Saguaro National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

For our hike to the summit of Wasson Peak (4600'), we will start at the Sendero Esperanza Trail Head on Golden Gate Road in Saguaro National Park West (Red Hills District). The Ez-Kim-In-Zin Picnic Area is across the road from the TH.

This hike starts at 2900', and the first mile is a gentle approach across the lower and upper bahada. After about a mile, the trail starts to climb up the north-facing flank until we eventually reach the ridgeline at 3600' elevation. Here we will intersect the Hugh Norris Trail. We have now hiked about 2 miles.

From this intersection, there are sweeping views of the southern Tucson Mountains as well as the Sierrita, Baboquivari, and Quinlan mountain ranges and the distant Santa Rita Mountains. To the north, we will have views of Sombrero (Safford) and Panther Peak, as well as the Tortolita Mountains and Picacho Peak in the distance.

From here, we will follow the Hugh Norris Trail in an easterly direction and hike along the ridge and up some switch backed sections as we climb higher and higher until we reach Wasson Peak at 4600' feet.
From Wasson Peak we will have a 360-degree view of the Tucson basin as well as the Catalina and Rincon Mountains.
After spending some time resting, refueling, and socializing, we will start the hike back down using the same route.

RSVP etiquette:
• Sign up only if you really intend to come
• If you need to cancel, do so BEFORE the RSVP deadline so someone can get your spot
• If you change your mind, take yourself off the Going or Wait list
• Please don't be a no-show

Be sure to bring adequate water, food, trekking poles, etc.
As always - Hike at Your Own Risk

Questions?
Cell: 304.290.8066
WV-Mike
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Information related to this hike.
About John Wasson for whom the Peak was named:
In 1870 President Grant appointed John Wasson Surveyor General of Arizona. Coming to Tucson at about the time that Judge Titus did and not long after Governor Safford's incumbency began, these gentlemen formed an agreeable coterie. Wasson was a native of Ohio. Coming to California as early as 1852, he soon went back to Ohio where he remained about ten years. After 1862, he resided continuously in the far west, serving in various public capacities and editing newspapers in Nevada, Idaho, California and Arizona. He is best known as the founder and editor of The Tucson Citizen. In 1874 he married Miss Harriet Bolton, who had come from the far East to teach in the Tucson Public Schools. Mr. Wasson was an able, sober, upright, fearless exponent of good morals and good government.
More info : Arizona Historical Review, Vol. 3 No. 2 (PDF download)
On April 30, 1871 Wasson was involved in the slaughter of an estimated 100 or more Apaches during a dawn sneak attack near Camp Grant.
"Indeed, John Wasson, editor of Tucson’s Arizona Citizen and a participant in the massacre afterward defended the raid. “There never was a murder committed in self-defense with stronger provocation or better grounds of legal justification, than in the case under consideration,” he (Wasson) wrote."
More info : Camp Grant massacre a sad chapter in area history - Pima County

Hugh Norris (trail)
In the 1920's Norris was a police officer for the Tohono O'odham Indians and employed by the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA).
Although references can be found about the "highly respected" officer Norris like other well know Arizona officials had their dark sides.
"The protesters particularly criticized the OIA for compelling them to send their (Tohono O'odham ) children away to boarding schools. They even accused agency police chief Hugh Norris of outright stealing the youngsters" Source: The Journal of Arizona History, Vol. 46, No. 4 (winter 2005), pp. 375-396
Sendero Esperanza trail - no info on this trail name could be found.
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RSVP etiquette:
• Sign up only if you really intend to come
• If you need to cancel, do so BEFORE the RSVP deadline so someone can get your spot
• If you change your mind, take yourself off the Going or Wait list
• Please don't be a no-show

Be sure to bring adequate water, food, trekking poles, etc.
As always - Hike at Your Own Risk

Questions?
Cell: 304.290.8066
WV-Mike