Ruiz & Coyote Wash Trails, East Saguaro National Park

Back to the Loma Alta trailhead, this time in search of some bedrock mortars we’d been told about in Coyote Wash.

 

We followed the trail to just past Deer Camp before taking the Ruiz trail on the right.   This trail is only for hikers and horse riders.

 

The trail switchbacks sharply up the side of the hill and before long you’re looking back on the Hope Camp trail, Deer Camp and the Ridge View Trail

not to mention having an excellent view of Rincon Peak, I just love that view!

Further along the trail, we also had a great view across to the Tucson Mountains and Davis Monthan Air Force Base.

We followed the trail as it wound around the side of the mountain before heading steeply (I’m glad we walked it this way round) down into Coyote Wash.   A deep gash runs along the side of the trail before crossing it at the bottom as it joins the wash, not somewhere you’d want to be in the monsoon season.

As we walked further along we came across the remains on an old lime kiln on the side of the wash.

Walking further into the wash we stopped at the trail sign to have lunch.   DB hung his camera over the sign carefully hiding the mileage hmmm, why was that I wondered?   Probably because it was another 1.9 miles along the wash to the Hope Camp trail.   My short little hike turned out to be longer than I thought why did that not surprise me?!

We followed the boot and horse prints through the mesquite, paloverde and cactus along the sandy bottom of the wash.

I can’t quite decide which is harder on the ankles, walking along the bottom of a sandy wash or walking along a really rocky trail.

As we walked along the wash started to twist and turn, the bottom got rockier and the sides rose high above us.

We only found one of the bedrock mortars we'd been told about, probably because it was filled with water in the middle of the trail and we had to step over.

From here it wasn’t far back to the Hope Camp trail and the trailhead. 

Even though it turned out to be further than I thought, because I mistakenly thought we were just hiking up the wash a little way to see the bedrock mortars, (I should’ve known better!) it was a nice hike on a gorgeous day.

Have fun, we are!