Our Hiking Mystery: Sutherland Trail

"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go . . . "

I remember the exact moment along the Sutherland Trail when my daughter told me that was her hiking song. I laughed at that because we all have songs going through our heads to get us through something monotonous. I told her that we use, "Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive," for CPR compressions in the ER, and she thought that was hilarious.

Rarely do I pick a one-way, out and back trail to hike because I don't like the boredom of seeing the same terrain twice. The exception to this guideline is if there is a clear destination I'm trying to get to: such as, the view of Weaver's Needle on the crest of the Peralta Trail, the rock art at the end of the Hieroglyphics Trail, or the cave atop the Broadway Cave Trail. In the case of the Sutherland Trail in Catalina State Park, the clear destination was spring wildflowers. And WILD they are, if you go RIGHT NOW! Literally, hillsides of Mexican Gold Poppies with Lupines splashed in there for color.

From the trailhead parking lot, follow the signs that direct you left along the Sutherland Trail. Yes, the majority of people will be taking the Canyon Loop Trail -- I don't know why; I'm sure it's lovely, but if you're looking for wildflowers, then the Sutherland Trail is the one you want. You will be following a streambed, and, at times, crossing it. The trail splits off at a staircase, but you want to follow the clearly marked signs pointing you left along the Sutherland Trail and up a rock staircase. Shortly up these stairs, you will begin to see the wildflowers. We lingered a long time in this area taking pictures like crazy by lying on the ground, posing on boulders, and annoying bees with close-ups.

While going up the second rock staircase, turn around to get shots of the flowers with Saguaros and Barrel Cacti in front. At the top of these second stairs, you have a choice to keep going along the Sutherland Trail, and other hikers did tell me that there were some more patches of flowers further along (the Sutherland Trail goes 10.6 miles up the side of Mt. Lemmon.) However, we were so enamored with this area of flowers that we elected to turn around at the top of the second staircase where there is an unmarked trail going hard-left off the Sutherland Trail (it forms a "V.") From here, you can do a loop around this heavily-flowered area to come back down the hill and reconnect with the Sutherland Trail to head back the way you came. In a sense, you are doing a counter-clockwise loop around the flower field. Cutting this hike off here at this point creates about 2.4 miles total of easy hiking that almost any flower-loving hiker can do. Hopefully, the blooms will keep up since it is still early in the season, but there's no telling so I'd go soon.

Length: 2.4 miles
Elevation gain: 200 feet
Time it took us: 2.5 hours with lots of photography
Dogs okay: yes
Fees: $7
Directions: The actual address to the park is: 11570 N. Oracle Rd. in Oro Valley. If at all possible, I highly recommend taking the Pinal Pioneer Parkway (Highway 79) to get to the park. From the far East Valley of metro Phoenix, this took me just over an hour and a half along this route. Along Hwy 79 past Florence, the wildflowers are absolutely gorgeous with Globe Mallows, Brittlebush, and Penstemons mixed in with the Poppies and Lupines, particularly between mile markers 105 and 106 and again between 112 and 113.