May
flowers always line your path,
And
sunshine light your day.
May
songbirds serenade you
Every
step along the way.
~Irish
Blessing
I’m chasing Mexican Gold Poppies
a titch later than usual this year so I’m out of the valley floor and into the
hills of the Tucson Mountain District of Saguaro National Park. These trails along Picture Rocks Road are at
their poppy peak right now, along with lupines, mallows, penstemons, and LOTS
of brittlebush. A good place to start is the Ringtail Trailhead. When heading
west along Picture Rocks Road, the Ringtail Trailhead is not well-marked, but
there is a parking area on the righthand side of the street, just past the
hairpin turns, with a large rock outcropping right above it.
Across the street
from this parking area is the trailhead. You can do several loop hikes along
here. The most popular is the 3.6 mile loop that starts with the Ringtail Trail
and in a clockwise direction, circles right on Picture Rocks Wash, then right
on the Ironwood Forest Trail, then finishing up right on the Mule Deer Trail.
You can do a smaller loop, about 1 mile, clockwise from Ringtail, to Mule Deer,
then back on Ironwood Forest. There are
large expanses of poppies on the west side of the Ringtail Trail, with many
splinter trails heading out into the poppy fields; however, these are not the
main trails so beware of fallen cholla on the ground.
Length: 3.6 or 1 mile loops
Elevation gain: 200 feet for
longest loop
Time it took us: 2 hours with
many poppy stops
Dogs: No
Fees: It’s a national park, but the
pay station is in the other section of the park along Kinney Road. There was no
signage to pay, the ranger was there and not collecting fees, and the other
cars did not have parking permits so I’m going to say, it appears “no.”
Directions: From metro Phoenix,
take I-10 east towards Tucson. Exit before Tucson at Ina Road and turn right
onto Ina. Follow Ina to the end, and turn left on Wade Road. Wade Road will
turn into Picture Rocks Road. The Ringtail Trailhead is the first parking
pullout on the right, just over the hill.