Mica Mountain

Mica Mountain (8,664ft) – Highpoint of Saguaro National Park

In the lowlands of Saguaro National Park

Eric Gilbertson – October 19-20, 2015

After climbing Quail Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park I drove around the park a bit before driving into Arizona for the night. I found an excellent gravel parking lot with RVs in it that I knew nobody would mind me camping in.

In the morning I continued driving east through Tucson and into Saguaro National Park. I drove through some huge stands of Saguaro cacti, then continued east. The park includes a region around Mica Mountain to the east that doesn’t really have Saguaro cacti, but does contain the highpoint of the park.

At the summit

After exiting the highway I drove up East Happy Valley Road until it made a sharp right turn near the Coronado National Forest at Miller Canyon, at the Turkey Creek trailhead. It was mid afternoon and I didn’t really have time to get to the summit and back before dark. It didn’t really make sense to just hang out at the trailhead til morning for a day hike, so I packed up my overnight gear and a bit of food and started hiking up.

I hiked up into the trees on an excellent trail and it was a very different scene than the desert I’d driven through earlier with all the Saguaro Cacti. It’s hard to believe this are is actually officially a part of Saguaro National Park.

By dark I reached an area near Happy Valley Saddle and pitched my tent for the night. The next morning I hiked north over Happy Valley Lookout, then over Man Head. I walked through Mica Meadow, which was socked in the clouds, and reached the summit mid morning. It was covered in trees and didn’t have a view, but was socked in the clouds anyways.

I hiked back down to my stashed overnight gear, then made it back to the car by lunch time. I drove back down to the interstate, then headed north to a good campsite in Apache National Forest en route to my next park, Mesa Verde.

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