Hiking, Biking, Horses, and Having Fun In the Tortolita Mountain Area

The following sections are abridged selections from the chapters of the unpublished manuscript from the authors with permission. No part may be reprinted in part or whole without their written permission.

Introduction

The Tortolita Mountain Area (tma) is the last wild or semi-wild area on the borders of Tucson, Arizona. In location it is just north of this big Southwestern city. It is generally described as North of Tangerine Road, East of Interstate 10, South of Park Link Drive, and West of Oracle Road Hwy 79.

There are no real roads that go through this area although there are some Four Wheel Drive Trails. But they all cross private property so are unlikely to ever become public roads and they are generally in terrible conditions. Even in the ultimate 4X4, the Hummer, none were actually doable without damage to the vehicle or significant construction activity. As hiking, biking, or even horse trails, though, they were excellent and we will cover most of them.

The authors have been traveling this area intermittently for over 20 years, but if it weren’t for the gracious help of local ranchers and the hardy few who have lived in this area for decades, much of this information would not be available. A special thanks to the Carpenter family who have homesteaded the Tortolita’s for over 50 years is in order.

Recently the tma has become a Pima County park. Actual access and boundaries are still subject to change so this information will likely be upgraded by the next printing, and on the internet ,much sooner. Ultimately there may be over 50,000 acres and there is talk of extending the park westward to or toward the new Ironwood National Monument. Please be sure that you ask permission for passage of any property owners that you may encounter as almost all roads are private as of 2001. Eventually there will be public access, but right now there may be none or some depending on who you talk to.

How To Get There

Please note that almost all ways to get actually to the boundaries to the Tortolita Park boundaries cross private land. Nevertheless people are using existing trails and dirt roads to get into the interior of this relatively small and accessible area.
From the South there are numerous possibilities. Dove Mtn Blvd, Thorneydale, Wild Burro, Blue Teal, Gibson trail, Tortolita Estates Dr., Gecko Canyon Trail, Rancho Vistoso Blvd., Carpenter Ranch Road, Cochie Canyon Rd. are just a few of the possible accesses into the inner Tortolita’s. But as we stated before there may be legal access problems with each of them and so use caution and ask before you try them. Just because you see a horse trailer parked on some remote road doesn’t mean the owner will give you permission.
This problem will be solved as time goes on and the legal issues are resolved. In the mean time the only people that seem to not mind this situation are the hikers who generally park some reasonable distance away and then just start following the trails uphill. So after this long disclaimer about the legal issues of getting to the interior Tortolita mountains, let us look at some of the hiking, biking, and horse areas as they seem to exist today and then we will speculate on the future based on our best current information.

South Tortolitas

Honeybee Canyon is clearly the premier developed trail so far in the Tortolita Mountain Area. Here you have a semi-riparion canyon trail that is generally good to hike almost all of the year. The trail head is clearly marked an well developed with a parking lot, signage, entryways, restrooms, and more.

There is no charge currently to use this day-use facility. The only way to get there is to access Rancho Vistoso Blvd from either Hwy 79 Oracle Road or Tangerine Blvd. It is about halfway between the two access points.

The hike is pretty easy and there is limited handicapped access and the round trip is generally between one and two hours. You may see wildlife early and late and there are some archeological sites that are not pointed out because of vandalism possibilities. There is water for part of the year and you must be very careful around the monsoon time of year as this is a run-off canyon.

Currently the Pima County Park and Recreation Department is helpful but pretty vague about where there will be trailheads and access. There is a very nice map at their headquarters and they do not make copies so a visit there is the best you can do.

How does a person access from the south? Keep in mind the disclaimer about private land. But most people simply drive up one of the north/South roads, and if it doesn’t dead end in someone’s home, park and hike up any obvious trails.

Horses have it much tougher as they have to be ridden or trailered to somewhere close and then find a trail. Many locals regularly know exactly which trails to take, either because of equestrian easements written into the area or simply because the owners of the properties nearest the park don’t care or are out of area and don’t know. This not a suggestion of what to do, only what is reality currently.

West Tortolitas

There are two main ways to access the west part of the Tortolita mountains. The first way is off of I-10 at the Marana exit. Take the frontage road on the East side North. The first “right” turn is about 1/4 mile north of the exit stop sign. Take this road app. 2 miles and until you come to a cattle guard in the road. If you go straight you will run into Grand Valley road. So instead turn “right” onto the Carpenter Ranch road. This road parallels the Western Tortolita’s and goes North. The road eventually dead ends in the private Carpenter ranch (no longer owned by them). But on the way up to it there is a rather large Y in the road. If you were to take this road “right” you are now on Cochie Canyon road and it leads to the boundary of the Park. Is this a legal access? Even the Park people didn’t know but said it almost certainly will be at some point.

The other way here is to come of Park Link Drive in Pinal County on the Owlhead Ranch Road and go South. In about 7 or 8 miles you will come to Mule Dear road where the Owlhead turns right or “Southwest.” Mule deer will take you to almost the end of the Carpenter Ranch road where a “Right” turn will take you back to the Marana I-10 exit.