Baboquivari

The jagged peak rises above its companions, a commanding presence over the desert. At 7,730 feet tall, with its own unique shape, it is easy to see why Baboquivari was selected as the residence of I'itoi, the creator of the Tohono O'odham, and one of the primary sacred sites for the nation. Many of the surrounding facilities are named for the jagged mountain, including Baboquivari high school. Somewhere within the mountain a cave opens: this is I'itoi's home. According to O'odham tradition, we are not supposed to visit this cave. Nevertheless, we still drive to Baboquivari to hike the much of mountain, while avoiding the cave.

At least we intended to hike much of of the mountain...

It is unclear when we lost the trail. I am of the opinion that we never really found it. Upon arriving at Baboquivari, we unloaded and prepared to hike. All the sites said that the trail was clearly marked all the way up. But after poking around the parking area, we had still not found the trail in earnest. Eventually we found something. It looked like a trail, it was marked every step with multiple cow pies and was obviously frequented more often by the bovine genus. In retrospect, what we found was probably not what we were looking for. But the hike went on.

The area around Baboquivari is characterized by numerous lesser mountains and a far lusher environment than the surrounding flatlands. An honest to god stream was flowing down the mountain, and it was the only running water I saw in the entire desert. The tall saguaros still rise out of the mountainous landscape, but they are accompanied by a healthy underbrush, which, as we soon discovered, was mostly very thorny.

Eventually the cattle trail ended, and we found ourself moving through the low underbrush, and up a relatively steep cliff face. We were hoping to swing around a nearby ridge and towards Baboquivari. As we bushwhacked our way up the mountain, we found ourselves spread out across 400 yards of ridge line. At this point, the lack of trail , the numerous scrapes and bruises, and group disorganization led us to turn back toward the vans, but not before we took in some incredible views and wild javelinas.