Trailblazers are ready to hike the AZT. [photo by Gregory]

Dorrie, Tina, Scott, Steve, Ken, and Scott.

Arizona National Scenic Trail (AZNST) Hiking Trip #2 Friday 01-23-26 G Zimmerman TH to Rattlesnake Mural + UofA Caris Mirror Tour Saturday 01-24-26 G Zimmerman TH to Colossal Cave + Pima Air Museum Tour Sunday 01-25-26 Molino Basin TH to West Spring This second of ten AZNST hike weekends was in Tucson with overnights at the Comfort Inn and Suites near the Kino Sports Complex. Ten participants from two hiking clubs and one nephew from CT turned out on this rain-threatened weekend in order to hike three AZNST trails, enjoy the Pima Air Museum, the Titan Missile Museum, and the Steward Observatory Richard F Caris Mirror Laboratory. This was a very busy weekend trip indeed! The Friday hike began at the Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead located about a half an hour South of Tucson. From the TH we walked 1.6 miles to a Rattlesnake mural painted on a Rt 10 highway cement underpass. Jodi and James came a half an hour later and Steelsen joined up later after lunch.

Rattlesnake Mural.

Next stop on Friday was the Mirror Lab. These massive one of a kind monster mirrors are built under the football stadium of the U of AZ, weighing tons and taking months to construct. The walking tour takes 90 minutes and includes a film, models of various mirrors, a talk of the history of the Laboratory, and a final walk through the giant rooms required. The parabolic mirrors are up to 10 meters in diameter and are accurate to fractions of microns!

An oven in the cool down stage.

After settling down at the motel, we broke up into different dinner choices and finally called it a night. Saturday we returned to the Gabe Zimmerman TH to hike to the Colossal Cave which heads North from the TH. The trail of about 5.1 miles traveled through a large wash and passed under two different railroad tracks before climbing a short distance and then weaving around and over hills toward the cave. We saw abandoned army vehicles, RV’s, and a hilltop castle to the East.

Steelsen, James, Scott, Jodi, Ken. [photo by Gregory]

About to climb out and away toward the Colossal Cave end of the hike..

Tina, Steve, Dorrie, and Scott instead hiked at Sabino Canyon and had a great time as well.
Hiking/Tours details
Hike 1 Gabe Zimmerman TH to Rattlesnake Mural 3.2 miles, EG 270 ft, 2 hrs
Hike 2 Gabe Zimmerman TH to Colossal Cave 10.2 miles, EG 1160 ft, 5 hrs
Hike 3 Molino Basin TH to West Spring 4.8 miles, EG 1350 ft, 3 hrs
Richard F Caris Mirror Lab Tour Univ of AZ 90 minutes $25/person
Pima Air Museum Entry + 45 minute Tram Ride $19.50 + $10.00 = $29.50/person
We also saw the longest train ever which we estimated at over 200 cars. In the afternoon we split into two groups where one visited the Pima Air Museum and the other saw the Titan Missile Museum. I went to the Pima Air Museum which included a 45 minute tour on a tram ride. The planes from all periods and styles were quite a sight to see. There were several museum buildings each with a particular theme and lots of planes. Fascinating experience. We stayed until closing.

Old but typical train bridges we passed.

Old Air Force 1.

Steelsen is going for flight training!

Once again we ended the day back at the motel and broke off into several dinner groups. My group headed to the Texas Road House for steaks and catfish. A great dinner and then off to the motel. Friday and Saturday had on and off rain activity and we were lucky to get everything done in between the rain bursts. But Sunday was a clear and sunny day at last. Great time for an elevation hike! Off to Molino Basin Trailhead East of Tucson up Mt Lemmon 5 miles on the Catalina Highway. But, don’t you know the road was closed for icy conditions. Only 4 wheel drive vehicles allowed! So after some discussion, we transferred ourselves to three cars and passed the road block. This was a great hike. We did the climb to the saddle and had great views. We crossed streams, switched back and forth uphill, passed other hikers and bikers, then went down more than we climbed to the West Spring which was our turn around point.

View from the saddle. Far below is the West Spring.

West Spring.

SJodi and James have No fear!

Greg made it!