Lemmon Pools and Marshall Peak, Northwest Summit, 8,300'

Essence: This hike showcases multiple features on the south flank of Mount Lemmon. Explore the jumbled and constricted channel of Lemmon Creek whose massive boulders force repeated probes and bypasses. Or, take a wildcat trail to the best pool of them all. Walk through the upper reaches of Wilderness of Rocks, an enchanting maze of free-standing granite stacks, sentinels, balanced rocks, and climbing boulders. Finally, incorporate a climb to the northwest summit of Marshall Peak while completing a popular forested loop that originates in Marshall Gulch. Spend the day in the Santa Catalina Natural Area enclosed within the Pusch Ridge Wilderness, managed by Coronado National Forest.
Travel: Measure from Tanque Verde Road and the Catalina Highway. Drive to Summerhaven, passing the Palisade Visitor Center at 24.5 miles and Loma Linda Road at 28.8 miles. In Summerhaven public restrooms and water are available at the Mt. Lemmon Community Center on the right. Enter the National Forest at 30.3 miles. The Marshall Gulch Picnic Area is closed seasonally between December 15 and March 1. Inexplicably, in April of 2019 the gate was closed and locked. Park at 30.6 miles and walk down the road. If the gate is open, drive another 0.6 mile to the trailhead. Pit toilets, no potable water. No dogs beyond the Marshall Gulch and Aspen Trail Loop. Pay the fee ($5 in 2019) or display your Interagency Pass.
Distance and Elevation Gain: 10.6 miles from the upper gate; 9.4 miles from Marshall Gulch Trailhead; about 2,500 feet of climbing. Allow additional time and distance for creek exploration; your stats will vary.
Total Time: 6:00 to 7:30
Difficulty: Trail, off-trail; navigation moderate; some exposure bouldering in Lemmon Canyon.
Maps: Mt. Lemmon, AZ 7.5' USGS Quad, or, Pusch Ridge Wilderness, Coronado National Forest, USDA Forest Service, 1:24,000
Date Hiked: April 9, 2019
Quote: This was the Earth of which we have heard, made out of Chaos and Old Night. Here was no man’s garden, but the unhandseled globe. It was not lawn, nor pasture, nor mead, nor woodland, nor lea, nor arable, nor wasteland…Man was not to be associated with it. It was Matter, vast, terrific…rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! Contact! Contact! --Henry David Thoreau

The star of the show in Lemmon Canyon is a rock-walled pool. A waterfall effortlessly and ceaselessly carves away at metamorphic Santa Catalina gneiss. (Thomas Holt Ward, photo)

Route: There are several points of access and both short and long loops on the south slopes of Mt. Lemmon. This hike begins on the Marshall Gulch Trail and bears west-northwest to Marshall Saddle. Hike southwest on the Wilderness of Rocks Trail to access the Lemmon Canyon pools. Return to Marshall Saddle and hike south on the Aspen Trail. Climb off-trail to the northwest summit of Marshall Peak. Return to Marshall Gulch on the Aspen Trail.

If the gate is closed, elevation 7,580 feet, walk down the paved road. This is a no-regrets dramatic warmup. Channeled Sabino Canyon creek barrels down the gorge squeezed between asphalt and sheets of granite.

The Marshall Gulch Picnic Area in upper Sabino Canyon is among the most favored in the Catalinas during summer months. It is moments from the hamlet of Summerhaven and less than an hour from sweltering Tucson. Walk across the (thundering) creek to picnic tables shaded by soaring pines. The Marshall Gulch Trailhead, elevation 7,440 feet, is located near the restroom. The 0.6 mile segment from the gate to the trailhead is reflected in subsequent mileages.

The trail kicks up initially and then eases into a gradual climb on the north side of the gulch. Enter the Pusch Ridge Wilderness. The 2003 Aspen Fire ripped through this region and there are massive scorched trees on the ground and spiraling into the sky. Survivors include Douglass fir; ponderosa, limber, and Southwest white pine; Arizona alder; bigtooth maple (return in the fall); and a variety of oak.

Cross the stream at 0.9 mile and climb a series of steps. The stone risers and boulders on either side of the trail are composed of granitic gneiss. There are quartz veins and pegmatite clusters with chunks of mica and feldspar.

After meandering to and fro the crushed granite and cobbled trail crosses again to the south side at 1.5 miles and begins a series of long switchbacks. Reach the saddle at 1.8 miles.

Marshall Saddle, 7,980' 
The Marshall Gulch Trail ends at a five-way junction on Marshall Saddle. The Mint Spring Trail descends 1.7 miles east and then north to Summerhaven. The Aspen Trail climbs north for 1.3 miles to Radio Ridge. Or, going south, the Aspen Trail makes a 2.5 mile semicircle around Marshall Peak and drops back into Marshall Gulch (a popular loop hike). The Wilderness of Rock Trail travels southwest for 4.0 miles, ending at the Mt. Lemmon Trail which, in turn, terminates on Romero Pass.

On the flat rock stacks barely poke above youthful ponderosa. Recovery is happening. To reach Lemmon Pools walk west on the Wilderness of Rock Trail.

Travel in the company of countless weathered granite boulders, slabs, and standing rocks. Climbers have begun exploiting the boulder problems along this trail and deep into the wilderness. (THW, photo)

The trail crosses the waterway frequently. Now, the creek is flush after a wet winter but it is normally dry. Pools may have water up to eight months of the year. Outcrops can be breathlessly dramatic. (THW, photo)

Pass the Lemmon Rock Lookout Trail at 3.7 miles. We ran into some people doing a popular six mile loop. They came down the Lookout Trail (dropping 1,550 feet over two miles), went east on Wilderness of Rocks Trail, and planned to return on the Aspen Trail to Radio Ridge. The Lookout Tower is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was erected in 1928 and is the oldest fire lookout still in use in Coronado National Forest. It is a magical little building on a stone perch with an ancient tree beside a rock staircase.

Lemmon Pools
Staying on Wilderness of Rocks Trail, cross the creek and traverse a flat with old growth ponderosa perfectly spaced, the floor softened by needles and cones. At 4.2 miles, half a mile beyond the Lookout turnoff, there is an overlook that can't be denied, shown. Just beyond it (elevation 7,160 feet), a cairn marks the social trail heading left/south to the premier pool in Lemmon Canyon. Follow the cairns and path carefully on a route free of scrambling and exposure. It is roughly 0.3 mile to the pool. (THW, photo)

We had no idea this trail existed so we went another 0.1 mile to the second (and final) creek crossing in upper Lemmon Canyon at 4.3 miles, 7,100 feet. This route is suggested for experienced scramblers who enjoy bouldering and passage challenges, and tolerate some exposure. You will get a much better feeling for this serpentine cleft that fends off humans but gladly embraces water.

Lemmon Canyon is a plummeting corridor with water-polished boulders overhanging pools. Perhaps a nimble free-climber willing to get wet will succeed in remaining in the inner canyon but we were rebuffed almost immediately. We did a bypass downstream-left and then searched for a way back into the gorge.

We worked our way along the southeast side of the creek while visually feasting on weathered formations, stone sculpted over the eons, and shallow pools of crystal clear water.

The pools tempt immersion but the water is moments away from snowmelt. The reduction of elements to rock and water is the signature allure of Lemmon Pools. (THW, photo)

Now and then, especially if I don't have to get somewhere, I like being stymied by the landscape.

We probed in earnest but were unable to descend to this exquisite pool. (THW, photo)

We made three forays down to the creek and back up.

And then we stumbled unexpectedly on a social trail leading down to the water at 7,040 feet. This is the cairned path I mentioned earlier. It was the path to paradise where water flows down a fluted furrow into an elongated, shallow, smooth rimmed, granite bowl. (THW, photo)

Curious, we went on downstream. If we were willing to wade we may have had an easier time of it. But the going was troubled and in 0.2 mile we looked for an exit route. It was pretty challenging escaping the waterway with Class 3 scrambling, some exposure, massive boulders impeding progress, cliff outs, and laterals. Eventually we got to an elevation where we could walk back to the social trail. It was worth the extra effort to arrive in the midst of stunning towers. Now this is the Wilderness of Rocks. (THW, photo)

Take the social trail from the pool back to the Wilderness of Rocks Trail. Horny toads are experiencing a population decline throughout the Southwest. We were delighted by a family of two-inch-long camouflaged lizards scuttling beside the trail.

Back on Marshall Saddle go south on the Aspen Trail. Many of the mature ponderosa were spared so the path barges through multi-generational stands. It tracks between Marshall Peak and the knoll pictured below.

Marshall Peak, Northwest Summit, 8,300'
The optional off-trail spur to Marshall Peak is a super quick little climb, just 0.1 mile with 160 feet of vertical. The Aspen Trail has been rerouted since the USGS Mt. Lemmon quad was published in 1981. The "new" trail tracks higher on the southwest slope of the mountain. Half a mile from the saddle, elevation 8,140 feet, is the most advantageous place to initiate the climb. It is also the least tortuous attack point.

Thorns are ferocious and almost impossible to avoid. Wear long pants.

The climb does have remarkable beauty along the way.

Top out on the northwest summit at 8,300 feet. Curiously, the southeast summit, shown below, is slightly taller and yet we found a summit cairn and peak register on this prominence. Three booklets reside in a small jar. The oldest entry was made by the Southern Arizona Hiking Club on July 14, 1993. A couple of entries insist, "This is not the peak!" My partner suggested that declaring this to be the peak was an act of will. He has been to the actual summit and got viciously slashed.

Chunks of milky quartz are scattered about. The 2003 fire opened the summit vista to the Mt. Lemmon tower complex, the Rincon Mountains, sky islands in the west, and Pusch Ridge. Back on the Aspen Trail, there is a stark contrast between the path deep in Marshall Gulch and this one with multiple panoramas and even some ridge travel. The image below highlights the ridge running from Rattlesnake Peak to Cathedral Rock. (THW, photo)

The Aspen Trail wraps around the south end of Marshall Peak and begins its descent on the east ridge. Switchback on a pleasant, shady, soft dirt treadway. At 7,700 feet enter the aspen realm. Cross the wilderness boundary in a forest of old growth fir. Finish on crystalline steps leading into the picnic grounds. (THW, photo)