Date: September 17, 2024 • Elevation: 3,324 feet • Prominence: 504 feet • Distance: 2.3 miles • Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes • Gain: 745 feet • Conditions: Sunny, remnant clouds from a storm, warm but refreshing

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ

The Twin Hills lie a few miles west of Interstate-10, near the Marriott Starr Pass Resort, in southwest Tucson. The hills are enclosed within the Tucson Mountains Park, and feature a number of trailheads and trails to follow. The highest point of this little complex is the west-most peak.

I was on my way to Phoenix for no particular reason, and wanted to break up the drive with a hike while passing through Tucson. The previous two days had been active with some storms, but today was expected to be clear, with some remnant clouds, and temperatures about 10° below normal. Highs in the deserts would be in the low 90s.

I left Bisbee about 7:15 a.m., and was in Tucson about 90 minutes later. I took the 22nd Street exit and got onto Starr Pass Road, heading west. I stayed on it as it narrowed and became more residential, then curled around, ending at the resort, which is tucked into these hills.

I rolled in about 8:45 a.m., the weather pleasant, temperature about 80°. I parked along the road and got my stuff together, and started walking to the Bowen Trailhead, which is not what I wanted. The trailhead I wanted, the Loretta Lee/Hidden Canyon Trailhead, was just a quarter-mile up the road. I parked closer to that trailhead and started walking at 9 a.m. sharp.

The trail drops into a drainage then up onto its banks. A couple women had just started in ahead of me but they got sidetracked into the wash itself. A couple people passed me coming the other way. I stayed on the trail for about two-thirds of a mile. It began to gain elevation, heading up a side canyon toward Hidden Canyon Peak. Twin Hills West Peak, which is what I wanted, rose to the north, about a half mile away.

There is no trail to this peak, which surprises me. Getting there seemed simple enough. I had to cross some easy slopes and situate myself onto a saddle that connects to the Twin Hills ridge.

Twin Hills ridge has three main bumps, an East Peak, a middle peak, and the West Peak. The sensible thing to do would be sidehill to the left of the middle peak to the higher saddle below the West Peak. I followed open lanes and hints of paths upward. I was on a slope that I liked that went straight up, so I followed it, essentially climbing the middle peak in the process. At least I was on the ridge now and above the slopes.

I turned left (west) and worked my way down the easy rock outcrops, losing about a hundred feet, to get to the aforementioned high saddle. This went well, but I couldn't move fast. I had to watch my footing and keep an eye out for snakes. Fortunately, brush was light.

Now at the high saddle, I looked up at about 150 vertical feet to the top. The slope in front of me was very steep, but the rocks were solid and I even found a weak path. I got up this in a few minutes, to a short flat segment. Then I marched up one more moderately-steep slope of the same kind of rocks to top out on the West Peak.

Up here, the breezes blew which helped keep me cool. The air temperature was in the low 80s, but the air was dry so the breezes were refreshing. Big puffy clouds still lingered from the recent storms. They helped block the sun at times. Conditions were quite pleasant. It had taken me just under an hour to get here.

I sat on a rock and signed into the register. I was the first to sign in since May or so, but in the cooler season, this peak sees some traffic, perhaps a few people per month. Views were excellent, with good lighting creating shadows on the surrounding mountains and ridges. I spent about fifteen minutes up here. The whole area was overrun with carpenter ants. It was hard to find a spot to sit on where there weren't ants nearby.

Going down, I slowly crept down the steep rocky slopes to that high saddle, then chose to try the sidehill option rather than reascend the middle bump. This wasn't as bad as I feared, there being some paths to follow. Rocks were loose and I almost took a spill once when a whole bunch of them slid out from under me.

I ended up descending off a ridge next to the one that led to the lower saddle I had taken going up. Rather than retrace my steps, I just followed it down into the brushy wash bottom for a few yards, then up the other side, where I caught the main trail. I had thought about climbing Hidden Canyon Peak, but it was warming and I needed to get moving. The outbound hike took about 45 minutes, the round trip taking just under two hours.

This was a fun hike and enjoyable climb, with almost no impediments. The weather was tremendous which made a big difference. I was pleased to get this done which also allowed me to get my head right for the driving leg from Tucson into Phoenix.

I arrived in Tempe about 1 p.m. where I cleaned up and dazzled young minds with the joys of unit tangent and unit normal vectors. I would camp tonight up on the elevated plateaus north of the city, and climb two peaks the following day, Tule Mesa and Reimer Peak.