by Bill Bens
Last Sunday I joined in a Southern Arizona Hiking Club (SAHC) hike to Lemmon Pool in the Wilderness of Rocks on Mt. Lemmon. The hike was led by SAHC Guide Deborah M who advertised the hike as a "Lemmon Creek Explorer". If there is anyone that knows good swimming holes, it's Deborah! We met on the east end of Tucson and our group of five carpooled to Marshall Gulch where we arrived around 8:00am when parking was still plentiful. As we opened our car doors we were greeted with the sound of rushing water in both Sabino and Marshall Creek. Between all the water and cool temperatures, it was hard to believe we were just 25 road miles from the desert floor.
Near the stinking and bee-infested restrooms, we stopped to study a posted map of the planned improvements for Marshall Gulch. We were all a little concerned on how the "improvements" would affect the aesthetics of Marshall Gulch, especially the proposed road loop over Sabino Creek.
Although the comment period has passed, you may be interested in the proposal here.
We began our hike on the high trail but still enjoyed the sound of water in Marshall Creek from the up a ways. After the trail rejoined the creek there were many lush cascade creek scenes like this:
We took a short break at Marshall Saddle before heading down the Wilderness of Rocks Trail (WOR) along Lemmon Creek. Lemmon Creek and its usually dry feeders were flowing strong which made for some challenging creek crossings along the way. Deborah and Cindy search for a "dry" crossing: More...