Hike of the Month

hike of the month Trek to a Giant Rock Called Elephant Head and Enjoy an Outing in the Santa Ritas

Around noon on a mild December day, I lie on a flat rock in the Santa Rita Mountains less than an hour from Tucson. A line from a song I learned in elementary school runs through my head: “Oh ye’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland before ye.” Something like that.

Two thoughts collide in my brain. One: I have no idea what this song is talking about. Two: I think I made a wrong turn about a mile back on the trail. I still ended up where I wanted to be, but whether I got there before ye, who knows?

I was headed for Elephant Head, a giant rock in the Mount Wrightson Wilderness west of Mount Wrightson in the Coronado National Forest. Under certain lighting conditions, and from a certain angle, it actually looks like an elephant’s head, but at this moment I’m thinking, “If that’s an elephant, he has a saguaro growing in his ear, and that’s got to be very uncomfortable.” Elephant Head is really a tall jumble of rocks, and I was in Chino Canyon looking up at it. My plan was to take a trail that would lead me, more or less, above it. Drenched in sweat and resting my tired feet, I can now tell you how to do either route. However, keep in mind that the four-mile (one way) walk to Elephant Head is steep no matter which way you go. And it isn’t, strictly speaking, a trail.

Elephant Head is in the middle of an old lead and silver mining district, and 80 percent of the time you’ll be walking on a jeep road.

The trail began at an altitude of 4,580 feet, meandered briefly through some oaks and mesquites, and then climbed a hill covered with ocotillos. Within a half hour, I came to a small saddle and started a semi-steep downhill trek. After about a quarter to a half mile, I came to a T and a small sign showing a bicycle. Elephant Head was not

WHEN YOU GO

The Elephant Head Trailhead is 47 miles southeast of Tucson. Take Interstate 19 south to the Arivaca-Amado interchange (Exit 42). Go left under the highway and turn right onto the frontage road for a mile and a half to Amado. Turn left onto Amado Montosa Road (Forest Service Road 184), which eventually becomes Mount Hopkins Road. Stay on FR 184 until you see the sign for FR 183. Turn left at the sign that says “Primitive Road.” The primitive dirt road requires a high-clearance vehicle, but four-wheel drive is not needed. Drive 2.5 miles to a dirt road and make a sharp left. The sign will say “Dead End 3 miles.” Park in the clearing opposite the sign and backtrack about 50 feet to the beginning of the trail. All it says is: “Trail.” For information about current trail and hiking conditions, contact the Nogales Ranger District, (520) 281-2296.

yet visible. So the big question was, do I go right or left? Both routes looked clear. That was when I turned left and descend-ed into Chino Canyon and to the base of Elephant Head. I later discovered I could have gone right (the high road which ye may want to take) to a good view of the top of Elephant Head. One thing is certain: Neither the upper nor lower route leads onto the actual elephant’s head. The trail/road skirts it to the east and west, and to get up on it you’ll have to bushwhack, which is easier from the upper route than the lower.

the base of Elephant Head. I later discovered I could have gone right (the high road which ye may want to take) to a good view of the top of Elephant Head. One thing is certain: Neither the upper nor lower route leads onto the actual elephant’s head. The trail/road skirts it to the east and west, and to get up on it you’ll have to bushwhack, which is easier from the upper route than the lower.

Along either route, you’ll pass remnants of mines that were active in the early part of this century. The whole area was part of the Tyndall Mining District, the center of which was the Elephant Head Mill Site about a half mile south of the landmark rock. Some adobe walls and scraps of corrugated tin are still visible in Chino Canyon, and tailings dumps line part of the trail on the upper route. No matter which route you take, the walk to Elephant Head makes for a rigorous and scenic morning in the lower reaches of the Santa Ritas.