February 25, 2009 - Romero Pool

On this day, we decided to do something that we'd not done before for our Wednesday Night hike: Go to Catalina State Park and go up Romero Canyon - with the ultimate goal of reaching Romero Pools.

As we left the parking lot, following the well-worn trail, we encountered something that we'd not expected: The spring in Sutherland Wash was running. Being in a flat, sandy bottom it was shallow - but wide - requiring various contortions to cross it without getting our shoes wet - which we wanted to avoid doing at the very beginning of a hike!

Continuing uphill, we enjoyed the blooming fairy dusters and creosote bushes, taking care to avoid the cholla along the trail. Despite the somewhat warm weather, it was quite nice as a gentle breeze was blowing causing ocotillos - some of which were just starting to leaf out and bloom - to wave gracefully.

Before too long, we reached Montrose Pool. Being a fairly warm Wednesday evening, there were a few people down in the pools, enjoying the cools shade and the babbling of the rivulets as they fell over the rocks. As the path from the trail down to the pools was fairly steep, we decided not to drop down to the springs.

Continuing up the trail, the climb steepened and Elaine decided that, despite the scenery, it was not worth over-stressing her already-angry ankle so she turned around and headed down again, planning to relax at the Montrose pools, dangling her feet in the ice-cold water.

Ron and I continued as the trail became steeper - the decomposing granite of the Catalinas making rugged stairsteps covered with sharp bits of sand and gravel - the random cactus spines adding the occasional excitement. Eventually, the trail topped out at a pass and we could see from Montrose Canyon - up which we had been climbing - down into Romero canyon and we caught our first glance of what we initially thought might have been the Romero pool. Looking more-closely, we noticed the lack of an obvious trail leading down to the waterfall and pool, several hundred feet below. Consulting the GPS, we also saw that not only had we not gone the distance indicated on the map, but that our course outlined on the GPS receiver's moving map didn't look quite like that we'd remembered seeing on the map that we'd conveniently left back at the car.

Continuing on, the trail climbed higher, staying more-or-less on or near the ridgetop between the two canyons. Soon, it leveled out along a traverse and revealed more of the drainage from which the source of the waterfall had come. Still further, as the canyon-bottom continued to rise, the trail rounded a corner, revealing a series of pools and cascades: We were there!

Following the trail to the canyon bottom we hopped across the variously bifurcated streams and cascades. The water was the color of tea and smelled rather strongly, probably due to the amount of dissolved minerals and plant material. Being in the shade, it much cooler - and the falling water further dropped the ambient temperature.

As the sun set and shadows rose, we decided to follow the trail a bit farther upwards, past the pools: The trail itself was part of a larger system and this one eventually got to Mt. Lemmon - but we had absolutely no intention of verifying that fact ourselves. About a half-mile above the pools we noticed that the spring flowed through a small, narrow slot-canyon, alternately forming pools and cascades as it went.

By this time, the sun was getting lower-still and the light getting warmer. Retracing our path along the trail, we soon found ourselves back on the ridge between Montrose and Romero canyons, the setting sun backlighting the saguaro, causing them to light up with a golden aura.

On the way down, the decomposed granite made some of the steeper sections slightly treacherous: Most of the time, we resisted the urge to steady ourselves using the native vegetation as a handhold, but in one memorable instance I heard Ron swear as he reached out for a saguaro, only to quickly withdraw - followed immediately by the helicopter-like gyrations necessary to regain balance.

Earlier, Elaine had left Montrose pool and wandered back to the car to read and as we came down Montrose canyon, we kept her apprised of our progress via radio. At about the time we reached Montrose Pools, she started back up the trail - soon meeting us somewhere in the middle, at which time we took our obligatory group photo while there was still enough alpenglow to see the Catalina mountains in the background.

Returning to the vehicle, we piled in and headed back for dinner.