A great hike!

Mount Wrightson is the high point of the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson, topping out at 9.4K feet, about 4K feet above the trail head in Madera Canyon. Wrightson's bald rocky top is about a thousand feet higher than a peak next door, Mount Hopkins, where there's an observatory. The pair, and their rocky ridgeline make for a dramatic backdrop to the Sonora desert. 

Here, as seen from H's folks' neighborhood, Mt Wrightson is the highest point on the left, with Madera Canyon in the shadow below, and you can just make out the observatory on top of Mt Hopkins to the right: 

It's a 12-mile round trip. On April 7 we lucked into a day with perfect conditions, and with an early start we had little company for the climb. Here's looking up at the top from the woods in Madera Canyon:

Leaving the woods and into the upper reaches:

That's the peak above my head:

We had just enough snow to make it interesting:

Signing the log at the top, with views into Mexico:

Looking down on Mt Hopkins--we rode that road a few years ago:

The trip photographer, with views of the copper mines and Green Valley:

Heading down it was cool enough for an extra layer:

Having made it this far, you win a picture of Nan with her buds hanging out back in Green Valley, Pogh and Levy:

Darold Hessel, photographer