Hiking Madera Canyon

Near Green Valley is Madera Canyon, above which are Mounts Hopkins and Wrightson, the latter rising to about 9500 feet. With our neighbors Dwight and Carol, we hiked up from Madera Canyon to Josephine's Saddle, between the two mountains, at about 7000'. By the way, these are the mountains, two of the Santa Rita range, that can be seen from our place.

It took us about 2 hours to do the 2.5 miles and 2000' elevation change. At Josephine's saddle we had some lunch. We came down a different trail, one about 4 miles long. It was fascinating to see the difference between slopes that faced south and those that faced north. The latter were forested and mostly green; the former were treed but desertlike, with yucca, prickly pear (below a certain level) and much sandier.

Here are some pictures showing us hikers and the view west across Green Valley.