I thought I said "steep" about a hundred times in this video; I went back and counted and apparently it was only 6. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBCEyUL_PuYJr7zjPUUt7jQ?sub_confirmation=1 This hike is pretty straightforward. For the shortest route to Mt. Kimball, head to the Finger Rock Trailhead at the end of Alvernon Rd., pick up the Finger Rock Trail and hike 5 miles and 4,200’ of elevation gain to the peak. When you reach it you can go back the way you came for a 10-mile round trip. But the trail is steep, and the tread seems mostly to be decomposed granite which I find to be very slippery, so I continued on the Pima Canyon Trail down to the Pima Canyon Trailhead. There was enough of a cell signal that I could call Uber and get a ride back to the Finger Rock trailhead and my car. I waited less than 10 minutes, and it cost about $15. 🥾
Many thanks to the two women at 1:21. My mic fell off my pack shortly after Linda Vista Saddle. A while later I realized it was missing and backtracked to look for it but after a quarter mile decided it wasn't worth going any farther. When I was leaving the peak I ran into the two women as they continued on the way up; they had picked it up and saved it for me! Thank you!
DIRECTIONS to the trailhead: Drive to the north end of Alvernon Rd and take a left into the Finger Rock Trailhead parking lot at the sign shown at 0:22. On the Thursday morning in January that I parked there the lot was about half full. I imagine on weekends it fills up quickly.
If you decide not to go all the way to the peak you can make the hike shorter and get very nice views at Linda Vista Saddle at the 3-mile point, 6 miles round trip. You can also make it a 14-mile hike by going up and back Pima Canyon Trail. Whichever route you take, be prepared for the desert environment.
Something that surprised me was the number of times the Pima Canyon Trail crosses Pima Wash. Twice I missed seeing cairns on the other side of the bedrock and started heading down the wash instead of crossing over to the the trail. Fortunately I never got more than a few yards before I got back on track. All in all the route in this video is 12 miles with about 4,600' of gain.
There are some great views along the way, and they must have been even better prior to the 2020 Bighorn Fire. That fire started in June of 2020 as a result of a lightning strike and burned 120,000 before it was finally out in late July. It went through many of the canyons in the Catalinas, including both Finger Rock and Pima Canyons.
Finally, if you ever have a chance, be sure to watch a few old Mae West movies. Some of them were made "pre-Code", the time in the early to mid 1930s before Production Code regulations governed what could appear in American movies. Pre-code movies were more spicy than you might imagine! As she said, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJS670okmZc&t=14s
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