Ironwood Forest National Monument

Hiking & Camping in Ironwood Forest National Monument | Tucson, AZ | December 2023

While everyone we stayed with insisted that we could stay ‘as long as want’, and that we are ‘always welcome’, Midwest hospitality still runs through our veins and we felt we had to break up our visits to avoid overstaying our welcome. Besides, when there are millions of acres of public land, with beautiful views, scenic mountains, and desert sun, that you can camp on for free… Why not?!

At the recommendation of friends, we decided to spend a night out in Ironwood Forest National Monument. Don’t let the name deceive you though, this Monument is managed by the BLM – not the National Park Service. So the rules are a bit more lax, and the crowds even less. We had driven through a corner of the monument towards the end of our time in Arizona in pursuit of some letterboxes, but had otherwise missed this park less than hour from our door.

We took the scenic route through Tucson Mountain Park before heading East out into the Avra Valley. We sure hope that a bypass interstate is never built out here. We made a brief attempt to go visit a petroglyph site at the South end of the monument at the recommendation of Gen (Cocoraque Butte) but when we looked at the time we realized we would be pushing our luck to finish everything we wanted to. So we veered North on some very washboarded roads and drove out towards the Silver Bell mine where we stopped at the Waterman Peaks Restoration area.

We were here because I wanted to hike a peak in my 300x300x33 personal challenge and this one looked easy enough: good road access, established trail for most of the ways, no technical rock climbing, and <5 miles round trip. I made sure Jess and Charlie were comfortable in the sun and then set off.

The established trail climbs up a gulch towards a saddle and was very rocky and offered only limited views behind me at the mine. But once at the saddle I had great views South down the Avra Valley and East towards Tucson and its myriad of mountain ranges. From here I followed a fairly well established use trail up the ridge towards the summit. It was fairly steep but following in others steps somehow makes it easier. Just below the summit I stopped at a monument to a crashed rescue pilot and tried unsuccessfully to get Jess to look up at me. At least I could see her and the van. The final push to the summit was pretty easy with no technical ‘moves’, but a little more than just a walk up. The rocks here were really cool though. The summit is comprised of a limestone caprock and there were lots of basalt inclusions in the limestone and I found a pretty sizeable rock with what looked like marine fossils. And then I was at the top with great views all around. I could see as far East as the Rincon’s, North towards Pinal Peak, South to Baboquivari and West to…I don’t know those ranges.

I took a break, ate some snacks, tried to figure out how the BLM monitoring station worked, and then went down the way I came up. Overall only 2.5 miles and 1200 feet of elevation and my 78th peak! You can see my AllTrails recording here.

Back at the car I reconnected with Jess and Charlotte, ate a nice lunch, and then discussed what to do next. Technically, we could camp where we were, but the road had a lot of mine and quarry traffic with big trucks and was just a bit too loud for our liking. But I knew that nearby, off the same road, was an old Titan II missile site. We drove down to just check it out, but ended up staying the night as it was so quiet and flat. There was even a nice interpretive trail around the former site. Unlike the silo South of Tucson which is still open, this site (and all the other Titan II sites across the US for that matter) were partially imploded, backfilled, and returned to the desert. Most were even sold at auction to private citizens. We walked the interpretive trail, and enjoyed a quiet night all alone out here.