Douglas Springs Trail... Must do hike or run in Tucson!
Introduction At 5 AM In The Morning
Hey, it’s Tyler Ford, Tucson, Arizona, eXp Realty, and we’re going to go explore some Tucson outdoors. This morning, I’m headed out to the end of Speedway to the Douglas Springs Trailhead. I’m going to go up Douglas Springs. I’m going to do about 12 miles, six out, six back. You can go all the way to Cowhead Saddle, which is a 16 mile round trip. This morning, I’m going to make it about 12 miles, but again, we’re heading out to the end of Speedway and going up Douglas Springs.
The one thing that I love about living on the east side of Tucson is there’s tons of different outdoor things that you can do, trails. It’s part of the state park, so it’s all protected state land and really easy to get to. It’ll take me about five minutes to get to the Trailhead.
So come on, here we go!
Douglas Springs Campground
Okay. So I made it. Douglas Springs Campground. It’s about six and a half miles up the Douglas Springs trail from the end of Speedway. Right there is a Cowhead Saddle. That’s another two miles. And then you go, you can continue up that trail ridge to Manning Camp. So right here at Douglas Springs Campground, Cowhead Saddles, another two and a half miles. You got Grass Shack, Manning Camp, and the Tanque Verde Trailhead. that actually takes you back down into Saguaro National Park. You can loop around. So you can see the distances from the campground. And if you look directly up, that is a Cowhead Saddle, the little saddle there. And then right up there on the backside of that is Manning Camp. But you can see the distances from the Douglas Springs Campground, which is about six and a half miles up from the end of speedway.
When you get to Douglas Springs Campground, there is a little outhouse that you can use. So if you need to go to the bathroom, there’s a place to go. And again, this is about six and a half miles up on the Douglas Springs Trail.
So during the winter months, it’s really nice because there’s a couple of things in the summer that you don’t have to worry about. In the summer, it’s super hot and you got to get an early start, make sure you have a lot of water, sunscreen, hat, some protection, that kind of stuff. But the bigger thing is in the summertime, there’s rattlesnakes. And the rattlesnakes really, they hide really well on the trail. So if you’re not paying attention, you can get bit by a rattlesnake, so you got to pay attention. And the rattlesnakes too, they come out probably into March all the way through October, November. But when it starts to cool off and we get some freezes, the rattlesnakes hibernate and go away.
So right now, I’m probably at about maybe 6,000 feet, 5,500. And I would say it’s in its 40 degrees right now. I started out at the end of the Speedway, it was about high twenties, low thirties. So if you’re dressed right, you’re fine. So you just want to prepare in the winter time to make sure you’re dressed right, you do have proper nutrition and water. But the one thing you don’t have to worry about in the winter time are rattlesnakes.
So again, I’m at the Douglas Springs Campground. And there is a little outhouse here. So if you need to go to the bathroom, there’s a place to go. And in the summertime too, a lot of times what we’ll do, after a good rain, the water will be running, so you can bring a filtration system to filter some water if you run out of water. But in the winter time, it’s not that big of a concern. I’ve got my pack on, got plenty of stuff for a trek that’s going to take me probably a little less than four hours. I’m doing a combination of run, power hike. There’s some sections that are pretty steep. So anyway, I’m at the Douglas Springs Campground. I’m going to head my way, work my way back. I didn’t take pictures coming up because it was dark, but I’m going to do some photos and some videos on the way down.
During the different times of the year, you want to consider different things. So in the hotter months, which can be May through into September, first part of October, you want to make sure you’ve got sunscreen, plenty of water. Don’t get stuck out here with no water. There’s not a summer that goes by where search and rescue or rescuing people just from dehydration and lack of water. But in June, July, August, you want to get an early start. I’m usually out crack of dawn, 4:30 with the first 15 minutes are going to be in the dark, but the sun’s coming up. So you can get an early start in the summer, which is super nice.
In the hotter months, you want to be really careful for rattlesnakes. So they’ll come out in the March, April, and then you’ll see them all the way through October, November. But you want to be really careful of the rattlesnakes because that really blend in with the trails. And so, you can’t see them until you’re on top of them and it’s almost too late. So just you want to pay attention.
The winter months, you just want to make sure you’re dressed right. It can be warm. It can be super cold. I like to get out early, so start in the dark with some headlamps. But a lot of people get out in the afternoon and enjoy the sunshine, so it’s just up to you. But you just want to dress right. Make sure you bring water based on the trip. But if we’ve had some rain or some snow, we had a good rain a couple, about a week ago. So there’s snow mountain runoff. So there’s quite a bit or water that you could bring a filter and always filter.
Douglas Springs Trail What You Need To Know
So I’m about halfway down on the Douglas Springs Trail, took a little break to record just things you need to know depending on the time of the year. But it’s the beauty of Arizona and Tucson. You can get out pretty much all year around. You just need to adjust based on the heat in the summer. But Arizona doesn’t do daylight savings. So the nice thing about Arizona is in the summertime, we utilize the mornings rather than the afternoon. So in the mornings, it gets lighter on 4:45, five o’clock, so you can get out super early. By the time I get home, people are just getting out of bed, so you can get in a good two, three hours in the summertime and be getting home eight, nine o’clock and you’ve got your workout done.
So that’s another nice thing you get kind of used to it, where you get up super early in the summertime and enjoy the mornings. You’ve got a window in the summer that there’s motivation because if you don’t get it done, it’s just too hot to do it in the day or even the afternoon. So you get up early and just get it done.
So things you need to know about Tucson and the outdoors, depending on the time of the year. But I would say the number one thing in the summer is just be cautious of rattlesnakes. I’m not trying to freak you out. You just can’t tell you how many times you just start daydreaming and not paying attention. And before you know it, you’re on top of one because they blend in in the trail. So hopefully that helps. Heading back down.
Bridal Wreath Falls
Okay, so I’m about three miles up the Douglas Springs Trail from the end of Speedway. And there’s a little out and back section that’s worth doing. It’s called Bridal Wreath Falls and it’s 0.2 miles, so 0.4 round trip up this out and back trail right here. And it takes you to Bridal Wreath Falls, which is up here. I don’t know if you can see it with the sun. But it’s totally worth doing, especially if we’ve got a lot of rain, the falls are absolutely beautiful. So it’s totally worth doing.
The other thing you can do is just in a Speedway up Douglas Springs, do Bridal Wreath and back. It’s going to be just at six miles, a little over six miles. So it’s a great little add-on or if you don’t want to go all the way up Douglas Springs, you can do that. So there’s the nice thing about the trails out here at the end of Speedway, is there so many different variations of things that you can do. There’s three tanks. There’s the Creole Trail. Again, there’s so many different options, but this one I’d encouraged you to go do, specially if it’s been raining.
Finding Douglas Springs Trailhead... Navigating Tucson
Hey, so Tucson is super simple to navigate. And the cool thing about it is we’ve got these big mountain ranges. And the Catalina mountains, which are over here, that’s where Mount Lemmon is. That’s the biggest mountain range and that’s directly north of Tucson. So you have you ever lose your bearings, that’s north. And then the Rincon mountains, which is where Douglas Springs is, Trailhead, that’s directly east. So to get here, it’s real simple. Anywhere in Tucson, find Speedway, head east at dead ends. You can’t miss it.
Speedway Blvd in Tucson dead ends at a parking lot Trailhead, which is Douglas Spring. But it’s beautiful. I’ll give you a little 360 degree view. The Rincons are back here. That’s where I was. That’s the trail. That’s Douglas Springs Trail. And super simple, easy to find. You can’t get lost.
Doulgas Springs Trailhead End of Speedway
Hey, Tyler. Just got done. That was awesome. I got to watch the sun come up. It was chilly. It was in the high twenties. And then now, as you noticed, I peeled off clothes. But nothing better than starting out the day, watching the sun come up, and it’s turned into a beautiful Arizona day, Tuscan day. The weather is absolutely beautiful.
Okay. So right there is Speedway and we were at the very end. And I’m going to turn around here. Right here, Tanque Verde Guest Ranch has been here forever. Great place to stay if you want to explore some trails and stay right on the Trailhead. The Tanque Verde Guest Ranch. But done little over 13 miles, a little over 3 hours, a combination of power hiking and running. I’m getting ready for an Ultra so came out, hit it hard this morning. Started out, it was in the high twenties. And as you notice, I’ve had to peel stuff off. It’s now probably somewhere in the mid-fifties. So that’s another thing, especially in the wintertime, you’re going to start out with some layers and then probably have to pull layers as you go depending on the day.
But today’s a typical Arizona day, cold in the morning and we’ll get like 30 to 40 degree temperature changes from morning to afternoon. But right here, we are here. We’re at into Speedway, Douglas Springs Trail. There’s Speedway right there. And then back behind me is the Rincon Mountains. And like I talked about earlier, right there’s Mount Lemmon and the Catalinas. So a lot of different things to do out here and a lot of different trails, different types of hikes and runs you can do off of the Douglas Springs Trailhead. So hope you enjoyed.
Go ahead, pound that bell, subscribe to my channel. And I’m be talking more about Tucson, what it has to offer in terms of the outdoors outdoor living. And this is on the east side of Tucson, which is a desirable place. I’ll admit it, I’m biased. I’m an East Tucson kind of guy just because I like the outdoors and there’s just a ton of things to do that’s quick and you don’t have to deal with traffic. So hopefully you like this. Again, go ahead, pound that bell, subscribe. Text me, email me, or even send the pony express. Get ahold of me, I’d love to talk to you.
Douglas Springs Map and Elevation
Click on the map below to get the map and elevation profile of Douglas Springs Trail to Douglas Springs Campground
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