Charouleau Gap

[shotgunchris]

We ran this trail Saturday after Thanksgiving. We ran it from Catalina, just north of Tucson, to Oracle.

The trail is 19 miles and took us about 6 hours to run, with a few wrong turns and lunch.

The most difficult part of this trail is the "Step", which you can bypass, but taking a line to the right it's not that bad.

Here's a link to some photo's: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2116760138&code=19550249&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

[ELK]

Looks like a good time! :beer:

We ran this trail Saturday after Thanksgiving. We ran it from Catalina, just north of Tucson, to Oracle.

The trail is 19 miles and took us about 6 hours to run, with a few wrong turns and lunch.

The most difficult part of this trail is the "Step", which you can bypass, but taking a line to the right it's not that bad.

Here's a link to some photo's: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2116760138&code=19550249&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

[DanB98TJ]

The most difficult part of this trail is the "Step", which you can bypass, but taking a line to the right it's not that bad.

Here's a link to some photo's: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2116760138&code=19550249&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

I haven't run the Gap in over a year - I was told that it had been bladed from the old adobe cabin to Oracle, so I didn't bother after I heard that.:(

The obstacle in your photos isn't really "The Step." That obstacle was dubbed "Kiss Rock" by StealthTJ because it will reach out and kiss your Jeep if you take the wrong line coming down.;) The key is to get as close to the wall as you can...which is just the opposite thing you want to do but it works.:p

The real "Step" is just past the old cabin - it's the jagged rock ledge you had to drive down to get back into the wash. There is an illegal bypass about 20 yards to the left of the step (a steep, slick slope). The Forest Service was supposed to cut a bypass to the right of the ledge, but it had not yet been done the last time I went through. Here is a pic of me going up the step (running the trail the opposite direction you did) a few years ago:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/DanB98TJ/Picture797.jpg

The trail is nowhere near the fun it was a few years ago - the fires on Mt. Lemmon and heavy rains afterwards changed the trail in many areas. Most of the fun, rocky washbeds were filled in by sand and silt, and tons of rocks washed down the mountain changing large parts of the trail.:(

[shotgunchris]

Went in and changed the name, thanks for the info. It was my first time on the trail and that was the most difficult section of the trail. I kept looking for the difficult areas, but obviously missed "The Step". Next year I'll have to try it again and see if I can't get someone who knows the trail to tag along.

[DanB98TJ]

No problemo.:) Unless the FS created a new bypass around the step, you would have had to go down it (I normally run the trail from Oracle to Catalina, going up the step and down "Kiss Rock"). Wish I had some better pics of it, but can't find any right now.

Let me know when you come back. We can run the Gap and do some of the trails in the Florence area. There are a ton of fun trails up there, ranging from mild to holy cr@p....:D

[shotgunchris]

Well I didn't go down anything that looked difficult to get back up or I would have turned around and went back up:mrgreen: . The FS must have cut a by-pass around it, since I had never been there, I traveled on the most obvious course.

I'll take you up on your offer when I head down there again. My mother lives in Saddlebrook so I expect to be down there at least once a year.