Laze in the shade of a cool fir forest. Spread a trailside picnic in a wild garden of ferns. Spot a songbird, pause beside a spring, marvel at the shapely beauty of a yellow columbine bloom — and have a look at the wreckage of a jet that crashed more than half a century ago.
It's all possible along the beautiful Butterfly Trail high in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.
The 5.7-mile route, which connects two trailheads along the Catalina Highway, offers gentle walking in some stretches and fairly steep trekking in others. Elevations along the way range from 6,700 feet at Novio Spring to 8,300 feet near Mount Bigelow.
Join us today for a word-and-picture guide to the best of the Butterfly.
Get to the trailheads
From Tucson, take Tanque Verde Road to the Catalina Highway and follow the highway 4.5 miles to the base of the mountains. Mile markers begin there. Drive past Milepost 19 and watch for a parking area and trailhead on the right just before you reach the Palisade Visitor Center. The trail begins there, sharing its initial passage with the Bigelow Trail.
People are also reading…
To reach the trailhead at the other end of the trail, continue up the highway past Milepost 22 and watch for a parking area and trailhead on the right.
Some hikers trek the route out and back from one of the trailheads. Others arrange a vehicle shuttle between the trailheads to accommodate a one-way hike.
The U.S. Forest Service charges a $5 fee on the highway.
Feasting in the ferns
Vast expanses of emerald green ferns, some of them chest high, flank the trail about 1.4 miles from the trailhead near the 22-mile point on the highway.
Tim and Anna Van Devender found a spot for a trailside picnic surrounded by splendid fernery.
Other hikers snapped photo after photo of hillsides overgrown with verdant fronds.
Wildflowers
Brilliant blooms — yellow columbine, red paintbrush and purple verbena — decorate parts of the trail in the months of summer.
In addition to those showy flowers, hikers also see several other species blooming in hues of yellow, purple and blue. Watch for the trail's namesake butterflies fluttering around the flowers.
Sights on the heights
Both trailheads for the Butterfly Trail are at altitudes of nearly 8,000 feet — with some ups and downs above and below that altitude on the way from one trailhead to the other.
That means initial stages of the hike from either starting point lead through expanses of cool pine-and-fir forests.
A forest fire about seven years ago burned over some parts of the route — but others escaped the flames.
The burned areas are well on the way to recovery with lots of new ground cover and young trees.
Bird-watchers, including Stephanie Kauffman of Tucson, focused their binoculars on winged wildlife along upper reaches of the trail.
Trek to the wreck
Some hikers take a little side jaunt from the Butterfly Trail in an excursion you might call the "wreck trek."
It leads to the scattered wreckage of an F-86 Sabrejet fighter plane that crashed on a training flight in 1957.
Hiker Jean-Paul Genet visited the site recently and snapped photos of the mangled remains of the jet's engine.
A question comes quite naturally as you stand in the stillness of the forest beside the debris: What happened to the pilot?
News accounts from the time say he parachuted from the plane and was rescued in the forest.
To reach the site from the trailhead near Milepost 22, follow the trail about 2.5 miles to the Novio Spring area in a canyon. Follow the trail along a streambed and watch for a spot where the route turns left and crosses the watercourse.
Just after crossing the creek and walking up a section of the trail reinforced with log steps, watch for a faint unsigned trail on the right. Follow this trail and be on the lookout for the first bits of wreckage in less than a quarter-mile.
Beside the waters
About 2.5 miles from the trailhead near Milepost 22, hikers reach a lush streamside area near Novio Spring.
Watch for small waterfalls and pools along the watercourse in seasons of rain, including the summer monsoon.
Did you know
The Butterfly Trail is known for its rich mix of vegetation. Hikers pass everything from pines, firs and ferns to manzanitas and oak, juniper and locust trees.
