Mount Lemmon is full of memorable hikes. Some of these are in the lower elevations where you can experience the stunning Sonoran Desert terrain while others are higher up and take you through forests full of towering pines.
The Bug Springs Trail (not to be confused with Bog Springs) gives you the best of both worlds by taking you through a transition zone beginning with some beautiful high desert terrain and ending up in a scenic pine forest.
In this article, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Bug Springs Trail.
Bug Springs Trail Overview
The Bug Springs Trail is one of the top trails to do on Mount Lemmon. Highlights on this trail include: impressive mountain views, cool rock formations, and a stroll through a beautiful pine forest.
The length and elevation gain make this a hike more suitable for experienced hikers but beginners can always head back about halfway into the hike for a more moderate hiking experience.
Also, this trail is extremely popular with mountain bikers so you want to be prepared for that.
- Distance: 9.2 miles
- Elevation Gain: 1,978 feet
- Route Type: Out and back
- Pets: Yes
- Difficulty: Moderate to Hard
- Time needed: 4 to 4.5 hours
Getting to the trailhead
To get to the trailhead, follow the Mount Lemmon Highway passing trailheads for Soldier Trail, Babat Duag Trail, and Molino Basin.
As you turn the bend past Molino Basin you’ll eventually see signs for the Bug Springs trailhead. It’s pretty hard to miss.
(You could keep driving to begin the hike at the upper trailhead but we decided to start out at the lower trailhead.)
There is a small parking lot at the lower trailhead.
We got extremely lucky as somebody was backing out as we pulled in and the lot was otherwise full.
That was no surprise as we were arriving around noon on a Saturday so if you want to hit up the trail on a weekend, I would get an early start.
The trailhead is immediately adjacent to the parking lot and you can’t miss it.
Trail conditions
The trail was in great condition and is well marked and easy to follow. Some sections are quite rocky and on multiple occasions you will have to deal with large steps.
Depending on the season, you may also have to contend with stream crossings and potentially even snow.
It is not recommended to drink the water due to bacteria and that includes even when treating it with tablets. However, if you have a purifier that purifies with at least .2 microns then you should be good.
There is very little shade during the first half of the hike but as you head through the forest area, you should have more shade.
Route description
The first couple of miles will send you steadily increasing in elevation at about 400 feet per mile which isn’t bad.
The views are immediate as soon as you begin the hike and you will be impressed with sweeping mountain views all around as you acsend.
Making your way up, you may run into your first mountain bikers as this trail is extremely popular with them.
In fact, Bug Springs felt more like a mountain biking trail than a hiking trail, which sadly detracted from the hiking experience a little bit.
Luckily, the mountain bikers in Tucson are very courteous and I would say about 95% of them are pretty awesome when it comes to making sure there are no issues passing on the trail.
Typically, as a hiker you have the right-of-way but on such a steep trail it’s better to just let them come flying down the mountain. It’s also a bit of a spectacle.
So be prepared for a lot of fast mountain bikers and always be on the lookout for a little island of safety when you hear them coming.
When you get about 2 miles into the hike, the scenery will begin to change.
You’ll start noticing more pine appearing but most notably you’ll come across the rock formations that are situated on top of a ridge.
This section of the hike is a mini rock playground of sorts and you’ll be able to enjoy exploring and climbing on some interesting rock formations.
If you are the type that wants to hang out, this is a great place to do that and to admire the view.
Also, if you are not interested in doing the full hike, this is not a bad final destination for a more easy to moderate hike.
After you pass through the rocks, you’re going to drop a little bit in elevation. It’s not a huge drop but it is pretty noticeable at about 150 feet in elevation.
This is where you really begin to experience the forest area which is full of pine, juniper, and other types of trees like oak.
Also, this trail has some of the prettiest manzanita trees I’ve come across in southern Arizona.
This is a pretty relaxing stretch of the hike and for about a mile your elevation gain will be extremely mild as you make your way through the beautiful pines and cross a few streams (assuming the water is flowing).
Once you get about 3.5 miles into the hike, it’s time for a bit of elevation gain.
In just over a half a mile, you’ll gain about 320 feet in elevation so it is a decent ascent but not bad because a portion of it is relatively level.
Views will continue to impress.
This is also when the Mount Lemmon Highway begins to come back into view. The highway does detract from the remoteness of this hike a bit but it is not always a factor so I do not feel like it devalues the hike much.
Plus, it’s just a beautiful mountain highway to admire anyway.
Once you make it to the top, you are just over 4 miles into the hike and you have the decision of whether or not you should drop down about 400 feet to make it to the end of the trail.
The end of the hike is actually the upper trailhead which is where a lot of the mountain bikers like to begin.
There are some large steps that bring you down to the end of the trail and the scenery is pretty beautiful with pine trees all around.
Still, I can see why some people don’t do this last portion of the hike because you are dropping down 400 feet only to have to go right back up the same path and the scenery is not that different from what you have already experienced.
Personally, I liked dropping down and coming back up because it added a little bit of difficulty to the hike and gave us a better work out.
So if you were looking for that fitness element of the hike, I would recommend doing it.
After you make your way back up this 400 foot drop, the rest of the way is pretty much downhill. You will have that one section where you gained about 100 to 150 feet as you exit the forest area but for the most part this is going to be an easy trek back to the beginning of the trailhead.
I’m tempted to call this a moderate trail but it is a pretty long trail with many people recording hikes at 9.5 miles. My elevation gain was just under 2,000 feet but Brad had us at around 2,300 feet.
We did this hike as a winter system was blowing through Mount Lemmon and temperatures were in the upper 40s/lower 50s with some pretty strong gusts coming through.
So with the cold element, I did feel like this hike was a lot closer to strenuous than moderate.
Final word
This is easily one of my favorite hikes to do in the Tucson area. It offers great views, diverse scenery, and a pretty good work out. The only drawback is that it is so popular with mountain bikers and that can cause it to be a little bit less enjoyable for hikers.