After getting our Arizona State Park Pass, we were ready to put it to use for the first time. So we found a state park near Tucson, Kartchner Caverns State Park, and decided to do one of the top trails: the Guindani Loop Trail. In this article, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Guindani Loop Trail.
Guindani Loop Trail Overview
The Guindani Loop Trail is a an easy to moderate loop trail offering a diverse range of vegetation and some pretty great scenery. Portions of the trail require you to be prepared to deal with stepping around a lot of cow manure but the slightly challenging terrain offers great rewards with wide open views.
- Distance: 4.3 miles
- Elevation Gain: 899 feet
- Route Type: Loop
- Pets: Yes (on leash)
- Difficulty: Easy to moderate
- Time needed: 2 to 2.5 hours
Getting to the park and trailhead
The Guindani Loop trailhead is located within Kartchner Caverns State Park, about 50 minutes east of Tucson. Simply take the exit from I10 and head south on Highway 90 (take exit 302 for AZ-90 E toward Ft Huachuca/Sierra Vista) and you will arrive at the park. It’s pretty hard to miss.
The park entrance fee is $7 but as stated we used our annual pass to get in. As for park hours, gates are closed from 10:00pm to 6:00am. The park rangers should issue you a pamphlet and map when you arrive and also be able to answer any questions you might have.
The trailhead is located towards the back of the state park.
Just follow the main road leading from the entrance and you will eventually see the sign for the trailhead. There’s a pretty decent size parking lot outside of the trailhead and bathroom facilities as well.
Trail conditions
The trail is in good condition and pretty well-marked.
For the most part, it’s easy to follow, but there are some portions near the creek where it’s not immediately clear where to go. Trail markers help in most of these cases so it’s nothing to really worry about it — just be aware of.
The biggest issue I had with the trail were the massive amounts of cow manure that you have to contend with during certain segments of the route.
Route description
You can do this loop hike heading west or northwest along the loop trail.
We chose to head north on the trail and hike along the creek first so that we could enjoy the sweeping views on the way down. Most other hikers seemed to be doing the hike the other way but I recommend doing it in the direction we hiked.
Either way you go, the first .4 miles will be the same.
Just a few minutes into the hike, you will come across a gate that you can pass by walking on the left. (The first gate is located where the trail for the foothills loop trail connects but you want to keep going straight.)
During this trail, you will have to pass through a number of gates so be sure to leave them as you found them which will likely be closed. I’m assuming the gates are in place for cattle which you could possibly encounter while hiking (although we did not encounter any).
The state park is also a part of the Coronado National Forest, which you enter on this hike.
Throughout the hike we were greeted by many different types of wildflowers. This was actually one of the best hikes we’ve done for seeing various wildflowers and it was great seeing them still blooming in full force towards the middle of May. Here are a few of the flowers we found.
But back to the hike — the first portion of this hike will be relatively flat as you will only be dealing with a very mild incline.
So just enjoy the views which at times consist of very large agave.
Soon the trail will get pretty rocky so be prepared for that.
In addition to lots of agave, we came across one of the largest ocotillos I’ve seen to date.
Much of this first portion of the hike runs along a stream at the bottom of the canyon.
The stream was not running during our hike but there were some small pools of stagnant water. If this creek were running full force it would have made the hike much more interesting. Maybe next time.
The trail took us through a couple of creek crossings which were not an issue since it was all dried up. But this also made it slightly difficult to find the trail path in a couple of instances.
Luckily, the trail markers guide you most of those times.
Along the creek we encountered this one strange agave sprouting from a large rock which was pretty cool.
Once you start to climb in elevation a little bit you’ll start to encounter different types of oak, pine, and juniper (especially alligator juniper). The vegetation never gets super thick but it’s enough to appreciate and to take advantage of some shade in a few spots along the route.
After about 1.8 miles into the hike, you will begin the main ascent. This is the only stretch of the hike that is truly moderately difficult but it’s pretty short and pretty easy to just grind out.
Some views will start to open up as you gain in elevation.
And then you will come to the high point of the hike where some pretty great views emerge. The elevation of the high point is around 5,622 feet.
This is the point of the journey where I really appreciated the hike. On a breezy day, the wind will be blowing through the canyon and will feel just perfect. This is yet another reason why I like doing this hike from the direction that we did — you get to save the best for last.
On the ridge, it was also cool to see a blooming rainbow hedgehog cactus. Down at the lower elevations in Saguaro National Park, you encounter tons of blooming cacti but when you see them up at higher elevations they are more of a surprise.
From there, you will begin to descend a fairly quick trail down the side of the foothills. It’s not super steep but it was steep enough to where I could have used my trekking polls.
Also, some of the paths along this loop are pretty narrow/tight and so you can get a little scratched up by bushes and weeds. Pants might be a good option for many people who don’t like that.
Along the way down, we were greeted with more beautiful blooming cacti is like this cane cholla.
And this beautiful prickly pear cactus.
Final word
Overall, I was pretty impressed with this hike although it did have its drawbacks. The first portion of the trail was not super amazing and all of the cow manure definitely stunk up the route. But then as the elevation started to gain, the hike became more interesting and opened up to some fantastic views. For a hike just over 4 miles, this is a pretty legit hike.