Catalina State Park is located in Oro Valley, AZ half hour drive from Tucson, AZ and two hour drive from Phoenix, AZ.

The park offers the option of overnight camping (RV or tent). The campground is clean and well-equipped (drinking water, electric, shower, flushing toilets, picnic tables). The campsites are spacious and private. They offer beautiful views of the Santa Catalina mountains. Be wary that the campground is hot during the day in the summer, but it cools down significantly after sunset.

Romero Canyon / Romero Pass/ Mt. Lemmon

There are several demanding trails that are accessible from the parking lot of Catalina State Park.

The Romero Canyon Trail leads up to Romero Pass (12.5 miles). This trail passes by the very popular Romero Pools. From Romero Pass, one can hike up to Mt. Lemmon (4 additional miles). This a strenuous trail. It should take 7-8 hours of hiking in total. The entire hike, out and back, cannot be completed in a single day. The best thing to do is to find overnight camping at Mt. Lemmon and then descend back the next day. Another option is to hike up to Mt. Lemmon and then get a ride back by car. There is a road that goes all the way to Mt. Lemmon from the Tucson side.

We haven’t hiked this trail because it was closed until November 2020. We will come back.

Buster Mountain Loop

Instead of Romero Canyon trail, we hiked a good chunk of the Buster Mountain loop trail. This is a demanding 6 mile hike. The trail is not perfectly clear, but rock piles are a reliable indicator of where to go. The loop can be hiked clockwise or counterclockwise. We decided to go counterclockwise. Bring plenty of water as there is no shade along the trail and the sun is unforgiving.

Unfortunately, we had to give up as we reached the ridge of Buster mountain. The sun and the heat were too much to bear in the middle of the day! We will come back.