The Bug Spring Trail is located on the Mount Lemmon highway. It is possible to access the trail from two different locations one at milepost 7.6 and the other at milepost 11.6. The upper trail head is located across from the General Hitchcock Campground. If you want to hike the trail I would suggest using two cars so you don't have to double back.
My cousin and I started at the upper trail head. We originally planned to hike Green Mountain but but accidentally turned onto Bug Spring.. Immediately after leaving the trail head Bug Spring ascended by a series of switch backs to the top of an unnamed canyon. It then enters the canyon and stays inside for a half mile before ascending to a vista point. Vegetation is a Arizona sky island mixture of Ponderosa pine, Madrone, oak, Alligator juniper and sSholts yucca. In this area my cousin and I saw a coatimundi cross the trail in front of us. This was a first siting for both of us. Coatimundis are slightly bigger than a raccoon. They aren't rare but visitors rarely site them. After leaving the Vista Point the trail follows the top of the ridge giving hikers and mountain bikers fantastic views of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness and Tucson, Arizona. Special consideration: this trail is not in the wilderness so watch out for mountain bikers. Most of them are not watching for hikers so be alert. Total mileage for the hike was about 5.5 miles. (Info from blog.summithut.com).
The Mount Lemmon highway snakes its way toward the mountain community of Summerhaven, Arizona.
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