I'm not sure why the Tanque Verde trail is so popular but it gets a lot of traffic, especially day hikers. It used to have some shady spots before the fire and you get into timber near Cow Head Saddle even now.

For over-night hikes, I think I would be reluctant to leave my car at the Douglas Springs trail-head for fear of vandalism or worse. It is right there at the end of Speedway Blvd. where a lot of slack-jawed, mouth-breathers congregate late at night to smoke weed and act irresponsibly.

I get my camp sites for $3.00 per night because I am an official, U. S. Government-certified, card-carrying, old-fart.

Not sure if you have heard but they relocated the Happy Valley Saddle camp site to a spot much nearer the actual saddle and put in a composting toilet. You still have to hike down to the old camp to get water though. Most of the year you need to strain about a quart of slurry to get a cup of water and the stuff you strained out sits there and squirms.

The most reliable water in the Rincons is at Mud Hole Spring on the Turkey Creek trail. I have never, in ten years, seen it dry and it has nearly always been flowing clear and clean. I don't bother treating that water. A lot of the water sources require prior sorting before drinking or filtering. I generally have to fish out a dead squirrel or coyote from a water hole at least once a year. I just don't like chewy water very much.

Deer Head Spring, which is prominently marked on the maps, has never had water in the ten years I have been hiking past, even in the wet years.
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May I walk in beauty.