Arizona Revisited (Part Two) . . .

Welcome back!  I received a lot of really nice feedback from folks who came along for the ride during the first installment of this year’s Arizona adventures.  Brace yourselves – you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet . . .

The picture at left doesn’t say a lot, until I mention that I took it from Tucson.  See those two tallest peaks off in the distance to the south?  That’s where we’re headed – Saturday we hiked the one on the right (Mount Hopkins) and Sunday the one on the left (Mount Wrightson – the locals call this one “Old Baldy”).  And they’re about 20 miles from the Mexican border, so a sign like this one (along with an occasional Border Patrol vehicle) are common.

Remember in the last post that I mentioned the “warmup hike” that was postponed by a bocce tournament?  This was the warmup hike Dad had envisioned – and it was steep!  Blake and I decided that we would have been destroyed by this on the first day.  The parking area where we started was at about 5000 feet – Mount Hopkins is at about 8500 feet . . .

About the only “warmup” on this hike was the temperature, so we had peeled off the jackets and sweatshirts by the time Dad and Blake took their first sandwich break.

   

A nice shot of our sherpa on the way up the mountain.  The other pics are to demonstrate what happens when our sherpa gets us lost on the way up the mountain – we have to pick our way back downhill very carefully until we find the trail again . . .

Made it!  Interesting that the sign is not quite all the way on top of the mountain.  The telescope is in the big square building.

Interesting fact about this building – it rotates.  Which of course leads to another warning sign.  Apparently, someone parked a truck too close to the building once – imagine the reaction from the insurance adjustor when he received a claim that a truck had been struck by a building . . .

Views from the top – those are more observatories below us.  I liked the view of the twisty curvy road leading up the mountain.

We walked down that road for a while.  One of the switchbacks was so sharp that a mirror is used to see if there is anyone coming the other way (or in my case, to get a shot of Dad and Blake ahead of me).  One look back at the observatory before Dad led us over a guardrail and down a very steep (and tight) trail – Blake and I weren’t convinced at first.

We were in a hurry going down, since we had to get back to Tucson to take Mom to two more basketball games.  But we did pause at an abandoned mine along the way.  Ever wonder what happens to old mining equipment when a remote mine in the mountains isn’t mined anymore?  Wonder no more . . .

Next morning, we started from the same parking lot – this time, we’re headed for Mount Wrightson.  That’s it off in the distance.  Looks like nothing but rock from here.  This monument about halfway up is in memory of three Boy Scouts who died there in a snowstorm in 1958.

Really nice views on the way up.  This trail isn’t as steep as the one to Mount Hopkins, but we’re going higher – almost 9500 feet at Mount Wrightson.

One last break before the final climb to the peak (above my head).  I found this machete in a log near where we were sitting.  I’m not King Arthur, but it came right out of the log.  I left it behind for the next curious hiker.

The last part of this climb is almost sheer.  The trail is very narrow and the wind was howling (50-60 mph).  I am afraid of heights, but after hiking the Grand Canyon with no difficulties, I think it was the wind that got to me – I was terrified.  At least twice, I stopped and considered going back.  But we had hiked for nearly five hours to get to this point, so I inched my way along.  Some of my comments to Dad at this point are not printable – one of the nicest was “I want you to tell me that this peak is around the next curve or I’m stopping!”

Made it (whew)!  There was once a building here for a lookout post.  And that’s Mount Hopkins (where we were the day before) off in the distance.  But I did not read this sign until I looked at Blake’s pictures after we got home . . .

Two views of our intrepid hikers.  Blake wandered all over the peak – even Dad cautioned him at times not to get so close to the edge (remember, the wind was howling).  Meanwhile, I found a relatively safe spot and didn’t move.  At one point, the wind calmed for a minute and I started feeling better.  But it didn’t last long – just looking at this picture reminds me of my stomach churning . . .

Heading down, I inched along almost sideways – one eye on the wall to my right, the other on the trail and Dad’s feet in front of me.  When the trail hit a switchback, I very slowly turned to face the other direction – never looking down.  Once the trail widened, I was fine again . . .

You have to be limber if a fallen tree gets in your way on the trail.

One last look from way back down the trail.  Intimidating, but not as scary from here.  But I doubt I’ll go back . . .

Monday before we left for the airport, I had a request for our final hike.  I wanted to go back to Sabino Canyon.  I have been there several times, and each time had to take off my boots and socks to wade across a creek that covered the road leading to the trails.  But with the drought, I suspected it would look different . . .

And it did!  The pics on the left were taken this year, and the ones on the right last March.  And yes, I did notice that the outfits were almost identical . . .

The water level is way down – I had never seen the creek like this.

Because we were in Tucson during a very warm spell, this was the first time since our opening hike that we had been at a low enough elevation to see cactus.  We hiked for a couple of miles along the Phone Line Trail above Sabino Canyon.  Sabino Canyon is very popular – there is a paved road through the canyon that bikers, trams, and walkers use.

 

Two last views that I found interesting.  The first is from the Sabino Canyon hike.  That fluffy looking stuff in that tree is called mistletoe – and it will eventually spread and kill the tree.  And at the park where my parents live, there is a palm tree in front of each unit.  Tucson had a cold snap this winter (18 degrees for almost a full day) that killed the palm fronds.  And we had seen spots like this where it had been raining debris when the wind blew.  But we experienced it ourselves just before we left for the airport – we watched the debris from Mom & Dad’s palm come raining down.  Noisy stuff, but no damage . . .

Thanks for coming along for the hikes!

Arizona Revisited (Part One) . . .

I’m really not sure how to approach this – for some of you, a handful of pictures and a little narrative will be more than enough.  But there are a few of you who have told me how much you enjoy the sights and sounds, and I don’t want you left hungry for more.  Besides, my mom and dad read this blog and will enjoy the pictures.  So I’m going to give you the kitchen sink over two days – keeping in mind that Blake and I took around 300 pictures and I have already eliminated more than two-thirds of them.  If you get bored, feel free to scroll through them or use that “x” in the upper right corner . . .

This is the view from my parents’ driveway, taken about 30 minutes after we got off the plane in Tucson.  Yes, the sky in Arizona really is that blue.  The past two years, Dad has picked us up at the airport and taken us straight out for a “warmup hike” (last year, we pulled ourselves up Picacho Peak (partly with cables).  This time, we were headed for Mt. Hopkins (south of Tucson) – until Dad’s bocce team unexpectedly won an extra match in the park tournament.  So we spent Wednesday afternoon in the cheering section.

After the bocce match (Dad’s team lost in three games), Blake and I drove to Saguaro National Park and did about a 4½ mile loop starting from the Douglas Spring Trailhead – just enough change in elevation to give us a good workout.  And a far cry from what Dad had planned for us – we took the “warmup hike” on Saturday.

We met this little fellow along the trail – seemed very friendly, and never moved while we took a closer look and shot a few pictures.  The round eyes and lack of “rattles” kept us tenderfeet from getting too alarmed.  Blake loves to take sunset photos – this was the best of the bunch as we neared the end of our loop.

Thursday was our big NCAA Tournament Day – Mom, Blake and I left for the McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus at 9:00 a.m. and didn’t get home until after 10:00 p.m.  Great seats for four games – we bought the tickets a year ago.  We went back on Saturday for two more games, but I won’t bore you with two sets of pictures.  We got there early enough on Thursday that we got to park right across the street from the arena!

Didn’t take long to get courtside so Blake could snap a picture of me – that’s the view from our seats at right . . .

The picture of the three of us was taken by a family vacationing from Toronto.  Their daughter was wearing a Butler t-shirt – she had drawn them in a pool last year and became a fan as they made their Cinderella run to the NCAA finals, and picked them again this year.  I was giving her updates as Butler made last second shots to get through the first two rounds – little did we know that the Bulldogs would go all the way to the finals again!  Of course, no trip to Arizona or California is complete without a trip to In-N-Out – and there was one on the way home from McKale!

Friday was the first of our “all day” hikes.  We started above 8,000 feet part way up Mount Lemmon (north of Tucson), and the first part of our hike was downhill.  When we arrived at the Butterfly Peak parking area, Dad broke out a new tool for Blake and me to try – hiking poles.  I have seen lots of hikers using them over the past couple of years – and thought they looked silly.  But Blake and I have both had knee problems while hiking (especially when going downhill), so we were willing to give it a shot.  After 40 miles of hiking, I can honestly say that I will never hike long distances without them again – hiking poles are great!

The terrain was beautiful as we worked out way down the mountain – as we got around to the north side, we got our first glimpse of snow.

Blake and I took lots of pictures along the trails.  Because of the time difference between Arizona and Ohio, Ryan was usually working while we were hiking.  We often carry on a running text conversation during the day – one thought can last for hours.  So every once in a while, we would catch a cell signal and my phone would vibrate.  And I took a few pictures with my phone camera so I could text them home to both families.

Layers of clothing came off and went back on, depending on the time of day, the amount of sunshine, and the elevation.

I really liked this area.  Arizona has been suffering from drought conditions since last year, so running streams were hard to find.  These are three different views of the same scene – my view of Dad behind me, Blake’s view of Dad and me, and Dad’s view from behind me.

This is the wreckage of an Air Force fighter jet that crashed in the mountains in 1957.  Two jets collided in midair (both pilots parachuted to safety).  One jet crashed close to a highway and was hauled away, but this one was so far in the forest that it was left behind.  What we found had actually washed down the mountain during 50+ years of occasional mountain flooding.

Unexpected bonus – Dad sent me these pictures last night (April 4).  He went bushwhacking way up the mountain past the pieces we saw and found the rest of the wreckage.

Finally, we hit the snow – actually, it was mostly ice.  You’ll notice from the middle photo that it’s steep.  Those poles really came in handy, since in most places we had no choice but to try to find a foothold along the edge.

Dad says rangers, volunteers, and such used to clear off the trails when trees fell.  They also used to try to put fires out, but they realized that fire is nature’s way of maintaining the ecological balance so now they only try to keep fire from inhabited areas.  So we went through several areas that had burned out over the years, and the winds had toppled dead trees. It was a sad sight, but in lots of areas we could see growing saplings that would eventually take their place.

Now they tell us – I guess we hiked it backwards.  It seems that every year we find a new sign that tells us what we shouldn’t be doing.  I couldn’t help but get a shot of Dad as he tried to take our picture with Blake’s camera.

The observatory at Mount Bigelow.  From there, we gave the poles a rest for a while and walked down the access road . . .

. . . but soon Dad had us bushwhacking down the mountain, where he was sure we would connect with a trail that led to Mount Lemmon Highway and a short walk back to the car.  Dad is a master at following his nose, but when we met two hikers along the way, he took a minute to check their topographical map just to be sure.

From there, we drove to Summerhaven, the small town on top of Mount Lemmon.  It was destroyed by fire several years ago (only two buildings survived), and new houses seem isolated among the burned trees and bare ground.  The remains of one building lost in the fire have been fenced in as a reminder.

That’s enough for one day – besides, it will take forever to load on the server.  Next time (probably won’t happen until the weekend), join us for two hikes from the same parking lot – one to the observatory on top of Mount Hopkins, and the other to the top of Mount Wrightson (the locals call it “Old Baldy” – I am considering referring to it as “My Own Personal Hell”) . . .