Friday, we went to Tucson Mountain Park to do the David Yetman Trail. The drive to the west trailhead was quite scenic, a windy road up the mountain over Gates Pass. The trailhead was at a scenic overlook about halfway down the other side of the hill. We had to wait a few minutes for some of the people taking pictures of the valley to free up a space to park. The first part of the hike was up over a saddle between two peaks. Once we got to the top, we could see down the valley formed by a row of hills between us and Tucson.
The only wildlife we saw was a few birds. The hillsides were covered in saguaro, ocitillo, cholla and prickly pear cactus along with palo verde and mesquite trees in the slightly damper washes.
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| Variety of desert plants |
We walked about a mile down the valley toward a residential area where we did a small loop before climbing back up the hill.
Saturday, we drove north to Picacho State Park.
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| Picacho |
It is famous for a couple of difficult trails going to the peak (gloves are recommended to hang on to cables along a ledge at the bottom of a cliff face). We opted for a short but steep.7 mi hike up to another saddle to a view back over the freeway and the valley. Joan had a bit of a mishap using a saguaro cactus for balance. She had to pick a few thorns out of her hand. Near the top we encountered a couple from California with a small dog wearing socks to protect its feet from the sharp rocks. We had a fairly long chat with them about their and our experiences RVing. They are recently retired, but have been RVing for about 3 months per year for a while. On the way down, we almost stepped on a little snake that scurried under a bush, but peaked out to keep an eye on us.
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Picacho Pass was the location of a Civil War skirmish between Confederate and Union troops. The Confederacy was attempting to establish a link to California, after the Union had recalled troops in the west for battle in the east. The Confederates won the skirmish here, but shortly after the Union captured Tucson.
Monday we moved across Tucson to the Pima County Fairgrounds. This is a quiet time of year for them, so it is used by snowbirds. No reservations or time limits, but when an event is here (the Fair, concerts, gem show, etc.) they clear out the RVers to make room for people putting on the events. We did the 1.3mi TimberForm Fitness Trail, which has exercise stations for sit-ups, leg lifts, knee flexes, chin-ups, hop-overs and beam walks. On the way back through the park we stopped to visit with a lady from Maine who had a large cage next to her trailer with 3 birds in it, a Maximilian's pionus (parrot), a cockatiel and a parakeet.
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| Maxamilian's Pionus |
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| Cockatiel |
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| Parakeet |
Later in the day, John got talking to one of our neighbours, and he asked us if we knew about the pack rats. Apparently pack rats live in the oleandar hedge behind the trailer. He recommended getting some Home Defense insect repellent and spray it on all of the points on the trailer touching the ground. We headed out to pick some up, and got everything sprayed just before dark.
Tuesday, we went to Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. This Rec Area has a large variety of trails. We chose to do the 7 Falls Trail, a 4.1 mile route up Bear Canyon to the 7 Falls. A volunteer warned us that at this time the falls are only a trickle. There is a shuttle that runs about once an hour, so we decided to walk the mile to the trailhead. This turned out to be a bad choice, as the shuttle arrived just as we were getting to the trailhead. We enjoyed the walk up the canyon, but found that the frequent locations with large steps, took too much effort, so we turned back about .7 miles short of the falls. We did see some nice little pools along the way.
The scenery was still beautiful, and it was a bit different seeing leaves turning yellow in the desert. Amazing what a little water will do for diversity.
At a rest point, a nice male phainopepla posed for us.
Wednesday we did the Sky Islands Scenic Byway, 26 miles up a winding road into the Santa Catalina Mountains on the northeast corner of Tucson.
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| Click for Map of Byway |
The hills are referred to as Sky Islands because they rise like islands in a desert sea. Several people recommended the trip, and that it was essential to download the University of Arizona's Mt Lemmon App. We put it on Joan's tablet, and listened to a description of the science of the region, from the Sonoran Desert at the base to Grasslands, to Alpine forest at the top. The description had 6 sections, covering the following subjects: Sky Islands, Rocks, Life Zones, Water, Forest, Fire. Even without the trip, this would interesting to listen to. Several main scientific principles were developed at the University here in Tucson, particularly the formation of the mountains based on the collisions of the continental plates, and the use of the rings in trees identifying the time frame of climate events, including fires. The byway starts at 2400 feet in Tucson to 8300 feet at the base of the Mt. Lemmon ski hill. Consequently it covers an amazing transition of life zones that interpretive signs compare to going from Mexico to Canada.
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The scenery is fantastic.
At one point, there is a viewpoint on the road that looks out at the 7 falls. We could see the pools that are still there even though there was very little water flowing.
When we got to the ski hill, we discovered that the restaurant is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. There was snow at the top, which is fairly recent, but there isn't enough for the ski hill to be operating.
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