November 1st, 2017, we
arrived in Tucson for our Winter stay, marking our third season in this part of
Arizona. After ten winters on the road that have included stays in the Rio
Grande Valley of Texas, the Gulf Coast side of Florida, Sacramento, California,
and Phoenix, Yuma, and Tucson, Arizona, we’ve finally decided we prefer what
Tucson has to offer this time of year. One of those things is hiking. While I
wouldn’t dream of hiking in this desert setting in the summer months, late fall
through early spring offers perfect conditions with cool mornings and comfortable
afternoons, very important when hiking in environments that offer very little shade
or shelter.
Tucson is in close proximity to
hundreds of miles of hiking trails and parks (regional, state, and National
Parks), and most of the hikes follow a similar pattern – hike up into the
mountains for as far as you want, then come back down. What amazes me about
this environment is the variety of plants, animals, and even geography in what
appears from a distance to be a vast sea of desert monotony. During our 2017 –
2018 hikes, we saw colorful birds high in the trees, got a great picture of the
elusive roadrunner, saw many cactus wren perching on top of the spiny desert
cacti, a big yellow-eyed owl staring us down from a low branch of a bare tree;
we came across a spiny lizard that seemed to be taking its final breaths,
grazing cattle, and a coati digging up someone’s yard. We enjoyed plant life
ranging from single tiny wildflower blooms, to towering cactus, some beginning their
Spring blooms, to groves of evergreens. The weather was usually bright and
sunny, but one morning at Sabino Canyon there were low clouds nestled in the
hills. Water is not in abundance in this environment, but a few of our hikes took
us past rushing creeks and cascading waterfalls. And always the reward was getting to the top
of whatever peak we were climbing that day and taking in the panoramic view of
Tucson far below.
Below is a montage of pictures from
our various hikes during our 2007-2018 winter stay. These pictures include, in
no particular order, our hikes at Madera Canyon, Wilderness of Rocks, Patagonia
Lake, Tucson Mountain Park, Picacho Peak, Saguaro National Park, Pima Canyon,
Sabino Canyon, Pontatoc Ridge, and Romero Pools.
No comments:
Post a Comment