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After all the rain Tucson had gotten (which translated to snow on the Catalinas), I wanted to get out this weekend for a hike. My friend Lina joined me for a hike up Pima Canyon to the dam. This hike is one of the best in the Tucson area, and I hadn’t done it in my 7 years living here!

We waited for it to warm up a bit so didn’t get started until about 11am. We followed the trail up the canyon and chased the clouds and fog, which slowly retreated as we gained elevation. The creek was flowing quite a bit thanks to all the snowmelt. We arrived at the “dam” (which was only about 4-6 feet high) around 1pm and had lunch shortly afterwards. We continued on to catch some snow (and throw a few snowballs), but once we hit this elevation the trail became muddy & slippery and we decided to turn back at about 2pm. The sun came out for the hike out, and we were back to the car by 5, which made for perfect timing to grab a tasty (and well-earned) sandwich at AJ’s. Definitely a great hike, and I snapped some pretty good pictures, so check them out!

UPDATE: Pima Canyon Trail is now listed at Earthgoers.

I wasn’t doing anything this weekend so at the last minute I decided to camp out and do a hike.

Late on Saturday afternoon, I threw my inflatable bed, sleeping bag, some food, my guitar, and Sonora in the XTerra and drove up Reddington Pass. After I crested the ridge into the next valley and was out of sight of Tucson, I took a random right on one of the roughest, rockiest roads I’ve ever been on. The XTerra’s 4-Lo gears got a workout on this road as I climbed over boulders and tried not to test my skid plates. After a while it dead-ended at a ridge looking out over the valley. Perfect! I got a fire going, cooked some dinner, and played some guitar & harmonica.

That night dropped a little below freezing, but I was nice & toasty in my sleeping bag. Unfortunately, poor Sonora kept tossing & turning out from under the covers that I threw over her to keep her warm. Occasionally through the night I’d wake up to her shivering against me, and once she even nudged me awake. The next morning I couldn’t cook my eggs & oatmeal because I forgot my mess kit, so I went home & did the cooking there.

After breakfast at home, I headed back out, leaving Sonora at home. I decided to do a loop hike, going up La Milagrosa Canyon, up & over the ridge on the La Milagrosa Ridge Trail, and coming back down Agua Caliente Canyon. These canyons get technical in places, making it difficult with dogs.

The hike is well-described over at HikeArizona.com, so I won’t go into those details. I will say that it’s days like these that I love living in Arizona. It’s the middle of winter, and I’m out hiking on a beautiful sunny day in shorts. There was water flowing in both canyons (likely snowmelt from the higher elevations) and I only ran into one other group while in the canyons. It was a perfect day full of hiking, scrambling, and even a little bouldering. I can’t wait to come back in the late spring/early summer & go for a swim–I saw a few potential cliff-jumping opportunities!

Check out all the pictures!

Since Sonora was injured, I decided to go trail running in Saguaro National Park. The Eastern District is only a few miles from my house, and yet I had never been there because they don’t allow dogs. Well, this was the perfect opportunity to go check it out.

I got a late start on the first outing, but checked the sunset and twilight times and figured I’d be fine. I decided to run a loop which started at the Broadway Trailhead and included Shantz, Pink Hill, Loma Verde, Cholla, and Cactus Forest Trails. The total mileage, according to the map, is 3.3 miles. I figured I could easily finish under 45 minutes and be done before dark. Well, the trail winds around trees and cactus, goes up & down washes, and is very sandy due to the horses that have come before me (and apparently horses are okay and dogs aren’t). I also kept stopping to take pictures of the mountains, cactus, sunset, and giant jackrabbits. So my progress was a little slower than I thought and by the time I got to the Loma Verde Mine it was twilight.

Fortunately, this Eagle Scout is always prepared, and I had brought my headlamp (as well as a map, compass, matches, and plenty of water). I ended up doubling back along the Pink Hill Trail since completing the loop would have been a longer distance. Of course, hiking out in the dark slowed me down even more, and I heard a pack of coyotes howling like crazy between me and the car. Note to self: if I’m not eaten, get an earlier start next time.

Obviously I made it back safely, so the next time out I followed my own advice and started 45 minutes earlier. This time I ran a complete loop heading south from the Broadway Trailhead on the Cactus Forest Trail and returning north on the Mica View Trail. This loop was a little shorter than the last one at only 2.1 miles. Once again, I was snapping pictures of all the beautiful flora & fauna of the Sonoran desert. I came across another jackrabbit who is probably used to all the hikers and didn’t mind me getting within 10 feet of him.

There’s a really nice trail system through the park with a lot of interconnecting trails, all well-worn and properly signed, i.e. slim chance of getting lost. I think I’ll be occasionally heading back even after Sonora heals… just don’t tell her.

Enjoy the pictures!

I was up in Summit County, Colorado (Frisco and Breckenridge, specifically) for a friend’s wedding this weekend. The fathers of the bride and groom, my dad, and a few of their friends all decided to do a hike the day before the wedding. I was impressed with how well they did considering most of them are about 30 years older than me and they were all coming from low elevations, with one coming from an elevation of a couple dozen feet (Florida).

Bob picked a relatively easy trail up to the Continental Divide–that line across the Rockies that separates the water runoff from going to either the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans. We gained about 2,000 feet over 3-4 miles with a high elevation above the treeline–somewhere around 12,500 feet. The entire hike was through a beautiful mountain valley with wildflowers and a stream running along the bottom at the lower elevations. In the pictures you’ll see that Bob throwing snowballs from a snow patch he had found, Rick skipping stones off a pool in the creek, and everybody having an all-around good time.

I’d like to take this opportunity to pimp my good friend Laurent Baig. Laurent is a good friend of mine–we worked together, we’ve backpacked together, and he is responsible for getting me into climbing. He has been very involved with photography over the last few years. I’ve been buying his calendars and every one has been amazing. He has set up a web site for his company, The Wildlight. I encourage you all to check out his work–it’s pretty remarkable.

He’s off in Oregon right now, hopefully snapping some amazing photographs of the Pacific Northwest. I’m still here in Tucson watching his two dogs Wednesday and Blade (pictured in his “about” section). Combined with my two dogs, it’s quite a zoo here at my house!