A Change of Pace at Catalina State Park

Early this spring we finally found the opportunity to travel out to Arizona to see my parents. As you might expect, travel in a pandemic is extra stressful so we were very happy to get outside and enjoy the excellent desert weather as soon as we arrived. We headed out to Catalina State Park for a tour of some of the burn scars from the Bighorn Fire that swept through here last summer.

The landscape was noticeably more brown than normal, but only on the left side of this hill
A badly burned saguaro

As the trail made it’s way up the hillside we quickly encountered signs of the fire. Many areas were thinned out, and some were completely barren. The fire was clearly very erratic though, as some areas appeared to be untouched. The shells of doomed saguaros were a sad sight along the trail. Somehow they continued to stand strong, but many will clearly not make it. However, there were also signs of life among the damage. Some cacti seemed like they might be able to survive, and new growth was already starting at the base of the bushes and trees.

Not sure how this young saguaro will fare, but we wished it well
The bush may be charred, but still it comes back

The way back down the loop took us through some areas which were entire unscathed in the fire. The contrast was remarkable, with far more underbrush and grass. It was a very interesting combination of sights, and I’m sure we will be back to watch it all come back.

The setting sun lighting up the mountains above us
The sun setting over the state park road

In true Arizona style, we were treated to a marvelous sunset as we approached the trail head. It was a great way to kick off our desert trip.

Taken 2/16/21

12/29/19 Oro Valley Stars

The last evening we were in Tucson we had a clear, moonless night, so I set up my camera outside and tried to capture some views of the starts behind the saguaros around the house. There was a bit more light coming from the neighborhood that I would have liked, but I still felt like it captures the beauty of it relatively well.

12/28/19 Stone Canyon Waterfall

The upside to all the rain we had while in Arizona is that you get to see waterfalls running that would normally be just a trickle. I joined my dad and his friend in a short hike out to check out this falls. Though the clouds were generally not cooperating for getting good pictures of the falls itself, it did make for great photos of some of the little details in the desert stream bed. I really enjoyed poking around here.

12/26/19 Pusch Ridge Hike

The day after Christmas was a busy one for our family. We had plans to have a big gathering, dinner, and gift exchange. After the rain the past couple of days though I felt that I wanted to get out for a bit of an adventure. I settled on hiking a new trail that I had very little information about which leads up towards Table Mountain.

I started off in Catalina State Park just past the ranger station and headed up into the foothills. The scenery looked wonderful from the very beginning. With all of the recent rain, every time a tree or hill was providing some shadow, the desert was incredibly lush and green. Fresh grass seemed to be growing all over.

As I got closer to the ridge the trail got steeper and the views of the cliffs above got more and more impressive. The trail really provided a unique view of the ridge that I have not had a chance to see before. Usually I am hiking either on top of the ridge, or in one of the canyons. This was unique because I was hiking up a side ridge. For the final bit of the climb the trail got pretty faint and I ended up bushwhacking the last bit before the side summit I had picked as my destination.

After that it was a race back down the hill to make it home in time for dinner. I decided to take a chance on a different route out, and it paid off. The trail took me out to a neighborhood just off of Oracle road where I got picked up. I even made it back in time for dinner.

12/25/19 Stone Canyon

Christmas day consisted mostly of quiet time with family. I did however take some time to get outside in the afternoon and walk around the golf course a bit to take some photos. Merry Christmas!

12/24/19 Biosphere 2

In an unusual twist, Christmas Eve was a rainy in Tucson this year. A number of my cousins were looking for something to do while staying dry and settled on Biosphere 2. I have been here before, but liked it enough to be interested in going back.

The very short walk to the entrance of the facility turned out to be very very wet, and we were pretty well soaked by the time we made it in. After exploring the exhibits at the entrance a bit (and drying off) we went on a tour. I pretty much hung out near the back of the group snapping pictures of all of the interesting plants, flowers, and mechanical wonders. Fortunately it had stopped raining by the time we left so we made it back out without a second soaking.

12/21/19 Tohono Chul

After our afternoon hike we visited the Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens for their Holiday Lights event. This was my first time at Tohono Chul, and I enjoyed it. There were many many decorated cacti and trees, art, sculpture, and live music. One stand out was a performance by Gabrial Ayala on the guitar. His music was outstanding and he had no trouble filling the room.

12/21/19 Romero Pools

After getting to Arizona, we decided to kick things off with a familiar hike that we have not done in a couple of years. As usual, Romero Pools did not disappoint.

1/5/19 Prison Camp to Bear Canyon Hike

I have hiked around various parts of this general area in the past, but have wanted to find a way to link things together in a unique way. The result is this hike from the Prison Camp trail head at the Gordon Hirabayashi campground into Bear Canyon and out to the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center. The hike was quite nice, though it was longer and more difficult than I expected. We had some difficulty finding the Bear Canyon Trail, so we got held up for a while there. We ended up getting out quite late. All in all a nice, but long, hike.

1/3/19 Arizona Desert Museum

While we were out in Tucson for the new year, we decided to stop by the Arizona Desert Museum. I had not been there in years, but remembered enjoying it. This time I particularly enjoyed the hummingbirds and big cats.

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