2/8/20 Mt. Cannon Hike

So far the winter at home has been pretty warm and rainy. Given that it is now February, I felt the need to go find some snow. I decided to head to to Cannon for a walk in the woods. I started at the Lafayette Campground, which at this time of year is completely buried in snow. From there I hiked up to Lonesome Lake, the first of a few really spectacular views.

I walked around the edge of the lake taking lots of photos. I clearly was enjoying the view a bit too much, because somewhere around here I lost one of my water bottles. Oops! This was also the junction where the trail turned completely fresh, and I started breaking trail. I would highly recommend the experience to anyone who has not tried this before. There is something very peaceful about hiking through the fresh snow. You get to feel completely alone.

Eventually I made it up onto the ridge and decided to take a side trip up the Northeast Cannonball, a minor peak just up the ridge. This turned out to be trickier than I expected given the fresh snow and steep trail. However, I eventually made it up to the top… only to be rewarded with a very windy view of the inside of a cloud. After one obligatory picture I headed back down.

When I made it back to the trail junction, I was pleasantly surprised to find that some others had passed me, and I was no longer breaking trail. I made quick progress on the easier terrain until I caught up with the couple doing the work in front of me. We worked together for the next few minutes to get past the steepest parts of the ascent, and the soon made it to the summit. Given that Cannon has a fire tower with year round gondola access it is usually much busier than other peaks in the area, but I had it all to myself.

Given how windy it was I didn’t stay for long, but I did take a number of photos of the ever changing views of the peaks and clouds. After that, it was back down the Hi-Cannon trail. After a second unsuccessful search for my missing water bottle at Lonesome Lake, I headed home.

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.

10/19/19 Macedonia Brook State Park

This weekend we took a trip down to Connecticut to visit some family. We met up with them at Macedonia Brook State Park based on nothing more than what was easiest to meet at. Given the fairly loose vetting process I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the walk we got. It was a lovely fall day and the park was quiet, so we felt like we had the place to ourselves. I would definitely be up for coming back to explore this some more.

3/3/19 Callahan State Park

March 2019 brought a bit of excitement… A new Canon EOS RP! Of course that meant I had to go out and take lots of photos of the local spots that I know so well, starting with a walk through Callahan State Park.

As expected, the experience was not without it’s photographic difficulties as I worked to adjust to the new camera. I certainly enjoyed the process though.

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.

8/30/18 Grand Canyon

We arrived for the first full day of our Canyon adventures at the Grand Canyon after a long, but pretty, drive out from Las Vegas. It was a busy day, complete with a decent sunrise, a mule ride along the rim, and a trip out to a few of the spectacular overlooks. All in all a nice quick overview of the Canyon.

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