Sunday, February 23, 2014

Making new friends in Tucson

Nice cloudy skies gave us comfortable hiking temperatures this morning as we hiked Brown Mountain with Bill and Christine who are fellow Montana 5th wheel owners we met in our RV park. Looks like our paths could cross again a couple of times in the coming year; we love to meet fellow outdoor enthusiasts in our travels!

Christine, Hans and Bill on Brown Mountain trail.

These odd looking insects turned out to be Master Blister Beetles.

Today we saw the smallest saguaros yet!
The two next to Christine's shoe were maybe 2 inches tall...which is about 10 years old!

Below are some photos from the past few days. First, we did a hike at the far West end of Saguaro National Park that I don't really want to recommend because it was mostly a lot of flat and sandy wash...but we did see a couple of pretty things:

Surprise flowers in a wash.

Young Crested Saguaro.

We enjoyed a delicious potluck dinner at Tim and Amanda's site at Gilbert Ray campground, where we met new full timers Sam and Stephanie and also Jen with her sweet dog Q.

Fabulous potluck dinner at Tim and Amanda's place.
Amanda, Tim, Stephanie, Jen, Sam, Hans.

Last nights sunset was spectacular.

It's only February but the birds seem to be pairing up already; though perhaps that is normal in this part of the country. It's so different from last year when we experienced snow at this time!

This pair has snagged a great spot right in our RV park.

The End!

7 comments:

  1. I think the season of love has begun. The pigeons are walking on the ground looking at each other, and the doves are trying to make nests on our 12 foot ladder. It does feel early.

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  2. We had a great time hanging out with you as well. Love the picture of that tiny baby saguaro. Isn't it amazing how slow they grow? Enjoy your last few days in Tucson. Not sure when we will run into you again, but until them we'll be following along on the blog :)

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  3. Looks like a great hike. You definitely captured sure signs of spring in the desert. Maybe it is even mating season for those amazing looking beetles. Love the photos of the bird house in the saguaro.

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  4. Hasn't his just been a glorious winter?
    I think we've decided to spend the spring in CA since we haven't been up the west coast, then summer in OR/WA. May meet up with you sometime this year!

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    1. Cool! We'll be along the Columbia River late June then we're spending July and August in WA, then coming down the OR coast after Labor Day.

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  5. With your warm winter spring might be a little early. Neat to see the desert flowers. Great crested find!! Sounds like busy times with friends:)

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  6. We enjoy this early spring but it probablyeana draught for this summer.

    What a nice hike and photos.

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