Petroglyphs, Mines and a Little Bushwacking

The daytime temperatures are heading towards 90 degrees lately so we head out for exercise earlier (8:30am) and try to avoid serious climbing.

The other day we started our Wasson Peak hike from the King Canyon trail head (at the K24 parking lot in Tucson Mountain Park), but we knew there were other goodies to be found from that starting point. Last year we did a loop that included the lower portion of King Canyon which holds evidence of our ancestors. Yesterday we chose to hike up King Canyon as far as possible to see if there were even more petroglyphs.

There's a nice gentle incline in King Canyon.

Early on we saw the only mortero of the day.

For some reason on this day I was fascinated by cacti growing precariously from rock walls.

Occasionally there are rock drop offs that I would love to see during monsoon season!

Eventually we came to the petroglyph site which is a little down stream from the Mam-a-Gah picnic area turn off. You've got to search a little for them as they are wearing away with time and the elements and the rock walls are slowly falling into the canyon.

This tall rock wall (and the other side of the canyon) is the site of the petroglyphs.

From the ledge in the rock wall above looking down into King Canyon.

After a brief stop at the lovely Mam-a-Gah picnic site, great views and shade, we continued on up King Canyon. At a Y intersection we turned left, all the while looking for more Indian signs or anything else of interest.

Neat fan shaped arm on this saguaro.

Where there's a will there's a way!

The end of the canyon.

Once we reached the end of the canyon we really didn't want to just turn around and retrace our steps. We had seen what looked like an old roadbed leading to a mine site above us as we ascended the canyon so we decided to check it out.

Climbing up the mine tailings.

One of several miners trash dumps we saw...lots of tin cans.

Turns out the old road bed was not maintained as a trail. It was very overgrown and eroded, but it was also evident that a few hardy hikers had done the same loop we were attempting. So of course we set off down the "road" weaving our way through cactus, mesquite and creosote.

Picking my way through cactus.

A look back at the mine site and the canyon we had come up.

Another mine site...Hans was living dangerously!

Hans is on the right, walking down the old road bed, the canyon below us.

This was a great hike for a hot day. Not too strenuous, some parts were even shaded, and we got off the beaten path. Perfect!

Just Hangin' Out in Tucson

Since we spent a month in Tucson last year, this year we are taking it slower, we don't feel a need to run out and see everything. The relaxed pace is wonderful, but leaves fewer things to write about. Today I'll mostly share a few photos that have made me happy lately.

There's some nice mountain bike trails behind our park and we checked them out with Jim and Allison today. We met these two on the trail last year in Tucson. Really glad our paths have crossed again. Couldn't have asked for better weather or company!

Hans, Jim, Allison...great ride today!

Working backward: last night we enjoyed a fun happy hour at Bill and Heidi's place. We met them last year in Silver City and met a few of their friends here in the park last night. There are some really nice folks staying at this park!

L to R: Bill, Heidi, Bill, Hans, Gary, Linda, Linda.

I talked about the owl sightings recently, and later got the clearest photo yet:

Here's a a few more bird photos, taken in the desert garden right behind our rig...

Cactus wren

Gambels quail fluffing feathers.

Love the orange eye of the Curved bill thrasher.

There's a pair of Northern cardinals hanging our in our garden.
This is the female.

And the male.

Yes, I see you!

We did a short hike over in Saguaro National Park East the day Hans got his permanent crown. It's just as pretty on the East side as the West.

The End!

The High Point of the Tucson Mountains: Wasson Peak

Today we hiked Wasson Peak and we couldn't help thinking of John and Pam; it was one of the big hikes we did together last year at this time. Pam and I were obsessed with finding elusive crested saguaros...I still am, and I know Pam would be if she weren't in Florida this winter. The bonus today was finding a crested that I missed last year!

Here's the map for Saguaro National Park West. We hiked King Canyon, Hugh Norris, Sendero-Esperanza, and Gould Mine trails to make a 7.5 mile loop. Here's a few images from a great day on the trail.

Wasson Peak, at 4,687 feet, is actually behind the mountain in the distance.

We saw this unique crested saguaro last year.

There were a few spots of color along the trail.

Great views looking back towards our starting point.
We had just zig-zagged our way up the hillside.

The last bit of trail along a ridgeline to our destination.

It was a little chilly on top.

Coming down Gould Mine trail I looked up to my left and saw what seemed to be
a crested saguaro on top of the hill .

 

The trail made its way around the hill and from the other side I could plainly see it was indeed a crested saguaro!

Some pretty, new growth on a cholla. 

Another great day on the trail in Tucson! I'm glad we did this one before it warms up again next week, these hills would have been a lot harder at 80 degrees!

Beautiful Western Tucson

Our home base for a month, Desert Trails RV Park, sits on the South edge of Tucson Mountain Park (TMP). We've got trails into the desert right from the RV park and are just a few minutes drive to many more miles of trails in TMP and Saguaro National Park (SNP) West.

Our remaining few days with Mike and Keyna were spent enjoying some of our favorite nearby trails. They headed on to their next destination this morning after one last tasty dinner last night. It may be many months before our paths cross again, but it's been lots of fun catching up while we could.

Trail maps for hikes close to Desert Trails RV park:
Tucson Mountain Park Trail Map
Saguaro National Park West Map

One gorgeously cloudy day we hiked Hidden Canyon and Yetman trails to Bowen House, returning by Bowen trail. This four mile lollipop loop had one easy hill, pretty canyon views and the picturesque stone ruins of Bowen House.

Fantastic cloud formations graced our hike to Bowen House Ruin.

Another day we hiked my favorite loop in SNP West: the Hugh Norris - Dobe Wash Loop. Here is my detailed write up on it from last year. And below are a few pics from our recent hike...

Puffy clouds and big boulders make for a pleasing lunch stop.

Near the end of the loop you drop into Bajada Wash.

There are some neat boulder strewn sections in Bajada Wash.

One of my favorite things is to have good trails accessible directly from the RV park. Here's a few images from walks with no driving necessary...

 

Pretty in pink.

This crazy many-armed saguaro is a fun find a couple miles from the RV park.

This crest has continued to grow into a hand!

We've had some incredible sunsets lately, one evening in particular lit up the clouds in an explosion of color:

Though we're having lots of fun, life's little realities have intruded here and there. Our electric fireplace fan stopped working and fortunately it's still under warranty. We received a free replacement and successfully made the switch one afternoon. Hans also broke an old crown and is in the process of having it replaced. Why that couldn't have happened when we were in Yuma having dental done, we just don't know!

We also celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary this week as well as eight years since our fateful meeting through Match dot com. Life is most excellent!