a trek to Tucson

back to saguaro land!!!

Mid-March, We hitched up our home and made a run south for the Tucson area, for a good taste of Saguaro national park before 100+ degree weather starts up for the summer, and check out places even further south, like Coronado national monument, mere miles from the boarder of Mexico.  We also went this direction for some work-related stuff.

Some friends of ours who live in town (Sedona) asked if we'd like to help out with expanding their lapidary business.  we've considered it, and feel clearly guided to say "Yeah!!".  Joel is handling the monstrosity of a website situation, and I am going to be their new photographer- taking pics of inventory (if you follow me on instagram, that explains the recent posts of fossils and gems :) creating descriptions for it all, helping fill orders, set up a front office within the warehouse, etc.  All for a comfortable salary, with time off here and there for us to do more traveling, possible field trips together to collect our own minerals, profit sharing, YADDDA YADDA!!  It feels like a great fit for us right now.  The colleague who's business we are integrating into our friends', he lives in Tucson.  We went to meet him one day on this trip, see his set  up, and get the ball rolling.   Leaving on a warm Sunday morning, we made the 5ish-hour drive to Benson, AZ, where another SKP's park awaited us.


They have a fun newbie special ($50 for a week) and it was conveniently centrally located for all the areas we wanted to visit, including Tucson.  Every day we were up to something, so we never made it to "happy hour", but there is this gate with a horseshoe for a latch at the back corner of the property that leads to the top of a hill, and the walking path that goes along the tops of all these... "mini canyons" i'll say.  these trails stretch on for several miles and we were told to freely roam as far as we wish.
Overlooking the climb up the hill stand a large metal-crafted saguaro cactus and a star shape, that light up at dusk every night off their solar panels.  What a brilliant landmark when driving home at dark, in unfamiliar territory.  BRILLIANT!  i got up pre-dawn one morning and caught the sunrise while sitting between them.  Other than spending a day with our friend and meeting our new colleague for business reasons, here's a taste of what we explored:

  (the words in red will take you to photos.  including these ones :)

*Tombstone, the tourist-y time warp town, and adorable little Bisbee, loaded with art, art and more art.  We did a lot of driving around this day, and wandered thru some neat, wild properties in the middle of nowhere.

*Drove so far south, we could practically throw our hats into Mexico.  We stopped in to see the Coronado National monument, commemorating an expedition that happened back in 1540.  it was a steep drive up the mountain with a hiking trail from the parking lot up top that took us even higher, to where we could see the actual boarder of Mexico.  spectacular scenery.

*East Saguaro national park in the morning.  It's clearly Springtime here!  so much in bloom.  FEELS like SUMMER!!  it was BLOODY HOT.  we weren't even able to finish an entire hiking path... we started to melt, so we went back to the car.  The park was a hoot, even just for driving thru.  The rest of the day we spent with our friend and new business colleague.

my 2nd cousin, Desiree 

*I got to meet up with a "long lost cousin".
She was never really lost 😛 but i say that because
1)  she's a second-cousin,
2) i only met her once, when she was 5ish ???
3) she grew up in alaska.  and i have yet to visit alaska!  (an RV trip for our future, for sure)).
She just-so-happened to be living in Tucson for only another week or so (TIMING!!!)  we got in touch and she met up with Joel and I for a hike through the Cochise Stronghold.  I had been looking forward to this hike for a while... reading up on what a "cochise (CO-CHEESE) stronghold" is... and it appears to be somewhat misnamed.  from what i have gathered, the native chief, Cochise, went here not to hold ppl back from attack, but for personal, spiritual refuge.  This place was special, and holy to him, and I wanted to feel it/see it, too.  What a HOT day it was!  the hike was gorgeous.  the rock formations were something else.  we actually didn't make it to the end- we went off the beaten path and found a unique way back.  I would definitely do this hike again to the end.  It was a really fun day of getting to know Desiree better, hearing about the fam, rejoicing in her recent accomplishments, and seeing such beautiful scenery together.  A blessed day it was!  And i look forward to seeing her again.

Chiricahua national park

*hiked 2 different trails at Chiricahua National Monument.  more incredible rock walls, stacks, spires, and funky formations.  it's a giant playground like, yet unlike, the red rocks of our new home.  The weather shifted, bringing in grey clouds and sprinkles.  then we were rained on. it was heaven- the smell of the ground and rocks wet from the showers, the mist and haze that moved across the scenes we walked through...  earthy and mysterious.
Time to leave SKPs in the morning.

*took the RV to the west side of Tucson and parked on BLM land toward the outskirts of town.  there were many other trailors, RVs, vans, tents, and ppl camping out here, some with children.  and we found it to be quite comfortable; very dark at night, and quiet, even though we're not far off two different roads.  again, there is a chuck of hill behind the area, so we scaled it one morning and got some fun photos.

*West Suguaro national park is AWE.  MAZE.  BALLS.  the park i'd been waiting for!  so many trails to hike!  we only had time for a few.  They call the area a forest, and now i feel why they do, once we got up high with a view of acres beyond us.  Saw some of the most clearly-defined pictographs we've come across yet:  spirals, animals, funky shapes- check out the rock piles toward the end of the album (click above).  the cactus themselves are so fun to walk up to, and feel just how BIG a presence they are.  some of them have interesting holes eaten away in them, and they keep growing.  and i wanna go back.  we will go back.

*Lastly, the scenic drive to the top of Mt. Lemmon.  that's a fun little day trip.  Made a stop to walk around a pretty lake that formed from damming up the water at some point.  We got to see the place i wanted to go snowboarding this year.  it never even opened!  they get jipped on snowfall some seasons.  this year was one of 'em.  they still had a chair lift running tho- taking ppl to the top for the views.  we opted out, but chatted a little bit with the guy running it, who told us one year they had a total of 28 feet!  (in the dessert!)

MANY RECOMMENDATIONS have been given to us about visiting the Desert Museum in town.  We didn't have time to cram that in this trip.  After more than a week away from home, it was time to mosey on back.

dusk from our front door

BYE BYE, TUCSON!  we haven't even seen your inner city yet.  what surrounds you is gorgeous.  what more awaits us here?  I know we'll be back to find out.

~Tally Ho!

getting high all the time PART II

the climbing continues:  Bear mountain- WHOA.  Sterling pass- kicked our ass.
more canyons, caves, amazing views...  click the trail name to see all the pics.

with Cam and Veronika

Bear Mountain  Overlooks EVERYTHING around!  it's one of the highest summits in the Sedona area, and let's you see well-beyond it.  once you experience the top, you can pick it out from wherever you are on ground.  We'll be well-across town and one of us will point it out miles away.  "We were all the way up THERE?!"  i still ask, in a bit of awe.  the trail is crazy; not just switchbacky to the top, but it goes UP and DOWN about 50 (i'm guessing) different times, ACROSS an interesting variety of rugged terrain, leading one to tap into their spider-manny skills up steeply sloped red rock, and finally it brings you to MORE climbing up, to what you think is finally the top!
but it's not!  you still have to hike down some more, and then up again, and then down, and then...  it ends eventually.  One of the most strenuous ones we've done, with Joel's cousin Veronika, and our buddy Cam.  need i say it was EPIC?  with snow at the trail end.  I was so thirsty!  i munched to my heart's content.  and caught an amazing view of the mountain to the north- in Flagstaff- where we were snowboarding only a few days previous. I didn't know that was up there waiting for us 😄 it made my day!!  what a sight.  we ate celebratory sourdough cookies at the top.

Jack's Canyon   was just a short jaunt the day after we got here.  Walking the whole thing would bring us down into Jack's canyon and we weren't prepared for that, so we only went a couple of miles.  We were elated just to be out.  Passed thru a bunch of cows to get to it.  Great views of the village of Oak Creek.

Sycamore Canyon  is a bumpy, rocky, crazy-dirt-road-ride 25 minutes away from the tourists, with wilderness beyond it for many miles.  the canyon itself is 21 miles long and reaches 7 miles wide.  Ever since i've been with Joel he has shown me on maps, and talked about wanting to hike deeper into this area than he has been before.  so this one was really special- now we were here together.  we went as far as he'd been before then had to head back.  we will return with our tent and spend some nights out here after it warms up a bit.  lots of new, weird rock spires and formations to oogle at.

Cam and Joel

Sterling Pass   lots of elevation in a short amount of time-- HOLY CATS.  another epic, and strenuous hike.  starts out with BANG- steep climbing up, Up, UP from the get-go, into tall, towering Ponderosa pines, some fallen.  little cave-type forms eroded away in the limestone rock that the boys climbed in and out.  tall, strange pillars standing at random along our way.  We essentially climbed up from the bottom of one canyon, crossed over a gap at the top, and descended into another.  From here we pressed on in search of the Vultee Arch- a natural red rock bridge formation hiding further down the white, grassy canyon floor.  this was a long and tiring hike with almost 1200 ft elevation change.  fantastic views of forest and red rock structures in the distance within the Secret Mountain Wilderness.

Fay Canyon  is really neat- full of carved-out structures from the weather, small ruins crumbling, and crevices to run off and get into.  I brought my singing bowl this day.  the trail end sign stops just before the real fun begins!  a short canyon chock full of stuff to discover and fantastic views from climbing.

Turkey Creek  a less popular trail located out of town with rewarding views.  easy walking for a couple miles, crosses over a (mostly) dry riverbed, then ascends up the north side of a once active shield volcano, known around here as House Mountain.  We didn't take a lot of pics on this one but it was a great hike, and we did captured of few unique views of the red rocks in this area.

Baby bell   a busy spot, but fun walking- flat, easy trail around a few of the various popular red rock structures around town: Bell rock and the Courthouse.  we climbed up on "Baby bell" rock and got pictures of the other 2, and the surrounding red rock walls.

there ya have it- a good taste of what we we're up to most days.  
it's sweet to hear how much some of you are enjoying our pictures.  thanks for letting us know.  i'll post more here and there, but with part I and II, you get the idea  😉

Tally Ho! 

THUNDER MOUNTAIN!!!!!!!

this was such a dream come true.  ever since I first visited Sedona, i wanted to get to the top of this thing!!! 

Like Bear mountain, (see Part II- soon to come) it stands high enough to see Humphrey's snow-capped peak all the way up in Flagstaff, over 50 miles away!  It stretches so long that it covers along the whole hub of town.  Once you catch a view from it's side tho, you realize it's actually quite narrow and jagged along the top, that makes a kind of zig-zag up to the highest point. 

Our friend Cam drove up from Tempe to experience this one with us.  We'd talked about doing it for weeks, and now today felt like the time to do it.  we were pretty amped-up, and even a tad nervous!  it's no mount Everest, but it's a lot of elevation to climb in a short amount of distance, and we'd heard stories of the sheer edges we would encounter.  

It took us 2.5 hours to reach the summit, where it's COVERED in manzanita trees, and two different large rock chunks to sit on and take in the views...  a full-on shot of our snowboarding mountain to the north, and the entire sprawl of Sedona down on the other side.  we could spot Key Hole Cave from our hike just the day before!  and what a sight to look back and realize all the spine of grey rock we walked along to reach this point.

it wasn't as scary as some folks made it out to be.  It was tricky in some areas;  lots of slanted walking, some very steep areas to get thru, and loose rocks left and right.  the best/ most-used path was not always obvious, sometimes seeming to just fade away.  we lost the trail several times both up and down.  but we figured it out and made it back alive 😁  it was so fun to be up there, in breathtaking views, and now deeply satisfying to see it from the ground and say "We did it!"    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE PHOTOS