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!