Hiking Club 1st Hike

This morning we headed out to Alamo Canyon which is a trail in Catalina State Park.  Relatively close to where we live.  Sunny and into the low 60s made for a perfect condition for the 6+ mile hike.  There were a lot of rocks and boulders underfoot, but one of our hiking members was an 81 year old man who had no problem.  We aspire to be like him!

Our view as we got to the top.

The O’odhams greatly respected the Saguaro and considered them nearly human. According to legend, each Saguaro represented an Indian warrior and the arms his wives. A drooping arm signaled a bad wife, but if it turned up again, it meant the husband had straightened her out!  This Saguaro represents a really, really bad wife!

Finally Getting Out to Hike

It has definitely been winter here in Tucson.  Our snow is long gone but the nighttime temperatures are still hovering around freezing.  The sun did come out today and low 60s are in the forecast.  We're still patiently waiting for some warm weather.  Today we walked from our house into the "wild" a few miles.  This river is due to the rains and snow melt of late.  We couldn't cross and had to hike in some scrubby areas instead.  We did see a Jackrabbit!!  I didn't believe such a unique animal existed and he was very fast.  Too fast for my camera.

Winding Down

The lazy days of our "summer vacation" are here now that our temps our into the mid-80s each day.  Actually we are to reach record breaking numbers in the low 90s this weekend!  Tells me it's time to hit the road.

This week we did yet another new hike with the hiking club.  The photos here show the usual scenery in the distance.  Wildflower season is upon us and certain parts of the trail were really lovely with flowers.

Hikers taking the mandatory "lunch break" after a 1 1/2 hour hike.

Yesterday Dave and I went to Saddlebrooke's sister property, aka The Ranch.  We kept hearing about their fantastic swim center.  So we took the plunge.  The outdoor pool was enormous and the fun feature was the lazy river.  Dave tried to leisurely float and let the current push him along.  He did feel it would have been more fun at higher speeds but couldn't find any way to ramp it up.  As usual, we had the pool to ourselves, but we weren't complaining.

Romero Pools, again

Things are starting to get warm around here.  Today we hit a high of 84 degrees.  We arrived at Catalina State Park at 8:30 and it was already too warm, for me.  The hike up to the pools is about two hours and involves a lot of rocks and elevation gain.  Lots of young people heading up there to cool off in the water too.  The wildflowers are really blooming and the hike was very colorful.  Jim and Lauren obviously weren't phased by the heat or the climb.

Dave among the Brittle Bush wildflowers.

Taking a Break

We headed our early today to Catalina State Park to hike to the Romero Pools.  Pools of water that sounded refreshing to visit.  The hike was a bit more than we expected.  Over five miles, round trip, with lots of climbing up boulders.  As hard as we thought it was we passed many hikers in their 70s.  If they could do it, we certainly could.

Water at the Romero Pools

Here is an idea of how far we were from the city.