Picacho Peak

Get ready, devoted readers (both of you). This is likely to be a long post. There are a lot of pictures in this one. Remember that you can click any photo for a larger version.

This was a very good day. My friend Tracy and his neighbor had both separately recommended that I should consider a trip out to Picacho Peak. It’s a mountain about half an hour out of Tucson on the way to Phoenix. I gave that a try today.

Picacho Peak is an Arizona state park. It is known for its wildflowers in the spring. You can also climb to the top of the peak. It’s a very forbidding looking mountain. Here is a photo that I took of it from a distance.



I spoke to the ranger at the entrance to the park and she told me that there were two ways to get to the top of the peak. One is a two-mile one way hike that was listed as difficult for the whole route. The other is a three-mile trip one way and was listed as moderate at the beginning and difficult at the end. I decided to take the easier way.

The trail went up hill quickly for a while and then leveled off and ran for quite a long time over small hills. Small by comparison to the peak in any case. I was beginning to think that I had taken a wrong turn when the trail angled to the left and began to climb the mountain in steep switchbacks. I was quickly out of breath which is partly due to being out of shape, partly because I’m minus some lung, and partly because I had put on some pounds over the last year and was lugging more of myself than I ever had to do before. It finally got to the point where I would count my paces – maybe 40 or 50 – and then take time to stop and catch my breath. I was determined to make it to the top but I was beginning to wonder whether I would be able to do it. The trail at this point was high up and had a steep drop on one side.


Finally I got to the spot where the real climb began. They have installed cables to help you get up some very steep, exposed spots. I met a couple who passed me on the trail just before the first set of cables. Here is a photo of one of them making that part of the climb.


That was followed by some more switchbacks and then another set of cables. I think there were four sets of cables in all. Hiking up the switchbacks was harder for me than climbing up the mountain using the cables. The cables let you put your arms into use. I come, as they say, from good peasant stock so I did better with that part. Here are pictures of two other spots where cables were in use.


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The views at the top were amazing. There was nothing to break the vista in any direction. I am very proud to have hauled myself up there.




Coming down wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I was very glad to be down on reasonably level ground again. The desert was beautiful, as always, with tall saguaros stretching to the horizon. It was only a six mile round trip hike but it seemed farther. I’ll remember this day for a long time to come.

Snow in the desert

OK, it didn't work out for us to get snow in the desert. There was snow in the mountains nearby yesterday morning. It just didn't make it as far down as us. Very beautiful nonetheless. I tried to drive into the mountains in the hope that I could see snow on some cacti but they had closed the road. That was probably just as well since I would have hated to crash the rental car.

A day in the desert

I spent all day today wandering around in the desert. I had become a fan of geocaching a couple of years ago and decided to devote today to that. I had a very successful day and found 11 caches, including two that were multi-stage efforts. This proved to be a very good way to spend some time in the desert. I ended up going to many places that I wouldn't have seen otherwise and got to look at a lot of the desert close up. I'm sore; I have several bruises (only one is bleeding); and I have more than a few cactus spines that I don't think are completely removed. It was a great day.

I took some photos with my new camera. They seemed to come out well. It would be hard to mess up with a day as beautiful as this.




It was partly cloudy most of the day and windy. It was cooler than normal, too, but far from cold. A perfect day for rambling about. I'm glad that I had this day. The news here is full of predictions of snow in the desert for tomorrow. The last time they had measurable snow was seven years ago. Tomorrow they're predicting one to three inches in the valleys and more at higher elevations. I hope they're right. Snow on the cacti would be something to see.

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P.S. on Tuesday morning at 6:50 a.m. - no snow after all. Too bad. They're still talking about it but just rain so far.

First day away

This is my first full day in Tucson. The weather prediction is not good. Rain is expected later today and may last through Wednesday. We'll see how that goes. It is often not as rainy as they predict. My concept of a rainy day isn't the same one they have here.

I decided to make the best of this morning and went out for a walk through some of the desert to see the sunrise. It was very beautiful - and quiet. I took some photos and am including a couple of them here. I didn't take too many, though. On this trip I'm going to try to do a little less photographing and a little more seeing and remembering.

Pre-trip scramble

I am leaving for vacation in a few days - heading out to Arizona to visit my friend Tracy. I am looking forward it. I haven't been on a real vacation since last year at this time. That was a trip to Arizona, too, and Barry joined me out there. It will be a bittersweet visit this time with all that has happened over this year. It will be good to see Tracy, Elaine, Karl and Jane again.

Thinking of it, I did go on one other trip aside from a couple of conferences. That was when Sue and I did that 5K down in Disney World. That was a whirlwind trip, though, and with the run (well, mostly walk in my case) at the very end we weren't really able to relax. It was a ton of fun, though.