Tucson wanderings

Here's a random set of pictures from recent Tucson explorations.

We climbed Mount Wrightson, south of Tucson - nice area!  I could easily see training up there, with an easy approach and parking, lots of trees, and good trails for quickly getting up high.

Also occasional mining-related sights:

View of the top of the mountain:

Microspikes came in handy that day:

Apparently we ascended up to 9453 feet:

Wonderful place to admire the surrounding desert and topography:

We took the Super Trail down, enjoying the roundabout and less-steep trail.  There's an odd set of trees across the way to admire too:

John's parents came to visit!  Welcome to Tucson, Jenny and Jerry.  John took us to one of his favorite places, a park where he can practice flying his drone.

It's up there somewhere...

Don't look now:

It is pretty amazing what this thing can do.

The Desert Museum has been on our list for a while, so this seemed like a good group activity.  Amidst all the interesting animals and plants, there is also some great art:

Definitely go for the raptor free flight, where various birds get to spend time playing around, enjoying some exercise and training.  Jenny and Jerry had good seats for a visit with a raven:

The owl is spectacular, silently swooping over everyone's heads and sort of glaring:

John got a great picture of one of the Harris Hawks coming in for a landing:

The Tucson Botanical Garden is full of all shapes (and sharpness) of desert plants, so much to see in such a small space:

It's either Halloween or Saguaro freeze protection:

Not one of our better selfie attempts:

Playing around with perspective:

We really liked the butterfly enclosure (plus it was warm inside):

Snack time for butterflies:

Thanks for coming to see us, y'all!

The next weekend we drove west to Anza Borrego and a super fun 2-day, 4-event orienteering meet.  This is the only picture we got (in Borrego Springs), at least it's a pretty good one!

And finally, an attempt to climb Mica Mountain.  This one looks benign, with a gentle flat top, featuring the challenge of a lot of miles to get there (13+ miles one-way).  John started with me but the whole endeavor was a bit too big for him at the moment.  Or maybe he was happy staying out of the snow for once.

I hustled up to the saddle and then started up the ridge where I found the white stuff.  And the first turkey tracks I have seen since the Catskills!  Giant arrows pointing to where the birds came from:

Not a lot of people had been up there recently, but I was mostly able to follow the trail.  The snow condition was about perfect, quite firm.  I carried snowshoes and spikes, and although I might have occasionally gone a little faster with the snowshoes on, I didn't bother.

Near the top there was a bunch of little ice chunks in the trees tinkling down all around me:

The "trail" just before Spud Rock:

At Spud I lost the trail heading, didn't find another marker, and decided I was out of time for the day.  I could see over to the very top, perhaps half a mile away and across a small saddle.  Instead, I turned around and had a fun run down in the snow.  The Mica summit will have to be an adventure for another time!