After an adventure-filled few months, it was nice to be stationary for a while. "Stationary" is a relative term for me, of course. Our house-on-wheels put down temporary roots and I jumped back into our continuing exploration of Tucson and surrounding areas.
For example, running on the Loop Trail, finally finishing the remaining sections I hadn't yet seen, and admiring public art along the way:
I created and ran an "All trails" FKT at Catalina State Park:
Some add-on photos from that day - I like the animal track displays on the Nature Trail:
The big wash (no real water in it this winter) and a sunrise view of Pusch Ridge:
One edge of the state park, and a wilderness sign that is currently (months later) mostly missing:
Enjoying the views from the 50 Year Trail:
I like the saguaro artwork at the trailhead:
Interesting clouds and lighting at the park we live in:
Art on the Loop, and I was probably scouting for a future FKT at the time:
Electric Amazon vans! It looks like the north Tucson location has a bunch of them (and we've seen more being driven down I-10 in this direction. We keep waiting/hoping for them to show up in south Tucson, but no such luck yet.
There isn't actually a railroad track across this driveway...
Snake-themed pedestrian bridge:
Petrified Forest orienteering! Thank you to whoever took these pictures - it has been too long to remember, but I'm happy to add a photo credit if/when I figure it out. We're always excited to run around off-trail in this colorful National Park:
Ron (the course designer) finds plenty of petrified wood for us to be amazed about:
And he occasionally hangs a control bag on a particularly large petrified log:
Funny timing for a Games magazine puzzle that featured a "petrified forest" on the cover:
Back in Tucson (and back to blue skies), we took a tour of the Whipple VERITAS telescope near Mount Wrightson. It is used for gamma ray astronomy, looking for black holes for example:
Playing around with the infrared camera in the visitor center before our tour:
A close-up view of one of the telescope mirrors:
More mirror images:
The best part was standing at the focal point and trying to get a grasp on what we were seeing (without getting dizzy). It's a unique view, and I highly recommend heading to Whipple to check it out in person.
During regular runs along the Santa Cruz, I watched the progress of new electrical tower construction. The best part was getting to watch a helicopter hover next to a new tower while a worker leaned over (attached by a harness, I'm sure) to do some final work:
A second hockey game for us in as many months, this time watching the Tucson Roadrunners. It was a lot more subdued compared to our RPI experience, but still fun:
Best costumes, a family of bananas:
Local FKT #2 for the fall = the Ruby Road marathon
(Or as I like to call it, the Ruby Rhod marathon)
My support team, John and Tug-E, at the start of the run:
John got a nice shot of Baboquivari on the horizon:
A sign of what?
Fun swirly clouds:
Old ruins of something:
Some of the many rock formations of various shapes:
My support crew leapfrogging ahead to the next stop:
John took a picture of me taking the picture of my run time for FKT documentation (I also track it on the InReach Mini and usually on the Gaia app on my phone as well):
Interesting and rewarding day in a new-to-us area of southern Arizona:
A very Halloween-type of activity - blood donation:
This license plate is the name of a desert plant:
We really like Joe Pagac's murals, usually full of desert plants and animals:
Jessica Gonzales has some good ones too:
And a bit of abstract saguaro art to close this out:
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