This is something of a photo dump from the past couple of months in southern Arizona. We have enjoyed ourselves, it's now getting hot and almost time to skedaddle for the summer.
One of my favorite murals in Tucson:
Tie-dye art project at John's work picnic:
I've tried to make a point of getting pictures of the desert flowers this spring. "Flower season" lasts months, with different varieties blooming at different times. Mostly not an instant explosion, but a gradual change of colors and shapes over time.
Ocotillo is one of the prettiest, in my opinion, from the long green stems (that are brown the rest of the year) to the bright red tips:
I don't know what most of the flowers are called (including these), but I do know that this is a view of the Catalina Mountain skyline from The Loop trail on the north side of town:
I believe this is a Palo Verde tree, back in April when they were in bloom. Plus of course Tug-E, at a Rivian charger on our way to an adventure race:
The Phoenix orienteering club put on a 12-hour event at Alamo Lake, way out in the middle of nowhere. It was worth the drive - very pretty, interesting terrain, and wild burros to keep us company!
The race itself was a tad on the warm side, so it turned into an excellent heat acclimation day. John did the adventure race version (bike, packraft, and on foot) while I happily took the all-on-foot option. In both cases we could get as many (or few) of the checkpoints as we wanted. We both took advantage of most of the 12 hours to cover most of the course and enjoyed the heck out of the experience.
Back in Tucson, I happened to spot this little guy during one of my runs on the Robles park trails:
Also some lovely cactus flowers:
John and I did a "key swap" hike/run where he started on one end and I started on the other. We both got to see the Finger Rock and Ventana trails, while I detoured to the top of Kimball and he went to check out the Window instead. Fun day and the snow was finally gone from on high (at the end of April).
Along the way - pretty flowers:
John's version of The Window, along with The Bagel:
Back down in the low country, two Rivians at Trader Joe's, gotta love all of those things:
One of my favorite saguaros on my local trails:
Cholla flowers of different colors:
The Caris Mirror Lab tour! It's back on and we were excited to get it booked. The university creates and polishes gigantic mirrors for giant telescopes, quite a huge and exacting undertaking.
If you're ever in Tucson, I highly recommend looking into the tour. Lots to learn and you get to see the process from inside the giant addition to the Wildcat Stadium. Super cool.
Another trip into the Catalinas - John getting ready to trek up to Window Peak and then down to Sabino Canyon (where I did the Bear Canyon Loop). If you know where to look, the "finger" of Finger Rock trail is almost visible on the horizon:
A photo from John from the top of Window Peak:
Someday he'll make it over to the top of Cathedral (I'm not committed to the fixed rope climb there, at least not yet):
And back to the desert trails, where the saguaros are blooming, yay! It's hard to get a close-up of the flowers while still showing the entire cactus, but you get the idea:
Ah yes, a weekend in Phoenix. I decided to run a night version of a 50k as a way to get some ultra training without quite as much heat training at the same time. Aravaipa has a series of races that start in the evening, that's perfect. I got to race in McDowell Mountain Park for the first time, another plus. It seemed to go pretty well, a bit slower than prior 50k's (I blame the darkness, maybe?), and with views of a wildfire in the distance that was thankfully blowing smoke away from us instead of in our direction.
Bringing my drop bag across the finish line at the end of my last lap:
The next morning it would have been nice to sleep in, but I made the mistake of booking a tour at Taliesin West. We've been wanting to see it for a while now, and afternoon heat suggested it made sense to start on the earlier side.
We did thoroughly enjoy it, and we weren't even too hot or sleepy.
Wonderful shapes and architecture (and stories about Frank Lloyd Wright):
They even gave us umbrellas to keep the sun off, that worked well and made for a fun selfie:
Back to Tucson, where I have no idea what this is but it sure is interesting:
Last weekend (almost caught up now!) I attempted the Tucson Eastern Skyline Traverse (TEST) FKT. I wasn't sure how far I'd get, mostly looking for some good training and interested in seeing some new trails. John came with me to the east side of Mica/Rincon and took a picture at the start:
We climbed together to the first saddle (I called it "Mi-Con saddle" even though it's officially called Happy Valley or something). I'm pretty sure he wasn't as tired as this pose suggests, at least not until later in the day:
I turned left to head toward Rincon Peak - hello Rincon!
One (hard to see) comment in the register made me laugh: "3 miles my ass". Yes, it's quite a steep and slow climb up from the saddle!
At the Rincon summit looking over toward Mica, still with the tag sticking out the back of my hat...
Keeping on the "flower" theme:
I went back to the saddle and started up the other side, new trail for us! John was already up in the Mica area, treating water at Manning Camp to stash for me on my route. Now THAT is one Super Crew Man!
We both were taken by these stairs leading up to the ridge, so well-constructed (maybe by the CCC?):
John went past the Devil's Bathtub and got a neat picture of it. We should return when water is flowing:
Another of John's photos, this one at Manning Camp (maybe you can rent a tent?)
Hello husband, happy to see you! We did a quick status update before I continued upward and he started back toward the truck. Thank you John, I love you this much :)
A view back toward Rincon Peak from the Mica trail system:
This is apparently called Man Head, I wonder why...
Yay for the top of Mica Mountain!
I was making good time, and the timing was good because the sun was getting lower as I dropped elevation. We escaped the heat that day, thankfully. I even had some longer shadows to shade me as I descended to Cowhead Saddle and then went up the ridge and over to the top of Tanque Verde, another new spot for me:
That rock behind me was notable for the number of ladybugs hiding out in the shade, wowzah:
Little cactus flowers:
Nice view of Mica on my way back to the saddle:
And it's getting darker and cooler as I come down to the lower trails in Saguaro National Park East. Looking back at Mica one last time:
I took the trail past Ernie's Falls and then did a short (but thorny) bushwhack down to the creek. John met me at Redington Road with a report that there was an area closure unexpectedly blocking our way.
Hmm, no camping where we wanted to camp, no taking the next route I wanted to take (based on a couple scouting expeditions in the next off-trail section)... what to do? We decided to head home to sleep, and on the way I decided I had gotten plenty of great training. No need to try to force anything, which would have meant extra driving, less sleep, worse bushwhacking, and probably being out there a lot longer into Sunday. Another time, perhaps!
And finally (finally!) some pictures from my run today.
I see roadrunners all the time, they are so cool to watch, and I haven't been able to get a decent photo. Here's the next best thing, a tribute to modern day dinosaurs:
This looks like an old sign but it still fits (Go Solar!)
One of the stranger pieces of yard art I've come across recently:
And the story it's reading:
"The End of the Chapter" - an appropriate way to finish this post. Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the end!
