Arizona 2

Texas & Arizona 2000/01
Arizona

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This winter is turning out quite different to last year. We had about 5 minutes of rain all last winter - this year there have been several really heavy storms that lasted for a day or two and caused flooding in many areas. The normal rainfall for January is 0.8" and is really dry and the cactus, trees, etc. struggle to survive. This year all the plants are in bloom, there are Mexican Golden Poppies on the mountains, the Barrel and Cholla cactus are all blooming - very different to previous. We joined the hiking club for a trip around Golden Gate Mountain to Gates Pass and then went for a hike ourselves to Wassen Peak, at 4687', the highest in the Tucson Mountains. We never made it to the top, going via King's Canyon, as we left too late in the day. A few days later we tried again from the other side by going up the Hugh Norris Trail. This is a spectacular hike with very steep switchback sections and parts of it along ridges with great views in all directions. Again we never made it to the top, this way being much longer - officially about 7 mile but more like double that with the switchbacks. Sandy had no problem going up but before we made it back down she was having serious problems with her knees. There's a scheduled hike with the club to the Peak in a February so we'll have one more try as it's a spectacular 360 view of Tucson and all the surrounding ranges - hope it's a nice day when we eventually get there!

Tucson Mountain Park
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The Gates Pass Hike - Jan 4	King's Canyon to Wassen Peak hike - Jan 20	Barrel cactus with Wassen Peak in background	Mexican Golden Poppies	Flowers everywhere due to the unusual rain.	Ocotillo with leaves - usually they are completely bare to conserve water

Huge Norris trail in Tucson Mountain Park, Jan 23

While Sandy's knees were bad, we skipped the club hike and went to Nogales in Mexico last week (Jan 27). Nogales is on the border so we just park on the US side and walk through to the stores. These border towns all seem to be the same - sidewalk vendors, dentists, drugstores all offering the same services. If you want silver jewellery, pottery, prescription drugs, teeth fixed, etc this is the place to come but the general impression is of poverty and a run down town. We walked around for a couple hours, didn't buy anything and drove back home - about a 100 mile round trip.


Mexico - it's just like going into a store	Street markets sell all sorts of stuff ...	... including cattle skulls!	A typical Mexican neighbourhood

We spent most of Saturday (Jan 26) looking for a store that sold Camille Beckman lotions. We first found these lotions in Jerome last year and they are great. Sandy really wanted more and we found a web site that listed all stores selling them - there were about 20 in Tucson. Three hours later we still hadn't found what she needed so we decided we'd have to go back to Jerome. Unfortunately, that's about 200 miles from here and would cost too much in the truck at 15 mpg so we thought we'd have go on the bike (at 75 mpg!). Sandy says the bike seat is too uncomfortable to go that far so we decided to make a temporary one. This is hard to believe but there are two 5" pads of foam in there, squished down to about 3" - we tested it yesterday and Sandy says it's really comfortable so we are planning to do the Jerome trip soon.

Not quite a Honda Goldwing !!

Found a great map book that has detailed Recreation Maps that show lots of jeep roads in the mountains around here. Decided to explore the Sierrita Mountains, SW of Tucson as it looked like there was a mountain pass leading over to Green Valley (between Tucson and Nogales). I never did find the actual pass but found lots of good side trails that climbed above the snow line. Eventually, I found a way across to Green Valley, but it was a dirt road through a cattle farm. Need to return there and explore more. The road back home was past the Casino and it was half-price Tuesday, so I stopped off to get a number for the buffet as there is usually a two hour wait. Worked out well, had an early supper and then went to the free show at the RV Park clubhouse. The Weil Family put on a great show - they tour the RV parks in the winter and perform bluegrass music and do comedy stuff.


Looking back from the Sierritas	Climbing the Sierritas	The Weil family perform as "Prairie Stage"

I'd been having trouble with traction on the loose dirt roads with the bike so I ordered some Motocross knobby tires last week. Unfortunately, they only came today but I fell off yesterday in the Tortolita Mountains and I'm typing this from my hospital bed!
My leg swelled up a huge amount so I couldn't bend it or walk. A visit to to local hospital ER confirmed it was a severe hematoma, nothing broken. I was put on Priority in ER and was still there almost 5 hours - good job I took my computer to pass the time. I'll be on crutches for next few weeks, or until I can put my weight on it again. Got away with that one!

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Old saguaro cactus in Tortolita foothils	A nice trail into the canyon dead-ended	@#&#*	Waiting to go into X-Ray	Waiting for the doctor	Waiting to go home

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This page last updated on February 2nd, 2001