We have been busy this winter doing 'house' stuff - making changes, doing some upgrades, just staying busy. Can't believe that winter is almost over and we are beginning to plan our summer's trek. We plan to head east this spring, visiting Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and then Ohio before swinging back west and south. Fun planning the time. But we wanted to get out and walk so off we went to Oro Valley.
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| Nice city park - trail well maintained and had REAL flush toilets! |
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| We thought - oh no, pretty rocky path - but this was the path down into the wash |
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| More like it. |
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| Scenery impressive - here is a skeleton of a saguaro with a big'n next to it |
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| Bees everywhere (never lit on us) |
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| Traces of water, then it disappeared |
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| We could hear the bees from quite a distance away |
Yesterday we decided to hike a different trail, this one is in the Oro Valley area of Tucson which is nestled right up against the Catalina Mountains and the snow capped Mount Lemmon above. Trail rated as easy, but it was in area we have not been to. Tucked into some pretty impressive homes that have terrific views of the mountains, the trail runs along a wash and if you want, walk to the Petroglyphs. Beautiful day, very sunny, temperature about 62. Cool enough and warm enough.
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| First dam we came to - knew we were close to the petroglyphs |
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| Nice to see families hiking together |
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| Not sure how old or what people were here - need to do some checking |
Wondered why it was called the Honeybee Trail until we came up to a tree and could hear the bees buzzing in it. Snow's melt run off trailed along the wash, and sometimes we saw running water and then it disappeared, probably flowing underground. That's pretty common in the arid desert, a good place to see this was near Death Valley in Nevada. Some impressive watering oasis areas.
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| Water bubbling along and then, puff - gone underground |
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| A crested cactus barrel |
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| Impressive dam - see the snow on Mount Lemmon? |
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| Crazy girls |
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| I could almost stand up in the tunnel |
Vegetation impressive, lots of greenery, a bit too early for the buds of the cacti to be out, but by looking at the tops of the Saguaros you can begin to see the whiting of the tips which is where the huge blossoms come out. Another month and it would be spectacular.
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| Foundation of something? |
We hiked to the petroglyphs, saw a number of families with small children doing the same. And if you looked close you could see the very very expensive homes looming above the wash. After we got back to the main trail where we parked the car, we decided to continue doing the loop trail.
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| Yep, I could live in that home |
We got a big surprise by seeing a man-made dam where in the past the water it collected must have been used for farming or ranching or even a smelter of some sort. Saw foundations of structures, quite impressed with the dam. Crawled under and through it to the other side. Some crazy girls doing rock climbing above us (no safety gear - just raw oomph), just a nice day being outside before the heat of spring comes.
