Oracle State Park, AZ

Dave volunteers for Picacho Peak State Park and one of the perks he gets is a yearly pass to any state park in Arizona.  We had never visited Oracle, so we went yesterday.  The state park is nestled in the north western base of the Catalina Mountains which has Mount Lemmon as its tallest peak at over 10,000 feet and we can see it from our place in Picacho.  We were about 4500 feet in elevation, versus 1800 at Picacho.  It is also located north and west of Tucson.  Only a 30 minute drive from our place, a doable visit.

A typical scene around here - watch for cattle on roadways

View of Kannally Ranch House from parking lot, looks small

4 levels of rooms, a huge ranch house 

We had forgotten that the park was higher elevation, we had a difference of 15 degrees.  A brr 62 for us (we don't like the cold) and windy.  We toured the Kannally Ranch House, one of the earliest cattle ranching families in the Oracle area. The Kannally's came to Oracle back in 1902 and prospered. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, constructed between 1929 and 1933, the adobe house has four levels built on a hillside.  From the patio you can view the granite boulder outcrops and the San Pedro River Valley and the Galiuro Mountain range.  Weddings, parties, special events are often seen at the Kannally Ranch where you can rent out the facility for a special function.

Moorish interior flavor, sibling Lucille did all the painting and woodwork

Lee Kannally took up painting as therapy after returning from
World War I with nerve damage due to gas poisoning.
He painted while kneeling next to bed with canvas laid
flat on bed.  Remarkable painter!!

Gardens were quite extensive, wrapping around ranch house

Sleeping cottages behind ranch house

We toured the inside of the ranch, quite impressive.  Learned about the Kannally siblings who moved to the Oracle area from Illinois back in 1902.  After the last sibling died in late 1979, the home was transferred to the state for wildlife preservation.  Lovely paintings inside, still original furniture.  Sleeping quarters were outside and back in separate cottages, using the main ranch house for cooking, eating, gathering together, resting, art studios, solarium, etc.

Hiking options

1.9 miles is not far, we can do that!  

Galiuro Mountains in distance

Well traveled

After viewing the ranch house, we opted to walk one of the trails. Very windy, very overcast, but a well used path.  At first we thought, we could easily do this wildlife trail, lets go on and get to the Arizona Trail which is a trail that transverses the state from the Mexican border to Utah.  We could then say we have hiked the trail a little bit.

And on we hiked

Those mountains are a fur piece out there

Yikes - another 1.9 miles to go

Little too early to see any cacti (not many cacti since we were at higher elevation) but there was a variety of bushes and trees.  About another 3 weeks and most will have buds or blooming.  Off we went, got to the Arizona Trail, turned south along another trail, and by the time we got back to the car - we had gone over 5 miles!  My energy level dropped to crawl after the 4th mile. Of course, we had the wind smacking us in the face so we were kinda walking at a lean. Our original thought was to just do the 1 mile loop.  Oops.  Although it took us longer that last mile - walk 30 steps, rest, walk, rest, we did make it back safely.

But a good day regardless. Once we got back to the car and ate our snacks we had brought along and drank water - felt much better.  We knew we would sleep good that night.