May 16: Santa Catalina Mountains

At the suggestion of my Camino boot angel friend Kim, I headed out early to the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains, in the Coronado National Forest which just to the northeast of the city of Tucson. She had suggested the Sabino Canyon area, where there are several canyons providing a variety of hikes of different lengths and degree of difficulty.  I chose the Bear Canyon, and a 8.2 mile round trip to Seven Falls.

I left the visitor center just before 10AM, and the temperature was already beginning to rise. I had snacks and plenty of water, which was critical given the lack of shade along the trail.  The saguaro cactus were tall and comical and most sprouted pretty white flowers on top. The path was rocky and crisscrossed Sabino Creek 7 times, which was easy enough because the creek was dry. After seeing a news report last night about a 7 foot rattlesnake crossing a hiking trail somewhere nearby, so I kept my eyes peeled and luckily didn’t see any wildlife save for a few little geckos and a bird or two. The trail finally rises up the side of Bear Canyon, leveling off at Seven Falls where water had pooled for a cooling swim. The waterfall itself was merely a trickle, but with the height of falls and the many pools it was easy to visualize what it might look like in the rainy season.  The only difficult part of the hike were the many gnats that were pretty constant.  I had the paper maps from the Visitor Center and used them as any old lady would — as a constant fan to keep the bugs away.  I tried to stay present, but it was an unpleasant present until the wind picked up in the afternoon on the way back which kept them away a bit.

And then I got turned around.  Not lost.  Just turned around. Despite the map.  All the cactus and rocks began to look the same.  Luckily I figured it out (turned the map upside down), and only had half a mile further. Which  was good because it was hot and 4 hours had gone by and I was out of water. Clearly I’m safely back. And I spent the next hour poolside, swimming a few laps and stretching out the sore muscles.

Had thought about checking out downtown Tucson for dinner but was so wiped out that I left it casual and ate at the hotel. And now I’m writing this. Tomorrow I hope to hike in Saguaro National Park before hitting the road and heading east to Las Cruces.

Just starting out

“He went that-a-way”