HILLS HURT, COUCHES KILL hiking log

Poodle dog pass (1,800 ft in 2 miles)



Silver Lake still covered

 

The Bighorn fire in Tucson burnt 120,000 acres and has shut down many of the mountain recreation areas until November. It's a huge bummer but is forcing me to explore some places I don't get to as frequently. I took these on the David Yetman trail down in the West Tucson mountains today. After nursing an injured ankle over the last six weeks, I needed something without too much elevation gain.

Though it was still over 100 degrees, I was lucky to have most of the trek covered by clouds.

I love seeing areas like this with lots of smaller, younger Saguaros. They're hard to see speckling the small cliffs and even harder to count but along this portion of the trail facing north, there are thousands.


This is my favorite part. There was a (live) roadrunner in the fireplace. I tried to get a photo but he ran away (as they tend to do) just as I got everything framed right.

 

That's some really cool country. I'd be hurting without some tree cover though

 

What is this "tree" thing you speak of? Summer can be rough. I went through five liters of liquid on this hike alone.

Including another picture with a bunch of chollas growing in the cracks of the rocks to keep thread visually interesting.

 

@b_r_o I looked hard for a proper tree but had no luck. This is a short trail by Brown Mountain in the Tucson Mountain Park.

I rested here, under a "tree."


I love the look of the Saguaro skeletons. Always dramatic.


This is the view of Golden Gate Mountain (on the right) and Gates Pass.


The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum from behind.

 

The Saguaros look like sentinels

 

10 miles rt with a 30 lb kid on my back



Hot with no wind and buggy as hell

 

I had a longer hike planned today but I rolled my ankle so I cut it short. Here's the view from Golden Gate Mountain in the Tucson Mountain Park. It doesn't even look over 100 degrees. I shrank it down because the panorama is 13,000 pixels wide.



Hot but pretty. I was being circled by a couple of turkey vultures.


Something met its doom recently. What is this? Small and hooved. My shadow for reference.

 

I did about 10-12 miles on monday. My kid is getting too heavy to carry, we're going to have to go on shorter hikes so she can walk and keep up

Box canyon with Hibox Mt on the left



Rachel Lake





And then up to a higher plateau to Rampart Lakes. The topography is really cool, a bunch of pothole lakes behind Rampart Ridge. Lots of deep ravines from the bedrock cracking and sliding apart at the same angle.

The outflow looking north



And the lakes



Very pretty and tranquil except for the guy flying his stupid drone

 

Looks like deer to me.

 

@b_r_o Want to trade locations for a few months? I'd love to see those tree things you keep talking about.

 

Sometimes I forget that this forum is primarily for trucks...



Check out my 2014 TRD!!


This is the cleanest it has ever looked.

 

Another day in the heat. 108 before noon.


This is near the northern side of Bren peak in the Tucson Mountain Park.


Every square inch of shade would have to be won by fighting a rattlesnake.

 

Is it ever windy at 108 degs? is it high pressure and calm weather most of the time?

 

It gets really windy when monsoons blow through. Pressure drops and sometimes you'll see a flash flood even before rain. Temperature will drop 25 degrees in 20 minutes. But it doesnt last long.

Common practice here is cotton shirts in the summer. It holds your sweat and any air movement at all will help cool you down. I'll loosen the shoulder straps on my bag to get some airflow.

 

Hiked around Pictured Rocks area in northern MI.

 

interesting, I'm always trying to get the moisture away from me as soon as possible. I'll try that when it gets hot up here

Nice, that water color is really cool

 

Absolutely beautiful.

 

More time in the Tucson Mountains today. I'm deciding to take a rest until the heat wave is over. It was 104.8 at 10:30am.

This is from Little Cat "Peak" - I think. The trail has a name but the hill doesn't have an official name probably because it's such a small hill. I'd never been here before.


It was a very clear day but wicked hot. Everything between (and including) Alto Hill to Mt. Gibbon burnt in the Bighorn fire and is closed. That's the best Tucson has to offer.


I did want to share something cool and kind of rare. This is a crested Saguaro (https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/why_crested.htm). It looks all weird at the top and nobody really knows why it happens. It takes 75 years to grow the first Saguaro "arm" so it's an odd mutation (maybe?) that doesn't exhibit itself for decades after growth. They continue to grow just fine. There's one at the entrance of the desert museum and it gets a lot of attention there. Tucson is full of Saguaros as you can see from most of my pictures.