Sycamore Reservoir to Sabino Canyon
Ever since we discovered a fabulous high-country hike from Sabino Canyon to Gordon Hirabayashi Campground (aka Prison Camp), we've been itching to repeat the hike in the opposite direction. We wanted to see the results of this winter's super-abundant snowmelt, but we weren't expecting three stream crossings in thigh-deep, ice cold water!
Mountain Biking on the Arizona Trail
On two separate trips this winter, we biked new sections of the Arizona Trail from Pistol Hill Road to Marshfield Station. Besides offering some of the best single track in Pima County, we enjoy visiting historic Posta Quemada Ranch with its friendly staff and luscious pussycats.
Runoff from a series of unusual winter snowstorms explodes out of our favorite summer swimming holes and creates a spectacular ephemeral waterfall.
We stopped at Nothing on our way to Ringbolt Hot Springs. Nothing is plenty for me, but we continued north for a magical weekend of molten mountains, steaming slot canyons and full moons. David and Rogil are always getting us into hot water!
Once a year if we're very lucky, Tucson experiences a magical conjunction of sustained cool temperatures and heavy winter rains that translate into blizzards farther north. This is our cue to make a mad dash for Flagstaff and a couple of days of cross-country skiing in Arizona's Ice Box.
Work and family are keeping us close to home this holiday season, but to our delight, we recently discovered a nearby getaway with lots of opportunities for camping, hiking, biking and exploring. Although Colossal Cave is impressive, it turns out there's a lot more to this Pima County Park.
We travelled to the high country east of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to enjoy a long Thanksgiving weekend with friends old and new. Our visit included exploring the ruins of an old homestead, a fabulous feast (of course!), a hike in spectacular Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Park, soaking under the stars, and — to top it all off — the perfect snowstorm.
For my 56th birthday, I realized a fantasy I've entertained as long as I've lived in Tucson: to take that train that pulls out of Tucson around 1:00 in the morning, bound for points east including (almost) Big Bend National Park.
After the interminable summer, cooler weather has finally returned to the Sonoran Desert, and Tucsonans are cautiously turning off their swamp coolers, opening their windows and doors and crawling out from the dark corners where they've been hibernating the last six months. We joined our best friends for two delicious days of camping and hiking the new Bug Spring Trail completed in March, 2008, from General Hitchcock to Gordon Hirabayashi Campground.
Until early this year, Silver City was a wide spot on the road to the Gila Wilderness. Skirting the unlovely edges of this former mining town, we were perplexed by the ads touting it as a tourist destination for heat-weary Tucsonans. However, it was a convenient place to rendezvous with our friends from Albuquerque on our way to a post-New-Years gathering at the Wilderness Lodge. We ended up spending the night, and discovered that Silver City has a matching lining that includes an extraordinary number of excellent galleries, a few first-rate restaurants, and that all-important urban accessory, the independent coffee house.
A Trip Back in Time to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
Simone de Beauvoir titled one of her books, "Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be." I knew that, and I knew "You Can't Go Home Again". But when a trade show took me to Minneapolis, I couldn't resist the urge to stay an extra day and make a mad dash for Detroit Lakes, the tiny town in northern Minnesota where I grew up, and that I ran away from as fast and as far away as I could go when I was 17 years old.
Riding the Tail of the Monsoon
This year's "monsoon" was more of a "monlate". But freak rainstorms over Labor Day Weekend created ideal conditions for dipping in our favorite canyon. David and Rogil joined us for our traditional top-to-bottom Sabino Splash-a-Thon.
What do desert dwellers do for fun when it's 104 degrees? Get wet! And if there's no water? Get "high"!
Summer Solstice on the Roof of the World
Each year between Winter and Summer Solstice, ancestral spirits called "Kachinas" come from their cloud homes in the San Francisco Peaks to live among the people and renew the powers of fertility and rain.
In Honor of Katie Lee: A Road Trip Through Northern Arizona
When we learned there was an exhibition entitled, "Naked Truth: The Katie Lee Exhibit" at NAU's Cline Library, it was obvious that we needed to plan a trip to Flagstaff. Our visit included three days of swimming in red-walled canyons, hiking to the top of the world and sleeping under the stars. I think Katie would approve.
More Secret Pools of the Catalinas
Eight years of living in Tucson and hiking in the Catalina Mountains, and I still don't know all their secrets! Yesterday we bushwhacked just a half-hour from one of our favorite trails and discovered a set of deep amber pools created by a tumble of giant banded gneiss boulders.
We spent a hot May weekend in another world, 5000 feet above Tucson, with our friends Kit and Ann, discovering deep desert pools, reborn ridges, and old Kingston Trio Songs.
When Tucson temperatures hit 100° the first week in May, the cool green ridges of Chiricahua Crest called out, and we returned to the Crest Trail with Jim, Jacki and Lily.
Aravaipa and Horse Camp Canyon
A three-day mid-week trek gave us plenty of time to explore Aravaipa Canyon — including the discovery of spectacular Horse Camp Canyon — and the opportunity to develop a close personal relationship with a blue heron.
A Wild Night in the Cactus Garden
The desert is a miraculous place, but one of its greatest mysteries is the force that triggers night-blooming cacti of all shapes, sizes, colors and varieties to explode into a profusion of blossoms on the same night.
The Dragoon Mountains, offer endless opportunities for adventure in a fairytale landscape just an hour's drive from Tucson.
Eight years I've been hiking Aravaipa Canyon, and only a year ago did I discover that its best feature is the abundance of side canyons!
Grand Canyon Bright Angel Trail
Reasonable people get day hike or ride mules to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Of course, that's not what we did.
Road Trip! Santa Monica and Joshua Tree National Park
There's nothing like a couple of days of watching the Southwestern Desert slowly unroll in front of you to heal your soul and restore your sense of perspective. So when a business trip took me to Santa Monica, we decided to drive and squeeze in a side trip to Joshua Tree National Park.
Silver City and Gila Hot Springs
Just after New Year's, we returned with our best friends to our favorite haunt in the Gila Wilderness, discovering Silver City along the way.
