I had no major hike planned for Sunday. Instead, Kevin and I left the dogs at home and drove to Tucson. When we hit Tucson we usually get off on Kolb Avenue and stay along its north-south streets.
Yesterday we hit Tanque Verde Blvd and the Sabino Canyon area. I wanted to scout out the parking options and see how the creek was. Rumors had it that the water was too high and swift but I wanted to gauge for myself.
The parking lot for the park was near full when we got there around 11:30am. Driving north along the Catalina Highway was even more disturbing, as we could see a shiny long line of cars crawling uphill to the fee station. (Later that night I read on azstarnet.com that there was an hour wait to get to Mount Lemmon.) Seeing the futility of this long line, we turned around.
The small trailhead parking lot for the Bear Creek Trail was full. A small pile of wood debris took up one precious spot that could have been mine. I was wrong when I told Scott on Saturday that the trashers are only in Sierra Vista. It's obvious that trashers also live in the Tucson area.
Kevin mentioned that he needed to eat by 1pm. That pretty much cancelled any walks I had hoped we could do today. We stopped briefly at the Summit Hut (an over-priced outfitter on Speedway Boulevard) where all I could afford were a few maps of regional mountain ranges, made another stop at Bookman's and then were on our way back home. Although it's always nice to spend time in Tucson, I don't really enjoy the city unless I can hike in the nearby mountains. I really don't know the Santa Catalina mountains that well.
We got back home by 4:30pm. The dogs were excited to see us, so I took the two older dogs for a two-mile power-walk, and then took Sadie for her walk. She pulled too much and didn't seem interested in the entire two-mile loop so she only got .8 mile in today.
That's how I spent my Sunday. It was as exciting as watching saguaros grow.
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