The Gila Wilderness

Today was my last day at the high school. There were lots of hugs, handshakes and genuine thank-yous from everyone. Tonight the seniors are graduating but I'm so behind on getting ready for the weekend that I've opted to stay home and pack for our Memorial Day backpacking trip in the Gila Wilderness.

The Gila Wilderness is perhaps New Mexico's biggest secret. Geographically it's just an eastern extension of Arizona's White Mountains, but it's more wild and not as touristified. We will remain at an elevation averaging 5000' along the Gila River. I am taking all my gear that I'm taking in July to California minus some of the arctic stuff and dry goods.

Silver City's Blues Festival is also this weekend. If we get back in time from the wildneress to visit the festival Saturday night, we will do so.

Sadie's coming along and carrying her own pack of food. Kevin weighed the bag: It's ten pounds on her skinny frame. I hope she doesn't mind. It's filled with expensive dry dog food and some nutritious "Happy Hips" chicken jerky dog treats. It's the only treats I feed my dogs and the only treats all three go crazy over.
Even Kevin likes watching the dogs get excited over the mere rustling of the bag's contents in the kitchen.

Kevin packed and inventoried his stuff last weekend. I'm doing mine, as usual, at the last minute. Weather will be seasonal with no rain expected. Highs will be in the mid-to-upper 80s and lows will be in the 50s.

Red flag warning

Tucson and much of Arizona facing red flag warnings
Posted - 5/23/2010 at 12:22AM by Angelique Lizarde

TUCSON - Wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour are expected on Sunday, prompting a red flag warning. The mixture of high winds, warm temperatures, and dry conditions can lead to fires.

To prevent any damage from high winds, News 4 Tucson meteorologist Jeff Beamish said red flag warnings are necessary to alert the public.

"Were talking about winds up to 20 miles an hour sustained gusts up to 30 miles an hour. Then, you factor in all that dry brush and some of the dry grasses, and thats what makes up a red flag warning," said Beamish.

The Tucson Fire Department said there are things to look out for in order to stay safe during a red flag warning.

"Look around and see if there are light-weight grasses that can spread to larger shrubs, up to a car port and then to your home. Because those are the things you are looking for," said Trish Tracy.

But most importantly, always have a plan during these windy conditions.

"Create a 30 -oot dispensable space, have a working smoke detector and an escape plan with two ways out of every room. Thats going to be your best chance of survival for protecting your family," said Tracy.

http://www.kvoa.com/news/tucson-and-much-of-arizona-facing-red-flag-warnings/

Needless to say, we're not hitting the peaks today.

Wilderness of Rocks trail in the Santa Catalinas

Total Length 8.6 miles
Highest Elevation: 9080 feet
Lowest Elevation: 7280 feet

Today's valley heat hit me hard. I had no drive to do anything, although I had my mind set on driving into Tucson to explore the northern mountain ranges and recon the Wilderness of Rocks trail there. This is a trail that loops south around Mount Lemmon (9147'). Dogs are allowed. It's a hike I want to lead for the club.

Sadie and I didn't leave the house until 11:30am, in the heat, and didn't get to the trail head until 2:12pm. She looked exhausted from the heat herself. What annoyed her more is that I made her carry her HoundPack with water and treats while I remained packless. All I carried on myself was my Canon.

I followed the excellent trail report from the Tucson Sierra Club:
http://arizona.sierraclub.org/trail_guide/HIKE1.HTM
This report was right on about elevation and distance, but one major update needed to be added: the Aspen Fire of 2003 burned 84,750 acres of this wilderness, destroyed the mountaintop village of Summerhaven and killed off most of the trees in the upper elevations. There were still a lot of downed trees along this route and a lot of exposed areas in the areas marked off as the Catalina Wilderness.

The downed trees slowed me down quite a bit during the descent, and Sadie was more cautious than normal following me. These weren't small trees to jump over, but mature Douglas firs that required climbing over or crawling through. I took her off-leash to make the tree-hopping easier on her; the dragging leash got stuck a few times on downed tree branches.

I almost turned around because there were too many downed trees on this steep downhill, but the scenery around me kept me going. The ground was covered in mica glistening in the sun. Lemmon Rock was the prominent landmark that never left my view. I am glad I didn't abort this hike as it got prettier the lower in elevation I got. The major trails I took were the Mount Lemmon Trail, the Lemmon Rock trail, Wilderness of Rocks trail back up the Lemmon Trail, finishing with the Meadow trail.

Parts of this hike reminded me of the Chiricahua National Monument's Heart-o-Hearts trail: the spectacular rock formations along the trail were mesmerizing. Pines and manzanitas, oaks and aspens grew along this route, sometimes in tight cracks in the rocks. The forest is healing after that devastating 2003 fire, but the peaks will remain denuded for a while. Groves of young aspens are taking over parts of the northern slopes, now towering a good ten feet, but it will take another generation for the thick canpies to return.

Many more trees since the 2003 fire have been toppled from high winds, or broke in half like pencils from having been weakened by the initial fire. Old ash still covered parts of the trail, and many of the mature firs were charred near the trunks but still alive.

I met nine people on this hike. The first couple was ascending at 3pm as I was going down. Behind them were two groups of four and two, both with dogs, then a single man with a dog, and finally another couple hiking the trail as a shuttle hike. Otherwise this was a quiet and picturesque hike, just as described in the trail report.

I had no map with me. I went by the notes I scribbled down on an envelope. I was just concerned with which trails I had to turn on. If it hadn't been for the late afternoon's waning sun I would have taken my time and rested more near Lemmon Creek so that Sadie could relax. Instead, I took two five-minute breaks near water and trekked on.

I didn't see much wildlife during the entire hike. Three deer crossed our path but Sadie didn't mind. A few birds flew overhead. The later it got the more worried I was about meeting bears or big cats, especially near the creek, as Sadie seemed fascinated about the trail's scents.

What I did relish was not worrying about running into illegal border crossers or drug smugglers. I felt safe with just Sadie with me.

The last couple I met, two men with two German shepherd mixed dogs, told me I had a five-mile ascent ahead of me. "After another half-mile it's all dry from there" said one man. That was fine with me as I hadn't broken into our water bottles yet.

I made it to the Mount Lemmon trail at 4:58pm. I was now on the ascending ridge line with breath-taking vistas to the south and Tucson. I recognized Sabino Canyon and a few prominent rock formations. There was much exposed area here as I entered the old burn zone, but the waning sun made this exposure more tolerable. In fact, my timing on this hike was nearly perfect as my late start allowed me to avoid the harshest sun of the day. My only downside was that I had no time to spare. Any injury or missed trail would have gotten me lost and I had no emergency gear on me. My only salvation at this point was the excellent cell phone reception on Mount Lemmon and my Casio Pathfinder watch that shows compass direction, temperature and altitude (a hiker's toy!). The more I climbed, the more I saw rock gnomes and other critters jump out at me from the various interesting rock formations. I knew that I was showing early signs of dehydration, but didn't stop for water. I had to beat the setting sun.

I did amazingly well on the ascent. My lungs weren't burning me much and I stopped only to check on Sadie or to take photographs of the valley, now slowly turning to reds and purples as the sun faded from the horizon. We got to the rather nondescript peak of Mount Lemmon at 6:30pm as the wind picked up and more tree-hopping was required. Before the 2003 fire there was no view from this peak as it was covered in Douglas firs. Now the peak is a dead zone of down firs and young aspens resurrecting a new landscape further north and lower in elevation. The new green really shimmered in the low sun.

I didn't diverge from the trail write-up and remained on the Meadow Trail which took me to the burned peak of Mount Lemmon. This trail would have been difficult to follow in the dark as most of this trail wasn't touched by that devastating fire. A few old snow mounds remained in the shaded north slopes as we re-entered the mature forest and existed again near a fenced-off military test area.

There were three cars left in the parking lot as we arrived at 7:08pm, four minutes from a five-hour hike. Sadie had sprinted ahead and was anxious to get back inside the SUV...just as the cold wind began to pick up. Perfect timing! My body was more chilled than I realized; my fingers began to tingle on the drive back down the mountain with the night skyline of Tucson growing larger as we descended.

Had I left home three hours earlier for this hike I would have driven to the new REI in town which opened Friday at the Tucson Mall, but it was 8:15pm when I got back down to Tanque Verde Parkway, Udall Park and the eastern edges of the city. That didn't allow me enough time to drive across town to look at stuff I can get cheaper on-line.

Tucson was hopping. This time I didn't make my usual stops at Trader Joe's or Bookman's. I barely stopped for dinner.

I ate a half-chicken meal at Chuy's and gave Sadie my leftovers which she devoured happily before we started our drive home. We arrived home at 11:30pm. Sadie peed before going inside and slept soundly until 4:45am when she woke me up for her next pee. She normally doesn't last more than four hours between needing to go outside or wanting food.

I am glad I explored this hike. According to the Sierra club rating, I hiked this trail at the advanced level of five hours. With club members and the usual breaks we take, this would be at least a seven-hour hike. An early departure from SV and a trail head start NLT than 10am would be necessary.

Today's peak adds another summit to Sadie's accomplishments. Here is an update:

Mount Taylor, NM: 11301'
Whitewater Baldy, NM: 10895'
Sacagawea Peak, MT: 9665'
Medicine Wheel, WY: 9642'
Miller Peak, AZ: 9466' (2x)
Mount Wrightson, AZ: 9453'
Carr Peak, AZ: 9237' (4x)
Mount Lemmon, AZ 9147'
Hyalite Lake, MT: 8875'
Harney Peak, SD: 7244'

I hope to add Arizona's tallest peak, Humphrey's peak at 12643', next month.

Prop 100

Yesterday Arizonans voted in favor of a "temporary" sales tax increase of one cent per dollar beginning this June. This will make Arizona's sales tax one of the highest in the country, with only Tennessee's being more. Here counties and cities access additional taxes.

I'm OK with this. I've learned a while back to buy my big purchases either through the PX or on-line via Amazon.com or steepandcheap.com.

This sales tax increase will allegedly go 2/3 for public education. The other third will go for public safety, meaning more cops will get free donuts and coffee.

This also means that three years from now candidates will campaign promising to end this sales tax increase. Somehow I don't imagine the tax going away.

The Bog Springs loop trail in the Santa Ritas

What a gorgeous day for a nice 5.4-mile hike in the steep foothills. Big Steve, Rod and Cassie and guest Fabian joined us for what turned out to be a short but challenging ridge hike in the Santa Ritas just south of Tucson. The trail was more steep than I thought. Starting elevation was 4830' and high point at Kent Springs was 6680.' Had we continued uphill we would have passed several more springs before hitting Florida Saddle but that will be for another day. We rested at Kent Springs and went back downhill after that, hiking a loop trail that year ago was apparently an old mining trail. We could see the expansive Green Valley ahead of us. This was a great hike for Sadie who helped herself from the creek.

This is a popular birding trail. I saw one man carrying a nice dSLR with 500mm lens
at the start of the hike (which means he was on the trail at sunrise!). But where were all the birds? I heard a few high in the treeline but most were out of sight. Like the man with the long lens, the birds had been up earlier when the heat was less intense. Things are starting to dry up again around us.

The shaded parts of this hike were lovely. Had this been a warmer day, though, this hike would have been gruesome as the first and last mile of this loop hike are exposed and rocky. The creek cascaded nicely and provided perfect shelter for yellow Columbines. It's been a few years since I've seen those flowers grow here. They like lush riparian stream beds nestled in the shade.

We didn't meet other hikers until we reached the end again. Most apparently stayed at the Madera Picnic area where the trail head was: the parking lot was packed when we got back to our cars by 1pm. Sadie got to walk "off leash" part of the way to avoid either Kevin or me from getting pushed down the steep slopes. Part of this trail was badly eroded and barely single-tracked at times. Good footing was paramount.

Kevin is getting into great shape. He mentioned he wants to trek up Carr Peak again tomorrow. I will bring my backpack this time. Today I wore my new Lafuma TD Tabort boots and they were so comfortable around me feet straight out of the box. They reminded me of my old Raichle boots I wore around Germany so long ago: no stitching inside the boot and a snug yet comfortable fit.

Fire in my Mountains!

I have been silent lately due to college finals. But yesterday afternoon we had a bit of a scare when fire erupted from nearby Hunter Canyon. The gusty winds blew the smell of ash and smoke our way. We were soon driving toward the fires, parked our truck along the highway, and watched the state and local firefighting planes put out the 10-acre fire. Kudos to all who helped out, as homes were nearby.

We chatted with some other rubberneckers parked along the highway. Some boys were sitting on top of a large pick-up with binoculars and yelling out the latest observation through their lenses.

"There's a new fire up there, look Dad!"

The smoke was at times so dense and we couldn't see any detail, but hot spots flared up and lasted through the night. Gusts were up to 30mph. Temperatures were 94F at 5pm yesterday with 10 percent humidity. A perfect day for a wildfire to break out. There are two other fires currently active in Arizona. One is near Flagstaff and the other near Portal, close to the New Mexican border.

Like one onlooker told me yesterday, "We just had snow up there two weeks ago!" Yes, but the heat of the last week has dried everything up again.

I could see seven hot spots still glowing in the evening when I walked the dogs. Winds were calm and that helped us.

We were lucky this time. Winds had calmed down. But perhaps next time we won't be quite so lucky. We have no doubt that the fires were deliberately set, as the fires were along a steep ridge known to be used by illegals coming from the Crest Trail. I wouldn't be surprised if Mexicans set this fire deliberately, in retaliation to Arizona's current controversial immigration laws of having everyone verify one's residency.

http://www.svherald.com/content/news/2010/05/08/hunter-canyon-charred-flames-view-more-40-photos