This may be the last cool weather walking for a while as spring is coming soon. It was in the upper 60s with a cool breeze in Tucson.
I picked up Steve and his dog Trace at 9am and drove to north Tucson after a quick drive to the recycling center. (I discovered today that the recycling center is a block north of the Loop and the Kino Sports Complex) I parked at the soutern end of Columbus park and we walked north along the Loop. We had to walk around Silverbell Lake, a popular fishing lake and water fowl habitat. I had originally wanted to start at the Silverbell Gold Course, but there is no access to the Loop from there. So technically there may be a mile disconnect between the two sections I did here.
I enjoyed this section. While we were always within sound of the interstate, there was water in the wash for the dogs to run in. This was reclaimed water and smelled as such, but this is water that is constantly pumped into the area. Water plants and palo verde grow along the wash.
I had miscalculated the distance. I had planned on a four-mile section, but we had walked 5.4 miles one-way before turning around at the Camino de la Tierra parking lot on the Rillito River section. It had taken us 2:10 hours and we were tired and hungry. We knew that walking this distance meant walking the same distance back, making for a long day.
The northern boundary of Tucson ends at Sunset Road. We were now in the town of Marana, walking past a large open pit mine and what looked like an old pecan orchard right off the interstate. The Santa Cruz river and the Rillito River come together north of the open pit mine.
The 54-mile Loop route turns east here and continues toward the Rillito River, while a spur trail on the Santa Cruz River trail continues northwest into Marana. We saw a lot of cyclists on this stretch as we walked from an industrial area to a more business area with fast-food and shopping.
Flowere were visible. I saw some pink penstemon, and yellow and orange flowers in bloom. Tucson always blooms earlier than Sierra Vista because of its lower altitude.
We were tired and hungry as we got back to the car at 4:30pm. We had a late lunch at Popeye's. Our next plan was a stop at Button brew. Steve had never been there and I wanted him to try it out. The tired dogs stayed in the car while parked in the shade. I only had one beer, their #13 fruit wheat beer which I had the first time I stopped in this place. We sat outside but it was now getting cold for me. The owners had their work crew then sit outside and drink several pitchers of beer. One guest had her dog with her, which annoyed me because Button brew does not allow dogs of any kind on its patio or taproom.
We stopped at Catalina Brewing next. This is one block away from Button brew. The dogs were welcome in this place. We sat in a small room away from other customers so that the dogs could rest. Hansel by now was getting annoyed at Trace and barked at him several times. I figured Hansel was jealous of Trace being near me.
A quick stop at the Costco gas station ($2.89; another 20 cents higher since my last visit) and I had Steve take over the driving for me as by now the lack of sleep for the third day in a tow got me very tired. He drove back to Whetstone where I dropped him off at his place and I continued the drive back home, arriving at 8:10pm.
I have now walked 14.6 miles of the Chuck Huckelberry Loop in Tucson. SteveT has walked nine of those miles with me. The next section looks to be another 5-mile section, starting at the Camino de la Tierra parking lot to the east end of the Tucson mall. This should be a busy but scenic section.
https://www.strava.com/activities/4926340501
***
Global cases 118,875,252
Global deaths 2,643,249
US cases 29,862,072 (+61,394)
US deaths 542,191 (+1606)
AZ cases 828,630 (+1393)
AZ deaths 16,404 (+78)
CA cases 3,611, 810 (+2138)
CA deaths 54,888 (+159)
IN cases 669,164 (+856)
IN deaths 12,775 (+13)
No comments:
Post a Comment