Bbb……..rrrrr. It has been cold here in Tucson the last several days but I was still looking forward to the traditional New Year’s Day hike. It rained all day New Year’s Eve but snowed in the higher elevations. Thank goodness! The rain stopped about 2 AM and the hike was still on! We met at 9 AM to give those that celebrated the night before a chance to sleep in. Waking up to snow on Mt. Lemmon, seen right from my window, was so pretty with the snow on top. We car pooled and headed out hoping the trail wouldn’t be too muddy after making the 30+ miles to the teeny tiny town of Tumacacori. The town was named after a Franciscan mission, which is now a ruin preserved as Tumacacori National Historic Park. It was never rebuilt after being abandoned after repeated Apache raids in the 19th century.
The area along the interstate is wide open rolling plains surrounded by distant mountain ranges. Oh, boy! I was hoping to see nice views of the snow capped mountains and I was pleasantly rewarded! It was a beautiful day for our 4 mile hike! 
Here we are at the trailhead and ready to go.
The terrain is quit a bit different from the normal hikes we take around Tucson. It is mostly cottonwood trees, brush, and field grass. The trail basically follows the Santa Cruz River. So we crossed it a couple of times but we only hiked 2 miles in and 2 miles out because, after the rain, the river was too high and muddy to cross. A local hiking group maintains the trail, so a new bridge had been built across the river at our first crossing.
We had some nice views of some of the nearby mountains through the trees and by the river. Of course, everything is winter brown but it was still scenic out there. (I am experimenting with black and white photos like I have seen in other blogs.)
The rest of the New Year’s Day tradition was to eat at the Cow Palace in Tubac, AZ. Very rustic! Nine of us stayed for lunch and the company was great as we got to know each other even better.
Really nice day to start out the new year………
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