Bowman House/Yetman Trail Hike

Feb. 18. Wed.  No coyotes or other wildlife, just the sound of RCW’s wild hikers’ boots against the dirt and rocks of the trail with the sun warming our faces. The group from last Wednesday’s hike took the Bowman House trail which included a loop route around a small mountain that most of us had not hiked before.

It was so beautiful out there!

It was a great picturesque loop. We reached the remains of the old Bowman House for our break.  The house was built in the 1930's by Sherry Bowen, a typesetter and, later city editor for the Arizona Daily Star. Bowen brought his wife, Ruby, to Tucson from Rockford, Illinois, in the late twenties, hoping that the climate would help her serious heart condition. They homesteaded in the Tucson Mountains eventually owning two thousand acres. Ruby kept a diary of her first year in the Tucson Mountains. She wrote of the wild mountain sheep that came to the base of the cliffs nearly every evening to graze. A mountain lion would pace about when she was cooking meat and one time attempted to get in the window. The valley and their homestead became part of the Tucson Mountain Park in 1983.

After reaching the Bowman House, I led 2 other ladies further up the trail towards an overlook. They were just as enthralled with the beauty out there as I was.

We turned around because we felt we were gone too long. Well, here comes David up the path loaded with extra water and food! No, we’re not members of the “Lost Hikers of RCW”.  This was a group from the park that really did get lost and some members were rescued by golf carts from the nearby golf club!  The others thought we were applying for membership! No need to worry, I had taken this path before, as best as I could remember! That was the tricky part & I think these 2 ladies would have followed me anywhere! The 3 of us did joke about having a whistle or yodeling to indicate we were close. David was the one with the whistle! He herded us all back together as we convinced everyone that we were never lost and we headed out.

Any day like the pretty day we had is a good day to be in the desert.  I would definitely take this hike again!

Sunset Bittersweet Trail

Feb. 11. Wed.  Happy trails to us…. This hike was not far from the RV park and one I had not been on before, or at least most of it.   Many trails in Tucson crisscross each other.  You can see it was still not yet light as our group of 50+ hikers started out below the mountain.  The area we hiked was part of Tucson Mountains Park.  It borders a main highway to the south and Saguaro National Park to the North.   It was still rather cool before the sun began to warm us up as it crept up the mountain sides and showed the early morning colors of the desert.  I always like that time of morning when it is quiet, pretty, and void of the traffic and noise of civilization. 

There were so many of us that snaked out over the trail that we resembled a very long train stretched out on a winding track!  We decided we had better stick with the driver we rode with on the trail so the others in our vehicle wouldn’t have to wait a long time for any of us on the end to get back to the parking lot!  Good idea! 

We passed this old car on Camaro Loop, hence the name, which is just a short spur along our main trail loop.  I passed by this car twice last year on a couple of our hikes.  The area used to be a ranch, and when a car gave out, it was just driven up into the mountains and abandoned.  Now it is a nice landmark for hikers. 

Time for our break with views of downtown Tucson in the distance.  The trail was narrow so we had to just stand along the trail edge for a nice rest.  Ah..fresh air and desert scenery..it doesn’t get much better than that!

We headed back along our loop trail up and over more pretty areas up along the mountains.  We have had right much rain this season, so everything looks so lush and green. 

Yes, happy trails to us ‘til we meet again…….

Rincon Country West Photo Contest 2015

This time of year, the digital imaging club sponsors a photo contest open to the entire park.  There are 8 categories, plus we give away a $200 cash prize in a raffle.  Photo winners receive money for first place and ribbons for 2nd and 3rd place.  I entered 6 categories this year!  I have also been extremely busy with the contest because I volunteered to be Vice-President and also to handle the publicity for the contest.  Don’t EVER volunteer for anything!  You find out later what you REALLY volunteered for!!  I learned my lesson!  I have been scheduling field trips, conducting a couple of the classes, making fliers & posters, plus selling raffle tickets.  I will be happy after Feb. 21, when I will have MY time back! 

I even had to do a one person little short skit!  That was the extent of my acting career and I am going to keep it that way!!  Everyone said I did a great job but are still teasing me about it since they knew how nervous I was.  I was alright until I was told I would be using a microphone and would be on stage!  I told some cute photography jokes and my skit was about how I ask Doug to stop or pull over on the road so I can get that great shot!  I played up the husband response of never winning an argument with a wife!  I got claps at the end so I guess I was successful. 

These are the photos I entered this year and really would like to win first prize for at least one of them.   But the competition is tough this year!

Wish me luck!

Starr Pass Loop Trail Hike

Feb. 4, Wednesday.  I love this hike!  It is my favorite of all the hikes we take.  The trail took us up and down through some of the most scenic parts of the desert.  It was a bit cold as the sun was just starting to come up and the parking lot had a view of Mt. Lemmon across the valley.  Then the sun got higher and pretty shades of sunlight began to hit the mountains.  So pretty! 

 

We had another fantastic group of 45 people!  Guess the great weather we have been having is appealing to more folks now.  

 

I think I took more pictures that day than any I have taken on the hikes so far!  I can’t help it! I just love the desert scenery.  It is even more scenic when we are away from the city noise and traffic.   We also found this guy in the third picture that is the largest, fattest, and unusual cactus.  Yes, that is all the same cactus. 

Break time to catch our breath and have a snack and water to get us over the rest of the trail.   Gosh, it was nice out there!

OOPS!  We sort of ran into a little problem.  This was the planned return trail to the parking lot, but we didn’t know it was wet and muddy at the end.  Some scouted a way to ‘bush whack’ a new trail around the mud but the brush was too thick.  Plus, I am not a big fan of having to watch for rattlesnakes!!  Another ‘scout’ said we could get thru the mud, so us hardy souls went for it.  It was around the bend that we had to forge the stream across a log and some rocks.  We handed off hiking sticks to each other for balance.  Our successful group of hikers survived the raging river and gushy river bottom!  I mean shallow stream & muddy riverbank!  What is a hike without a little adventure!? 

A beautiful day, great friends, and a little water problem, made for a great hike on my favorite trail.