Easter egg on an organic farm

A couple of weekends ago it was Easter.  I looked in the paper and there was this funky farm south of Tucson that was doing their annual Easter event.  I figured it would be a good time for the kids and myself so we headed down.  It was this very cool sustainable-living farm, and most everybody at the event were people who lived there in the little community.  The rest was made up of curious people (out of towners) like myself. 

They did a nice job by separating the kids into age groups for the egg hunts, one group was the 4-6 range so both my kids got to be together.

Most of the goodies were home-made trinkets and healthy snacks with very little sugary treats thrown in.

They had a tractor to carry people to and from the different areas.  There was a gathering area with a stage, craft tents, lunch buffet and a bunch of other kid-friendly things.

Tilda was excited for face-painting, even though she doesn't look it in these pictures

Healthy food with spinich-stuffed pastries and steamed beets and rice and whatnot.  Fresh fruit and carrot cake for dessert.

There was this big gift basket that was being raffled off.  Kids had to estimate the amount of things in the basket and put down an entry.  Griffin and Matilda spent a lot of time studying it while I was in food line.  They announced the winner at the end and it was Matilda!  She was really ecstatic, and was just beaming,  I barely had time to whip out my camera and catch the moment.

It was a fun event, but I noticed after being there for a few hours that most people I talked to were part of the community who lived and worked there, and were very vocal about talking up their life and subtly trying to get me to join.  Maybe it was just my imagination, but after a while it felt almost like they were trying to sell me on an idea.  While it was certainly beautiful and cool there was something in the back of my head that made my "spider sense" tingle.  They talked about their spirituality being non-denominational, but the general feeling was very jesus-centered (it was easter after all) and the group felt more or less like a commune.  Here's a link:

http://avalongardens.org/ 

Catalina Hike

 I had a few days off for Easter Break, (Thursday - Friday), so after work on Wednesday I parked at Sabino canyon and took the tram as far as it would bring me.  Then I hiked about four miles before dusk to get in the mountains for my trip.

Just off the trail I discovered a perfect camping spot, right next to a healthy-flowing stream.  Couldn't ask for a better spot.  Really, I would have been thrilled to just stay here the whole time, but it worked as a jumping-off point to get up into the peaks for the next few days

The next day I headed up over the ridge, long day with significant elevation change.  Wasn't sure if I would find water on the other side, but some helpful backpackers confirmed my hopes that an intermitent spring I had targeted was indeed flowing, but very slowly.  The man told me it would require patience.  So with renewed enthusiasm I continued on my way knowing if there was water I could extend the trip.

This was the top of the ridge, people had built a structure to mark the spot.  There was a fire ring, but a bone-dry camp spot.

From there it was a steep 1-mile drop to the spring.  On the map they call it a waterfall, and maybe it is after a deep rain.  I found it better than the man had led me to believe.  It was dripping steady in 6 or 7 spots and I could stand underneath it and wet myself.
 

I set up my cooking pot to gather water, and filtered what I needed to drink.  It was fun, busy work to be constantly filling and pumping water all the time.  I camped here the next two days.
 

Since I had a water source I was able to do what I had hoped, leave all my gear and head back up that steep mile to the ridge and explore the "wilderness of rocks".  Very leisurely hike without my big pack and I did a five mile loop.
 

This is called the "Window" (Ventana) and it is a natural arch that you can see from a few spots in town.  I met a man and woman from California here, they had come as a long day-hike from another trail and we took each others pictures with our cameras
 

On Saturday morning as I was packing up to hike out I was curious about my little water source, so I climbed into the canyon rocks and explored to see the source.  I found a sweet little pool where the water collects.  Would be a great swimming spot, but the morning was chilly and the sun wasn't hitting it yet.

These last few pictures are of me coming the seven miles down Esperero Canyon, back to Sabino.  I had figured on taking the tram back down the road, but I found when I hit pavement my legs wouldn't stop moving and I didn't feel like sitting, so my last hour was hiking along the road with the usual Saturday-afternoon crowd. Overall, an inspiring hike and my first time backpacking in the Catalinas.