Griff's first backpacking adventure

I decided to go into the Santa Rita Mountains, just south of Tucson.  I've hiked there a bunch and I find it my favorite in the area.  Reminds me a lot of the northeast, big pine trees, moist soil, rocky summits.  We hiked up to Josephine Saddle the first day, only about 2.5 miles, but Griffin found it tiring, glad I didn't plan farther for the first trip.

my gear next to Griff

Good campsite tucked away not far from the trail juncture

old burnt tree

Mt Wrightson

Water source, quarter mile from camp site

filtration

cocoa and coffee

Some boy scouts had died here in 1958.  Here's the memorial

whittling

breakfast

day hiking

in the shadow of Wrightson still

other hikers offered to snap a picture

Crested a ridge (Jack Mt) caught some nice views

Griff's on a big Judy Blume kick.  We read two of the Fudge books

pumping water

forgot the marshmallows

griff found this toy stuck into a tree

some kind of transformer thing

big scat

dried mango

We had a great hike, Griff did well, spent two nights in the wilderness.  In the middle of the second night I was awakened by a two search and rescue guys who were looking for a couple that had gone out on a day hike and didn't return.  Scared the piss out of me to see spotlights moving through the woods in the dead of night, we saw plenty of dayhikers but we were the only ones camping.

Pima Canyon

I wanted to try a new trail this past Sunday so I chose the one that was closest to my house that I hadn't been to yet.  15 minutes due north to where the roads end, the driveways start and a charming little trailhead await.

cute

under the bridge at trailhead

So three days later Tucson actually got some rare snowfall!  Only about an inch of wet snow in the city but it was enough to send everyone into a tizzy.  The mountains, of course got a lot.  When I woke up Thursday morning this is what the Catalinas looked like:

taken from my roof

I had the day off for rodeo break so I decided to hit the same trail and get a feel for the snow
 

critter tracks.  maybe fox.

water

looking backwards to what I'd just hiked up

looking ahead

getting deep.  this was the trail

no snowshoes, or gators, or even waterproof boots

waterfall

The snow was much more scarce coming back down, it was sunny and it was melting quick.  I probably hiked about 7-8 miles total.  Much farther up the canyon than the kids had been willing to go.

This is the bridge near the trailhead the kids were playing under in the previous shots. 

This is what the mountains looked like when I got back home, about seven hours after the other shot from the same angle.  It doesn't last too long, another day or two and it'll be gone.

from my roof again