Tucson

Sabino Canyon from the Telegraph trail

When I last posted I was in the middle of an epic dust storm and wasn't sure if I was going to end up in the Land of Oz. Although my little Born Free rocked and rolled all night I woke up in the same place I put down the jacks at the Pilot truck stop. I headed out fairly early on Friday towards South Tucson. The drive to the Casino del Sol was pleasant without too much traffic. Actually it was a little eerie because the traffic was so minimal. I think most folks were home recovering from the storm. The desert was flooded in many places, in fact, I have never seen so much standing water in the desert.

The Casino del Sol is about 15 miles from downtown Tucson. It is a very pleasant place to boondock. The grounds were immaculate and the parking on the east side of the campus was very quiet. I met "Steve" who was from Truckee and knew where Calpine was. What a surprise. to meet someone who knew were Calpine was. There were about a half a dozen RVs parked there when I arrived. After talking with another RVer (John) I found out that some park for an extended time. I also met Muriel another WIN from Canada who said she was going to join up with the group in Ajo for the Fiddlers contest. Small world.. When I left there were more than a dozen RVers parked, probably due to the bad weather as well as the up coming free concert that night.

I met up with my Reno friends Sandi and Bob (no, not the Sandi and Bob of the WINs), who rented a condo for the month of January. Sandi joined me last year when I was in Tucson and just loved the area. She talked her husband into renting the Condo. Now, after spending nearly a month in Tucson they are talking about buying a winter home in the Tucson area. We had a pretty packed week of visiting , shopping, and hiking, and eating out.

There is so much to do and see in Tucson! My favorite store is a little second hand store called Persnickity's. They specialized in slightly used clothing and have a wonderful selection of gently worn boots and western wear. Catalina State Park has some wonderful mountain biking and hiking trails and then there is Sabino Canyon with its cute tram that takes you up the canyon and there is also the Desert Museum ... a must see. The list goes on. There are also many wonderful restaurants ..too many to name, but my favorite is Pinnicle Petes. The restaurant is very, very, casual. In fact, if you're a man and get caught wearing a tie, the tie will be cut off and displayed on the wall! They serve wonderful cowboy and cowgirl steaks as well as other entries. They only serve salad and ranch beans with the steak, so you don't fill up on a lot of other stuff and have room for the steak. Yes, I ate the whole thing!

The Desert Museum, really isn't a museum in the traditional since. Its a beautiful landscape of the desert which includes many native animals and birds. I was here last year and spent the whole day and felt I didn't see it all. Last year the temperatures were in the high 90's and I think a lot of the birds and animals were hiding in the shade This year I spent nearly a whole day in 50 degree weather and saw many more animals and still felt there was more to see.

The raptures are out showing there stuff. There is a free flight twice a day.

This big horn was very willing to pose after waking from his nap

The red cardinals are found all over the grounds

I'm not sure what he is looking at, but he sat there for a long time.

Cantalina State Park has many mountain bike and hiking trails. The day I was there I was limited to the trails that didn't cross the streams. The streams were running cold, fast, and deep so I opted to take the high trail rather than take my shoes and socks off and wade thigh deep across the cold fast running streams.

Catalina Mountains

Sabina Canyon is located in the Cornonda National Forest. You can take a round trip tram ride part way up the canyon. I opted to take the tram up and then hike further up the canyon and part way back down the canyon and then caught the tram for the rest of the trip back. Sabino creek was flowing over all of the bridges. A few days before rescue missions were performed because some hikers got caught in the flash floods . I was told that the driver of the tram had water coming up to his feet in the cab.

One of the trams getting ready to head up the canyon

Sabino Creek. We drove through this! This is only a few days after the epic rains.

Look how deep the water is! I'm so glad Sandi and I decided to take the tram and not ford the stream.

Sabino Canyon looking down from telegraph trail

These ladies took the tram up and were planning to walk down the road to the beginning of the canyon. pushing their prams with their children in them. I'm not sure how they planned to get their prams through all of the rushing water on the bridges.

Sabino Canyon

Good by Casino del Sol. Early morning sunrise . This morning I wasn't sure where I was going until I got out of the parking lot.... go to Why and see some friends staying at Hickiwan Trails RV park or head to Gila Bend and head up towards the Painted Rock Reservoir. Decisions, decisions. I have to be in Gila Bend on Monday for the Elks initiation. See my next post to see where I decided to go.