Sabino Canyon, AZ — Work Camping

Our picnic table with the moody sky before a storm.
Our favorite work lunch picnic spot overlooking the Bear Creek and the start of 7 Falls Hike.
Another great spot is the Dam in Lower Sabino – it is beautiful this winter with all the rain and snow melt from Mt Lemmon.
Another favorite Nice (Gneiss) rock outcropping.
The first Spring flowers are this pink fairy duster.
Part of an old road to the Dam, that we have dubbed the Roman Road. We cleared the edges from growth to expose the beautiful cobblestone work.
The Roman Road before the brush was removed – barely a path through the prickly bushes.
And we finished clearing the shrubs next to this beautiful stairway as an alternate to using the Roman Road to visit the Dam.
Helping out on some brush cutting along the Phoneline Trail.
Emptying the bucket loads of prickly pear that we cleared from the Bear Creek Roadside – safety measure for the pedestrians, especially children.
The result is a much safer road to walk on.
We also cleared growth above and below this wall in a large parking area in Upper Sabino Canyon. Little did we know that the Youth Corp was going to camp here the following weekend while doing some trail rebuilding.
This crested Saguaro cactus is much visited by the visitor center, but really interesting.
Walking back to the Winnebago Travato after work before a rain storm. this is such a beautiful place to be!
More snow in the mountains was visible at sunrise.
We found an oasis in the desert (south of Sabino) at Agua Caliente Park.

Sabino Canyon, AZ — Days and Forays

Beautiful Sabino Canyon watching the clouds build in mid-January.
Reflections of the saguaros.
Looks like more rain as we are watching from the Travato.
Wow – another amazing rainbow.
So much rain (and it is cold), we are working in the warehouse – prepping new boards to revitalize some picnic tables.
Pre- drilling: three coats of paint to follow. The legs got spray-painted.
There were large signs to paint in “Federal Brown” – these will go up Mt Lemmon.
You can check out, but you can never leave!
We met J & J at Starr Pass for a hike before dinner out and an astronomy lecture at UA. The day ended by seeing a 4 star cluster in Orion’s sword at the Steward Observatory. Their blog with more pictures of the hike.
We took a group hike from Molino Basin on Mt Lemmon to this trailhead on Reddington Pass.
It took us all day but we had some great scenery and camaraderie.
We took a break to Kartchner Caverns State Park and shared a camp site with J & J – leveling was a challenge. But we now have a new leveling app from Truma that should be helpful on other sites.
We hiked a couple miles to this overlook. Then back for some of Joan’s home made pizza – yum! It was great to have so many times together this month, building memories and sharing our travel stories. Joan and Jim’s Blog on Kartchner Caverns
The waters really reached a high point and even the trams could not go up Sabino Canyon.
We have shoveled, then swept all the sand and debris off this bridge as part of our job to keep it safe for bikes and peds.
The mile markers were looking a bit less than fresh as this one at the top of the canyon.
This one was buried behind debris but we have it cleaned up and looking good.
Having friends over for a BBQ and sunset. Lights under the Travato to keep away the pack rats.
Hanging out under the awning – well deserved after washing the house inside and out.
Our neighbors also enjoying the view at Cocktail Hour.
Another full moon in the canyon.

Sabino Canyon – Tucson, AZ — First Week/Full Moon

Our hiking friends helped us snag a volunteer position with Coronado National Forest. We work three days a week in full uniform in exchange for this camp spot next to our friends.
Warning – you might get tired of the sunsets!!!
Or sunsets with moon rises…
The full moon over Blackett’s Ridge was beckoning us to come for a closer look.
So we headed out the next afternoon for our own sunset/moon rise hike up the ridge. J & J are staying in Catalina so they could partake in this adventure.
Enjoying the views of Tucson in the warm afternoon light. We really enjoyed all the city lights sparkling on our way down.
We made it to the top of the ridge in time to enjoy a bit of dinner with the view.
The most gorgeous sunset ever!!!!! It can’t even be captured in a panorama but we had a 360 view – wow! It was so worth it in spite of the challenge of hiking down in the moon shadows.
The next day we took off to hike Seven Falls while the water levels were lower for the seven creek crossing.
Sunrise as we reported for our second day of work – we need to be there at 7:00 AM so we bought an alarm clock! Are we still retired?
Rain brings its own beauty (picture taken from the Travato)– we got a reprieve from a day of work due to too much rain. Our duties are to keep the public areas tidy, clean, and safe to enhance the visitor experience.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument 2017

We were on the road in the rain on New Year’s Day leaving Green Valley in the rear view mirror. Glad we had packed the van the day before! We arrived in Organ Pipe Cactus with some nice low clouds but the sun shining on us.
We picked a great site a bit further south than last year’s but an auspicious number….maybe?

 

Meeting up with our full time RV friends to start the New Year on the right foot! We toasted with champagne and had a mini-quiche happy hour after a pleasant stroll around the campground.
We had a gourmet meal of crab cakes from the professional chef – graduate of Cordon Blu Pasadena! Followed with a cheese platter and port. I am intimidated but the next day, we fixed our Spanish Bean Soup with fresh baked rolls in the convection oven which was well received by all. Whew!
A drive around Ajo Mountain and a hike to the arches. Who is blogging about who?
Looking good coming up the mountain trail.
The guys ready to tackle the arch.
It is necessary to walk back down on the other side to see this view of the arch.
It doesn’t seem this large – the distance is so deceiving.
Back in time for wine o’clock on the picnic table.
We all piled into Bill – a 4-wheel drive Ram pickup truck – to explore an area we had never been. On the Mexican border, the western side of the park.
The rare little pupfish were in this pond – quite a surprise that it was so large.
Wouldn’t you like to know Jose’s story of how he got from Brest, France to here and why?

 

 

Entertaining in the van – we fixed BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and were surprised with a pre birthday desert. Mmmmm raspberries and chocolate! Here is the link to Joan and Jim’s pictures http://thewesternwagon.blogspot.com/2017/01/organ-pipe-nmlukeville-az-1220-15-gps.html
Sunset from the van – who could ask for a better view! See our last years pictures of this fabulous National Monument http://tealsky.com/2016/01/07/organ-pipe-national-monument-2/

Green Valley Arizona for December

We found this 2-bed/2-bath townhouse with a driveway 12″ longer than the van.
It has this great patio with mountain view for our enjoyment.
This roadrunner wants to be fed and he is persistent but we are more stubborn. We are however keeping the hummingbird feeder filled.
Beautiful sunrises with real brewed coffee! What a great way to start the day. Water aerobics at 9 if you want to venture to the pool.
Or go to watch the sunset over the Santa Rita’s.
We met up with our friends for a hike at Saguaro National Park West followed by a concert on the patio to watch the full moon rise.
Enjoying the sunset with our snacks before the concert.
It is so nice to be among the saguaros again – they are just too picturesque!
And the sunsets just so spectacular! The guitar music was also very good – wonderful evening tho the moon rose through clouds.
White Christmas with snow in the Santa Rita’s.
We enjoyed walking around the condo development on the way to an ice cream social with the neighbors we borrowed tools from.
The next day our friends came down for some fresh pulled pork BBQ sandwiches on the back patio – we had a group walk first in McGee Ranch area. See our get together from last year’s visit to Canoa Ranch http://tealsky.com/2015/12/14/green-valley-arizona/
A final sunset as we finish our month here – lots of good relaxing from our month out of the van!

Organ Pipe National Monument, AZ

 

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Sunrise with moon and Venus
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What a way to start the day!
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This is our home – weather is predicting some rain storms so we snagged this site with the Ramada.
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Reflections from the overnight rain.
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Really fun to experience the morning changes.
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On the hiking trail to Lost Cabin — found but lost agian.
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See how these Chollas jump!
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Old wheel near the Victoria Mine
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There is a bull on the rock face behind us – a nice steep climb to this point.
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But it is worth it for the views towards Mexico!
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Awesome to be able to just relax and enjoy the day.
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This is the view from near the Rancher’s Line Camp.
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And looking the other direction is The Border…and The Fence.
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Look how it runs as far as the eye can see straight up the distant hill.
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The old Wangler’s Line Camp building.
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Let’s ‘off road’ Motor — with amphibious Mini!
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Another incredible sunset in the Arizona desert.

 

Catalina State Park

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We headed to Catalina for the First Saturday Music in the Park series. We got there early enough to enjoy a hike.
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The 50-Year Trail goes along a ridge with lots of great views.
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The saguaros here seem to have more arms than other areas – are they older or a different variety?
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Warm today – well down right hot with no shade! We had short sleeve on under the sun shirts.
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Very picturesque down by the river. We enjoyed an hour or so of the concert with some fresh popcorn and the incredible mountain views! The drive home was an ever changing variety of colors of sunset to twilight. Very peaceful.

We were here last December for a concert in the park also. That blog posting is http://tealsky.com/2014/12/06/catalina-state-park/