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| Beautiful and dangerous boulders |
We returned to the Tortolita Mountains
this week to hike the Upper Javalina Trail.
The Tortolita Mountain range boasts some 31 miles of trails,
which includes classic Sonoran Desert terrain, rugged ridges, diverse wildlife,
historic ruins and signs of prehistoric inhabitants. This was
an easy hike and relatively short. I
believe the loop we took was only about 4 miles with maybe 100 ft. elevation
gain. It has brown markers with arrows
along the trail showing the way. Of course, it helps if you have a map showing which arrow designates which trail. lol
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| No verbiage - just colored arrows |
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| Don lending a hand (or two) in guidance |
We started at the Wild Burro Trailhead
at the parking lot and followed the markers to the junction of the Upper
Javelina Trail. The trails lead us up
and around the Dove Mountain Golf Resort where we were able to view much of the surrounding beauty, including Twin Peaks. We joked about there being one peak where there used
to be two. One of the peaks has been
mined out by a local construction company and I am sure in time the remaining
peak will meet the same fate.
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| Ladies take the lead |
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| Gents bringing up the rear |
Our group of
eleven hikers was a nice balance. Ladies
included JoAnn, Nancy, Connie, Chun, LaNeta and myself; gents included Jim,
George, Ernie, Gordy and Don. The
weather was forecast to be above normal again this week, so it is good that, as
always, we got an early start. The trails at Dove Mountain are kind of
tricky. While in the sun you feel like
you want to start taking off your sweaters or jackets, but as soon as you round
a bend and hit a little shade you decide you can wait a little longer. It didn’t take long for us to peel down to
t-shirts this time.
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| As we say in the Midwest, "Da group" |
The one thing that never changes -
although it constantly evolves - no matter what mountain or what trail we are
on, is the beauty of the trails. Whether we are 2 hours from home or
right around the corner as it was in this case, once we are on the trail we are
transported to another time. The time we spend out there in the wild
completely dependent upon each other is what makes the hike.
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| Climb Connie, Climb! |
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| Enjoying a chuckle at Jim's expense |
It was wonderful to have George, our
historian/botanist/wildlife expert along.
George quickly went into the explanation of the Tortolita Mountain
name for some of our new hiking buddies. Tortolita is Spanish for “little
dove”. In this case the Inca Dove, thus
the name of the Dove Mountain Community.
The Inca Dove is a small, slender, gray bird with a black bill and a
blue ring of flesh around its eyes. Its
feathers look like scales. Thank you
Jorge for all you teach us!
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| George pointing out nests in the cholla |
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| Aforementioned nest.... |
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| Poppy blossom in a brittlebush |
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| Chuparosa on left - thistle on right |
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George admiring his favorite -
Cristate or Crested saguaro |
 |
Beautiful specimen - The Cristate
not George and Jim lol |
Somehow, coming around a bend in the
trail around the mountain and seeing the big Ritz Carlton resort (and getting wonderful whiffs of food from their kitchen) brings you back to the here and now. No
more dreaming of ancient Hohokam men cutting petroglyphs into the
side of rocks or the women grinding corn on the stones.
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| Beautiful Ritz Carton |
The Ritz Carlson is the playground for rich and
famous pro golfers. For the eighth consecutive year, the Town
of Marana is the proud home of the World Golf Championships Accenture Match
Play Championship. The tournament brings together the world’s top 64 players
for a week of exciting competition at The Golf Club at Dove Mountain. Last year play was delayed for the better
part of a day because of a freak snowstorm.
That’s right snow, measurable snow on the golf course. This year our temperatures have been running
above normal for about 2 weeks. The
tournament starts in about two weeks; let’s hope the weather holds up. Sadly, this may be the last year of the
tournament being held here in Marana.
There is talk that they may move to another location next year.
This was a short
hike, but still very enjoyable because of the beautiful views and the
company.
Enjoy.....
See you on the
trails…..
