Catalina State Park

I have to give a shout out to our hike on Wednesday, January 9^th.  I was unable to do the blog that week, but we had an awesome time at the Catalina State Park.  We hiked the Canyon loop Trail combined with the Romero Ruins Interpretive Trail.  The total is approximately three miles with 100 ft. elevation gain.  Here are a few pictures of the hike....

The most amazing saguaro I have seen to date!  

It actually had a prickly pear cactus growing between it's arms!

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.  

See you on the trails!

Romero Pools - Catalina State Park

On Wednesday, Feb. 29th we hiked in beautiful Catalina State Park in the Santa Catalina Mountains.  Our fearless leader Joanne gave us a choice between two trails. The reason for this was because of the difference in the difficulties of the trails.

Hike A was an easy hike of a total of a little more than three miles.  The Canyon Loop Trail was 2.3 miles with an elevation gain of 100ft.  This was combined with the Ruins Interpretive Trail of 3/4 of a mile.

 Hike B was The Romero Pools Trail. This hike is considered a moderate plus trail.   It is a total of five miles long – 2.5 miles up with an elevation gain of 1000 feet and then 2.5 miles back down.  WHEW!

Of the two choices and I had decided waaaayyyy last week that I felt more comfortable following the first hike, the easier hike.  After all, I am still a novice at this.  This would just be my 5^th hike.

Don't let this innocent smile fool you

The blog title indicates trails and trials….well, I think you know where I’m going with this one, and this one was a bit of a trial.  As we gathered in the parking lot of the community center, I allowed one of the seasoned hikers, Ernie a seemingly nice guy with an honest enough face to talk me into Hike B.  He told me he was SURE I could do it.  And yes, you guessed it, I fell for it. 

Our group of 13 hikers headed off to Catalina State Park at 8:30 a.m. with confidence high and arrived approximately 30 minutes later. Today, as in previous hikes – the weather was gorgeous.

Peeling off layers as the sun warms

This trail is very popular because of the beautiful scenery, it’s not too hard, and leads to the natural waterpark of Romero Pools.

                                                                            

The first 15 or 20 minutes of the trail is over the desert floor, but then it gets very rocky and starts climbing steeply up the north side of Montrose Canyon. About 45 minutes in from the trailhead you get to the top of the ridge between Romero and Montrose canyons, and then head up canyon near the top of the ridge. This area on the top of the ridge is very beautiful, since it has rock formations, great views, and it takes some work to get up there.

 The trail winds through the rocks at the top of the ridge for about 20 minutes, generally climbing, but with some short descents, until you drop down to the stream crossing at Romero Pools. There are pools and waterfalls up and down the stream from this point. To return, you just retrace your route back to the trailhead.

The Fork

Both trailheads started at the same place and our group divided in two.  One group of 5 took the trail to the nature trail to the left and the other group of 8 took the fork to Romero Pools.  This would be my last chance to change my mind and go on the easier hike….I didn’t.  I believed in my ability (and Ernie) and I wanted to try it. 

The wildflowers were spectacular! We saw poppies, foxgloves, brittle bush (I have since purchased several of these for my yard), fairy dusters, daisies, and more.  I am sorry I could not take photos of these beauties, because if just wasn’t that type of hike.  I had to keep my eyes on the trail and on my feet and the person ahead of me.  I just was too whimpy to try to take pictures while I hiked. 

The pictures I was able to snap of scenery were mostly when we stopped for a quick drink or at our lunch break. 

One of the things that kept me going and from complaining too much was a young man on the trail with his four, yes I said four children.  One was in a child carrier on his back and the others were probably ages 4, 7 and 10.  These ages are approximations but the skill of these kids was amazing.  I refused to be beaten by this group of super-humans! 

Reaching the pools

 I have to say once we got back down and were walking back to the parking lot, I felt a great sense of accomplishment.  I am glad I took the high road. 

People dive off the rocks into this pool-CRAZY!

Heading back down

Until next time…keep tumbling along like tumbling tumbleweed.

Bear Canyon Trail - My First Hike

I have been in Arizona now for 17 months and have managed to make some pretty amazing friends. The newest group of friends I came upon quite by happenstance. I go to the community pool every afternoon for a couple of hours and while there several weeks ago, one of my new friends there mentioned a hike he was going on the next day. I have never been a hiker so I listened, but was really not interested too much. Well, two days later he was back and talking about what a great time they had on the hike, where they had gone, yada, yada, yada, yada. Don't get me wrong...I don't consider myself a real athletic person, but I like to keep moving. I swim, I walk a couple of miles every day and I bike. I just never was a hiker. Well, slowly but surely it started sounding like something I might want to try and I think it may be one of the best decisions I have made lately. I was told that the next hike was going to be at Sabino Canyon's Bear Canyon Trail. It sounded so interesting (and it sounded like a good way for me to start seeing some of the local sights) that I decided to go. Keep in mind....I'm not a hiker so I did not have any of the proper gear. I borrowed a backpack, and a walking pole and I wore K Swiss walking shoes...not hiking boots. I felt totally unprepared when I showed up and saw the group in stylish hiking boots, wide brim sun hats, the whole 9 yards. But I was there and I was going.

Sabino Canyon is the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The Bear Canyon trail is approximately 9 miles round trip. The trail head is approximately 2 miles from the parking lot and it takes another 2 ½ miles to reach Seven Falls. The trail crisscrosses over Sabino Creek (hiking boots would have been a blessing crossing the creek - 7 times going up and the same 7 times coming back down). When the creek is dry, the footing is stable at most of the crossing points, but when water is present, it can be more challenging. I admit I slipped more than once trying to find a path across. The funniest - and thank goodness there are no pictures to document it - was one time I slipped and one foot went into the creek and it looked like the rest of me would follow. Everyone was yelling "Use the walking stick!" I realized I was holding the walking stick up in the air instead of steadying myself on the rocks with it. Oh well, live and learn. After crossing over the creek several times, the trail rises up the side of Bear Canyon, leveling off at Seven Falls-pictured below.

I am happy to say I was able to keep up with the best of them, and other than getting one foot wet in one of the creek crossings everything was wonderful. I think I may be hooked....