Douglas Spring Trail-Rincon Mountains

Nice hike today. I hiked in the Rincons today; "Rincon" means corner in Spanish. You can send me to this corner any day of the week, baby. I always feel like I'm leaving civilization behind on this trail rather than hiking to a destination (even though I was).

I have trod this trail before. This mountain range is where Saguaro National Monument lies so theres a little more "government oversight" on these trails. Trailheads here starts at about 2800 ft. but get up to 10000 ft. or so. I'm really itching to hike Rincon Peak, but that will come in a month or so.

I felt very much like the tech snob this morning. I usually tend to scoff at people who bring their high tech equipment to the gym or to a mountain trail. And I do tend to get a certain amount of pride when I pass them on my old mountain bike or running up a hill on a race. But here I was today, equipped with several battery powered gizmos. The wife got me a really nice birthday gift, a Garmin Forerunner 305. Gives me all the stats: pace, distance, elevation, heart rate and it has GPS. Very cool. I also came equipped with the old faithful iPod. Usually like to be alone with my thoughts, but I pulled this out on the descent and did some improvisational dancing to They Might be Giants. Fortunately, I wasn't passed by some cherpa and didn't have to be faced with my own hypocritical reality. So, according to my calculations, I hiked 9.18 miles, had an average heart rate of 117 bpm, averaged 19:42 minutes/mile, and gained 1900 ft. in elevation :))
I chose my turnaround point based on when I could find my first manzanita, one of my favorite little trees here.

Here's just a few shots of today's hike.....

Blackett's Ridge- Sabino Canyon- Santa Catalina Mountains

Although unintentional, I seem to be choosing a hike in each of the surrounding mountain ranges. Blackett's Ridge makes 3, now I lack only the Rincons. This was my first "new hike" so far as I'd already done the others before. My mother-in-law hikes it faithfully but I have never been able to get out and do it myself. I considered it comparable to Tumamoc Hill, but I must say now that Tumamoc is not even close. This one kicked my butt pretty good. Blackett's Ridge is a bit longer, but it's the rugged terrain that makes the difference. Having to hoist yourself up large rocks gets your heart pumping more than a steady slope, no matter how steep. The gnats were fairly persistent, but I managed to avoid the very persistent horsefly. One came close, but my odor must have been so foul as to make him avoid me altogether.

I interrupted the basking of a good number of lizards. I could imagine them say in their best Dustin Hoffman accent: "I'm basking here! I'm basking here!" Seeing all the lizards made me reminisce about an area we used to play in behind our house. We called it Lizard Valley, but I'm not sure if that was our name or someone elses. It has now been developed and there are homes built there. You know, good things can't happen when you build homes on an ancient lizard burial ground. I would not be surprised if there have been supernatural events in that neighborhood....

As I got closer to the top, the cliffs got closer and closer. I could hear some kind of bird of prey, but I'm not good enough to recognize what kind it was. But make no mistake, he intended to kill. Great views up top. This canyon also tends to avoid the sun pretty good until the later part of the morning, so you've usually got some nice shade if you get an early start and are off the trail by 10 or so. As the temps rise, the cicadas chime in like an orchestra of reflecting metallic wings.

Total mileage was probably about 4.5 miles, but you definitely have to earn it here. You get a lot of benefit from a short hike here. Next week I'll probably look for something of a gentler kinder variety but longer distance.

Tumamoc

There is a "hill" on the west side of Tucson that is good for a quick hike. It's called Tumamoc. Sometimes when I drive past it, I imagine it whispering it's name to me, challenging me to climb it. I kind of do that with most mountains; I personify them to make it sounds as if they are challenging me dare to climb them. Anyways, I don't know if you can technically call this hiking as it's paved, but the slope is nothing but up.

I realized I had forgotten MP 1.3 about halfway up the hike. It's too bad because there are some great views of Tucson on this hike. This is not a hike for solitude as there are usually a good number of people hiking it. But you do get a sense of solitude from the concrete and pavement of the city. The university has a desert laboratory halfway up the hill which is why the path is paved. There are also two small observatories at it's peak.

I also was interested in doing this hike today because of it's steep slopes; wanted to see how the knee would hold up on the downward slope. The answer I got was the knee will hold just fine, it might just complain about it and I can't half run down the hill as I used to. Starting to wonder if my knee will ever be the same :(