Snow alert

It’s supposed to rain hard this coming Sunday and snow on Monday. But we had 80 degree plus temps all this week and here is some of what we did:

--Took a hike in the Catalina Mountains that began at the site of the now closed Catalina Federal Honor Camp. The camp housed, among others, a man named Gordon Hirabayashi who protested the iternment of 117,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.  He appealed the issue all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled against him.  No one would pay for his being sent to prison, so Hirabayashi hitchhiked to Arizona to serve his sentence.  In 1987 his conviction was overturned.  Hirabayashi died in January of this year.

Jim and Cooper on an upper switchback on the Bug Spring Trail that starts at the former Catalina Federal Honor Camp, which closed in the 1970s.

The trail and a view toward Tucson. 

When it's hot you can spray yourself with water ... or just stand in the shade of the person holding the spray bottle. 

Jim and Coop.

--Visited (and hiked) at Saguaro National Park West.  This was our first visit to the western section of the park, which has a beautiful visitors' center and also has a great deal more elevation that the eastern section of the park.

Trail at Saguaro National Park.

The "stick-looking" plant among the saguaros is ocatillo, which we first saw in New Mexico.  Ocatillos are in bloom right now with red flowers at the end of each branch.

The entire first mile of this hike was made up of steps... and after the first mile we decided it was time to turn around.


--Did a longer-than-we-wanted hike on the Rillito River trail, a 10 mile urban path for people/bikes/horses.  It was hot and mid-day, and we couldn't find a path back across the wash that didn’t include  a scramble up a stone wall...so we just kept walking.

View of the Rillito River Trail.  We crossed the dry riverbed (wash) to the left, and then found ourselves in a section where we couldn't easily get back.

--Made a couple of trips to breweries and watched college basketball.

--Walked around Tucson’s Fourth Avenue area, a funky strip of boutiques, second hand shops, tattoo parlors, bars, health food stores, etc.