2015-03-01

I had an invitation to join a weekend retreat in Arivaipa Canyon for one class, Sunday. I’m going to assist bringing the process/class to Tucson and needed some demonstration. We hadn’t been to the western entrance and this would provide an excuse to explore. If you remember we had visited the Eastern entrance Here:

https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2015/08/11/timing-is-everything-in-paradise-a-trip-report/

This side is closer to Phoenix and Tucson and more frequently traveled. There is a permit required to travel into the preserve and limited to 30 persons per day. This weekend was booked up months in advance. The retreat was being held downstream from the preserve among some ranches. We didn’t know if we would have opportunity for a riparian hike or not.

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A Continuing Series

06-05-2015

Occasionally, I write about my experiences on my stealth trail in the desert out my doorway:

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2017-01-29

It was the first good Sunday in a while. We were committed to making the most of our opportunity. We gathered some clothing, thinking that it could turn cold with just a change in the wind.

We drove up to the trailhead and began the ascent up the jeep trail into the Tortolita Hills. My plan had been to run up the hill. Having been laid up with sciatica from a back injury three months back, it had just started to feel mostly well. I am determined to get well and in hiking form. Spring is on its way and I have missed these forays into nature, deeply. We soon realize that we are getting a tad winded at even a slower pace. We are out of shape. We trudge on, slowly, feeling more invigorated just by the spirit of this exercise of naturism.

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2014-08-16

Remember to click the pics that don’t show the pics at first. There lies some of the best of the stuff.

We get up early Saturday morning to go car camping. The “big top” tent, the air mattress, the cooler, wool rug, candles, chairs, etc., all for camping in luxury. The destination is upstream from Chebo Falls, again. The previous story is here: https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2017/01/21/chebo-falls-journey-part-i-a-trip-report/

Part II is here: https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2017/01/29/chebo-falls-journey-part-ii-a-trip-report/

The immediate goal is to get to that huge canopy of a tree before someone else does. It had rained thunder and lightning hard up there, the night before. There would likely be no one camping already. The next goal is to visit the 80 foot waterfall. I haven’t seen it in 30 years. There have been monsoon rains, so the water should be flowing strong. This is exciting to us.

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2013-08-19

Next Morning:

In the morning, we take off upstream. The sun and blue sky come out, the temps are wonderful. The water is flowing in the creek. We go as far as we can, taking photos along the way and deciding which is the best of many ponds. We are able to travel nearly all the way by climbing the huge rock slabs that the creek travels through. It is bare granite mountainside, always denuded of soil and vegetation. After exploring, we go back to the most favored pond.

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2013-08-16

More of the Desert Monsoon

Each year sometime around early July, give or take a couple of weeks, Tucson begins it’s Monsoon Season. Warm rains are pulled up from Mexico each day, generally in a deluge. Often there is seen across the valley, a black wall of water with elongated bolts of lightning with resounding thunder. The sonorous bombardment has often made me wonder. Could the name of our Sonoran Desert home be derived from these experiences?

There is entertainment each day. For instance sunset and sunrise explodes with awe inspiring color, like few places in the world. The night skies can be fascinating and are world renowned fireworks displays. Bolts flash clear across the sky in fingers while thunder crashes down shaking buildings.

The dry washes flow and rage with water. Life comes back to the desert after the usual seasonal drought. Flowers bloom, animals get active, it is an extra season like spring, but this time with more extreme temperatures. Many plants are geared to bloom to this timing. Some do so, only during this time of year. It is a fifth season.

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2013-01-22

The weather is great, irresistible. It is mid-week, a Tuesday. We have had a cold stretch and I am tired of shivering. I just have to get some sun and hike. The days before, I have been only able to take less than an hour to walk around amongst the sixty acre area just behind my house. This is an opportunity.

I decide to drive up to where the target wash is. I need to run in 4×4 some each month for the maintenance of the truck. It will also save the time and effort of climbing the hill. With this distance covered, I can then hike that much further and deeper into the Tortolita Mountains.

I want that sense of unabashed freedom that a completely nude commitment gives. As the old border rat smugglers used to say, “I feel like throwing my balls over my shoulder.” There is less likelihood of meeting someone by taking the route up the wash. It would be risky to hike up the hill further, following the road with nothing to put on quickly. I leave all back up covering behind, taking only fivefinger shoes, one bottle of water and a camera. I would take less, but this is a desert and I have chosen this hike to feel remote and alone. It is my mood, my whim. I guess that I’ve been too cooped up for too long. If I have an encounter, then there is nothing to be done. I could put a bottle in front of my crotch and smile, greeting whoever, pleasantly. That would make me technically legal. The odds are fully in favor of having no encounters today. I will risk the outside chance of an encounter with a neighbor, or another hiker.

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2014-01-27

Patgonia Lake is near the Mexican border, south of us. One has to travel into the border town of Nogales and then out a peaceful, quite beautiful country road to the lake. It is formed by a dam. For details and a pretty video: http://azstateparks.com/Parks/PALA/index.html

We had reconnoitered this lake the previous Fall.

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2015-01-01

A couple of years ago, on New Year’s Eve it began to snow. It left us under a thick coat of white. We spent as much time as we could throughout the night and morning roaming, experiencing, photographing and at play. This post will become more of an Arizona Highways pictures with a story, rather than a story with pictures.

Dawn

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2013-09-07

Carnuding to Happy Valley on Saturday morning, we pull off of the Interstate to get gas. There will be no more clothing after pumping this gas.

Happy Valley is on the other side of the Rincon Mountains from Tucson. There are a couple of “A” difficulty rated hiking trails that lead to the top of those mountains from there.

We intend to explore the first day, looking for the best camp sites and maybe some short walk/hikes.  We’ll set up camp, a fire and then have a major hike the second day.

Rain and overcast is predicted, but somehow I know that we will have fun with some Arizona natural grace. The valley is around 1500 to 2000 feet more elevation than the Tucson area and slopes go up steeply. This is similar in elevation to the Chebo Falls trip on the other side of the Rincon Mountains. It is a few degrees cooler with the help of cool air dropping down off of the mountains, but here, air flows through a shady forest of a riparian paradise.

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