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Our next adventure took us back to Tucson, where we had made
arrangements with John Soulvie (our wedding photographer) to pick up the
enlargements of our wedding pictures. I was very happy with the proofs of our
wedding pictures, so I was looking forward to having 8X10's of those lovely
pictures to display in our living room and on my desk at work.
Of course, that errand was only going to take us a few minutes to accomplish,
leaving us with the rest of the day to plan. After having learned that this
was my mother's weekend off, we decided to make plans with her, since it is so
rare that we get to do anything with her, due to her work schedule. (My mother
works at a nursing home, during the swing shift, and she gets one weekend off
a month.) So, immediately after leaving John Soulvie's house that morning, we
drove to my mother's apartment to pick her up.
Originally, our plan for the day was to go to
Sabino Canyon, where we would do
a picnic hike. That meant that we would hike a mile or two into Sabino Canyon,
bringing with us our picnic backpack. We would then have a picnic lunch and
enjoy the scenery, maybe splash around in the creek (if there was water), and
finally, we would hike out. However, since we would be getting a late start,
we decided to scratch that idea and go for a drive up Mount Lemmon instead.
We ended up getting a later start than we had anticipated, because my mother
tends to be a little slow getting ready. It was around 11:00 a.m. when we
finally left her apartment. We stopped first to get sandwiches from Subway -
it was easier than going to the grocery store to buy sandwich fixings. Then,
after fighting the typical Saturday Tucson traffic - another good reason why I
moved away from Tucson - we finally arrived at the base of Mount Lemmon, in
the Santa Catalina Mountains, around noon.
The trip up Mount Lemmon, via the Catalina Highway, is not very long. The
entire highway, from the base of the mountain to Summerhaven, is only
twenty-five miles. However, it can take up to an hour to reach the top if
there is a lot of traffic, if you get behind a slowpoke who has never driven
on mountain roads before, or if the weather is not favorable. During the last
ten years, there has also been a lot of construction to improve the highway;
some of the sections have been resurfaced, and other parts have been widened,
making the highway a little safer. Before all of that construction, Catalina
Highway was very dangerous. My brother Wayne flipped his Ford Bronco II on
Mount Lemmon several years ago, due to a mechanical failure that happened at
the onset of a snowstorm. (Of course, he lived, but the truck was totaled.)
There are still sections of the highway that could stand some improvements,
but for the most part the road is much safer to travel on.
Of course, all of that construction and that constant stream of traffic don't
come without a price. During the last few years, a fee station was erected at
mile marker five. It now costs $5.00 for a day pass to enter the park. (Of
course, I remember the days when it was free, but I digress...)
It was almost 1:00 when we reached the Marshall Gulch Picnic Area, at the very
end of the Catalina Highway, a half a mile past the cozy little town of
Summerhaven. The parking lot for the picnic area was almost completely full,
but we managed to find a space to park temporarily until one opened up.
Although the parking lot was full, there were picnic tables available.
Carrying our picnic backpack, John claimed a table for us, where we sat in the
cool mountain air and ate our sandwiches.
After lunch, we decided to go for a hike - something short, without too much
uphill, that my mother could handle (she's not much of a hiker anymore). In
our Trail Bible, John and I had found the
Marshall Gulch Trail #3, a 1.2 mile
long trail that leads to the Wilderness of Rocks Trail, in the Pusch Ridge
Wilderness Area. He and I had planned to hike that trail back in January, the
day after New Year's Day. We were going to hike an eight mile loop trail
beginning with the Marshall Gulch Trail. However, the road leading to the
trailhead had been closed for the winter, so we gave up did something else
that day.
The Marshall Gulch Trail begins to the right of the restrooms at the picnic
area. It immediately begins to climb steeply for the first hundred yards.
Then, as it reaches the ridgeline, it flattens out as enters the wilderness.
Of course, John and I shared our usual "wilderness kiss", though we've already
visited that wilderness area before, on the Romero Pass Trail. However, since
we were hiking with my mother on a popular trail, in an area with many
tourists, we weren't going to get a chance to finally "christen" that
wilderness area. (Dammit!)
The highlight of the trail was the foliage. Since it was autumn, all of the
leaves were beginning to change colors. So we found ourselves hiking under a
vibrant canopy of red, orange, and golden leaves that were just beginning to
fall to the ground, which was already covered by a carpet of drying leaves
that did not yet crunch underfoot. It was incredible to see this, because when
you live in the city, in the low desert, you don't get to see the leaves
change color unless you're willing to travel a little - and then, you have to
time it just right in order to be there just after the first frost has touched
the leaves on the trees and before the last of the leaves have fallen from
their trees.
The trail itself wasn't very difficult. Despite the two steep sections - the
one at the beginning, and the one at the end, as it approaches Marshall Saddle
- I found it to be a very easy hike, and my mother didn't have much of a
problem with it either. (I think she was a little stunned when we told her
that she had hiked nearly two and a half miles when we were finished - she
seemed happy with herself for having completed the trail.)
During the return trip from the saddle, we decided to take the spur trail that
meandered along the creek. This trail ended behind the restrooms, about ten
feet from the trailhead. Despite the lateness of the season, there were still
small pools of water in the creek, enough to get my boots a little wet during
creek crossings. Definitely a fun little trail, one that I would like to
explore further someday.
Before leaving Mount Lemmon, we decided to do a little exploring first. John
suggested that we take a drive up to Ski Valley and see if we could go to the
top of the mountain - if the road was open. We wanted to do that before, but
the access road had been closed for the winter. This time it was open, and we
were able to drive all the way to the top of Mount Lemmon. We found several
trailheads up there, as well as old ski lift equipment and electrical
transformers - nothing to write home about.
By that time, it was getting late, so we decided to call it a day. After
driving down from the mountain, we dropped my mother off at home; then, John
and I left Tucson and drove to Eloy. By the time we arrived at the Drop Zone,
where we planned to camp that night, it was past six o'clock. John had been
hoping to make a night jump that evening, but since we had arrived so late, he
decided not to do so. (But that was okay, because the night jumps had been
cancelled anyway.) We spent the evening relaxing in the bar - and when that
got boring, we returned to our tent (which we had pitched in the camping
area), where we drank wine and smooched under a bright full moon. A perfect
ending to a beautiful day. |
