Monday, November 2, 2015

Catching Up in Tucson

I'm sure it is time for some sort of a catch-up blog post for me. Looking back to my last post on August 31, that's obvious. Two full months is as long as I've strayed from the blog in awhile.  No shame, I'll just catch up.
     I moved from the RV park located 20 miles north of downtown Tucson.  It was a rural, relatively quiet park with considerable room between the sites.  I was comfortable but for the distance to town to meet with friends, and at least one of my neighbors. We seemed to get under one another's skin.  He was just one of those guys that didn't like staying home with his wife watching television. And I can't say that I blame him, but he chose to, "visit", 3 or 4 times a day. One day while I was resting and feeling some painful flu symptoms, he came to my door and knocked.  Not getting a response, he knocked again and peered in my window. That felt uncomfortable for me. We had a few exchanges about respecting privacy and eventually just started to ignore each other.  I had a cook-out at my RV the day before I moved to the new park but although invited, he didn't want to come.  Oh well. I can't expect everyone to be my friend.
     The new park is much closer to town, yet very close to the western range of mountains in Tucson. The area is called Tucson Mountain Park. There are many trails through the area and although the park is close to both Interstate 10 and the railroad line, access to the mountain park is only a few minutes away by car.  Within1/4 mile of the park is bicycle path called "The Loop".  There are 130 miles of bicycle paths in Tucson, including this bicycle only trail nearly surrounding the city. North-South travel through the city can by done on another bicycle only street that leads straight downtown. So between the hiking and biking here, I'm staying active and not spending so much time driving to various trailheads.
     I've been leading a hike into Pima Canyon on Saturday mornings.  Usually one friend or another joins me and we hike a short, easy hike up into one of the many canyons in the Santa-Catalina Forest. Numerous canyons penetrate the Pusch Ridge Wilderness including Pima and Sabino Canyons.  One day I hope to gather my backpacking gear and take an overnight trip up Sabino Canyon all the way to the top of Mount Lemmon.  It would be a twenty-five mile hike, and the elevation change would be in excess of 4000 feet. These are just guesstimates based on the 2500 foot elevation in Tucson, and the peak of Mount Lemmon at 9000 feet.  There are pine trees on the mountain rather than the numerous Saguaros down in the city.
    So it looks like I'll winter here in Tucson. The spring and summer trip north planned for spring is still in the planning stages, but I'm hoping to spend some time in Santa Fe, Denver, and maybe get as far north as Washington again. The alternative would be to head West and up through California. We'll just have to see. 

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