Brown Mountain Trail

We met near the Gilbert Ray Campground at the trailhead parking lot to leave on this 5 mile round trip hike.  Sherwin, Suk, Roger, Nancy, Paul and Toy.  Shirley was taking this picture.

In the first five minutes one of these pretty little cholla cactus thorns attached to my shoulder as I brushed by it.  Ouch!  They don't call these Jumping Cholla for nothing.

You can see how these Cholla are very close to the trail... and one must respect your distance from them as you pass.

In places the ground is distinctively red... red rock.

Shirley had lagged behind us taking some of these great photos... and as I looked back and saw her booting it up the trail, I caught this shot with my iPhone camera, looking back into the sun.

There is a large number of young saguaros... many only 5 feet tall or so in this area.  Did you know it can take 50 to 75 years before they get their first arms?

Along the trail we saw Saguaros at all stages of life.  One minute they are only 5 feet tall and just starting to grow... next minute you see one like this tired old grandfather in the stage of dying.

As we went along we stopped occasionally for a water break or to visit.

It was just a gorgeous day out here.  Perfect for a hike.

At the top of Brown Mountain Toy got this shot of us... I'm pretending to be a Saguaro.

From the summit we could see the Desert Museum.

We have spent many enjoyable hours exploring around this Desert Museum. A great spot to bring your guests.

These two little fish hook barrels had shiny red needles.

When we got to the picnic area close to Desert Museum can you tell I was happy?  I am always ready for a picnic. Others were very pleased and impressed to find flushing toilets here.

We could all get around one picnic table, but this was a group of hikers who followed us here today and they needed two tables.

I talked to other hikers along the trail and learned that there was another way back... the Cougar Trail.
So we all thought we should explore that trial today as well.

It turned out to be a great way to go...  along the valley floor, not as much climbing and hence we we got back in half the time... and likely less than 5 miles round trip this way.

Not to mention that going home we don't stop to take as many photos.

Toy thought that he would like to climb to the top of this peak.

The trail is really in pretty great shape... and we were very fortunate not to see any rattle snakes today.  They say that around the Desert Museum there are a lot of rattle snakes... so watch out!

Back at the parking lot it was Paul's turn to get the cactus needles out... he had picked up several little hitch hikers, so I got out my Letterman pliers out and he made quick work of removing them from his shoes.

Starting back I asked the name of this mountain with the towers on it. Toy, who is very knowledgable was quick to tell me it was Tower Mountain. But getting home when I googled it, there was no Tower Mountain in the Tucson Range. If any one really knows the name, please let me know.

Shirley had fun shooting this with her new polarizing filter.  It makes a lot of difference as she rotated the lens taking several shots.

"There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they're in the mountains, and all the rest." -Alex Lowe

As we were on the trail coming home I was singing,

If you go down to the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today
You'd better go in disguise!

For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain,
Because today's the day the
Teddy Bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for Teddy Bears
The little Teddy Bears are having
A lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares,
And see them picnic on their holiday.

See them gaily gad about.
They love to play and shout,
They never have any care;
At six o'clock their Mommies and Daddies
Will take them home to bed,
Because they're tired little Teddy Bears

Romero Pools Hiking Trail

At last the day we hoped for arrived... to hike the beautiful Romero Canyon Trail in the Catalina Mountains to the pools.

It may be rated as moderate difficulty, but for some of us it was a real challenge.

Our goal for today was to hike to the beautiful Romero Pools... which is about 5.5 miles round trip. Some of us went on a little further to see another double waterfall. So it was likely closer to 6 miles total.

There were eleven of us today. Even though it was a couple of weeks since the rains, we had to carefully pick our way across this wash to avoid getting our feet wet.

I was having trouble taking pictures and holding a walking stick, so Anita kindly agreed to help me by taking my walking stick for the first part of the hike, so I could more easily take pictures. I really was glad to have it on the hike, especially when coming back down the mountain.

The surrounding mountains were absolutely spectacular.

The jagged peaks are unusual... like fingers sticking up in places.

From this fork in the trail we were apparently 2.2 miles from our goal.

After the first steep climb to this plateau, we had a wide, easy trail for almost a mile.

I had hoped to see some bighorn sheep... but none today.

With the recent rains the hills were alive with fresh green growth.

I started to lag behind as I stopped to catch a few shots of saguaros.

As we started to gain more elevation we started to see more and more saguaro cactus.

Anita caught this group shot... everyone here except me, who brought up the rear... and Suk, who was somewhere ahead on the trail.

The ocotillos, which a few weeks ago looked dead, were now alive with new leaves.

These rail road tie steps helped to minimize erosion.

The beauty of the Catalina's are always there. 

Our hike today had an elevation gain of about 1500 feet...

And as we climbed, the view of the valley below kept getting more expansive.

I was continually amazed by the rich green hillsides.

Larry Doyle told us about the Buffelgrass, an invasive desert grass that grows up to three feet high and just takes over, crowding out the native desert plants.

A Red-tailed Hawk came soaring around us for several minutes.

It was hard to follow him and capture anything in focus while zooming in with high telephoto... but he was such a beautiful bird... and he gave us all quite a thrill.

We saw several Fairy Duster wildflowers.

I think that this was a Little Blue Wildflower... about ready to open.

There were not many of these smiling yellow Brittlebush flowers out... but soon there will be thousands of them.

I recognized this Desert Broom bush... it is very similar to the broom bush that grows along the coast from Oregon into British Columbia and has such a strong yellow flower. This is a nasty weed that we struggle to get rid of on our property at home in Canada.  The shape and colour of the blossoms are identical.

Looks a lot like the famous Poppy... the California state flower.

This beautiful south facing rock face was a glorious sight... it was so tall the huge saguaro cactus seemed small next to it.

The vertical grain of the rock tells us that the layers that once laid horizontal went thru a terrific upheaval to get turned up like this.

The trail went right by so close to it, we all got a great appreciation of this massive beauty.

It was fun to look back on this gigantic rock when were got higher on the trail.

Once we saw that vertical rock face, I started to see that quite a lot of the Catalina range has vertical rock grain... and those distant fingers we saw earlier likely have vertical grain too.

As we got closer to the summit of our hike the saguaro cactus were much more prevalent.

We also found a lot more large boulders along the trail.

The large rocks with the Common Sotol look great together... but as they start to crowd the path, the parks people have pruned them back a little.

When the ocotillo blooms this will be an amazing place! Once the flowers come out this is one of the most popular hikes.

Once we reached the summit it was a good time to take a rest break and drink some water... we are still about 30 minutes from the pools.

 We were all looking forward to reaching our goal... the Romero Pools.

In places the trail has walls on both sides... almost like walking in a trench.

In other places the path was a jumble of different sized rocks.

Doesn't this rock look like a bird sculpture?

Soon we were hearing the sounds of water... we were getting close to the pools.

At last we could see the pools... and other people were already there.

Some of us hiked a little down stream... but we turned back when we saw a couple hugging and kissing. We gave them a little privacy.

This rock looked like it was a pretty good spot for a picnic... but we kept exploring around.

Olivia was testing the water temperature... thinking about taking a little dip?

Apparently there is water here year around... but the streams slow up to a mere trickle.

This rock looks perfect! "A table for eleven."

Toy grabbed my camera to get me in a picture so I could prove to Shirley I made it to the pools.

Great shot, Toy! Thank you. It was a perfect setting for our lunch... and we were all quite ready for a break with some food and some rest. Now the problem will be to get back on our feet again.

A little up stream a couple were also having a picnic by the pools.

Chuck was taking a panorama shot.

After lunch some of us went a little further upstream... there are lots of "pools" in this Romero Canyon. And some started on the hike back down.

Soon we came upon this double waterfall... and Toy was the first to check it out. With him standing on the rock it helps to give us some scale for the size of the waterfall.

It didm't take a lot of encouragement to get Olivia to take off her shoes and socks and cool off her feet in the ice cold water.

But she didn't linger there very long.  Now where are those dry shoes and socks?

Someone thought this looked like Mt. Rushmore... but with only one president.

As we were hikinging back down we were all running out of energy.

 It was an amazing hike... but all of our tail feathers were dragging. Laurie scared us when she slipped on the wet path just after leaving the highest pools... but she got up and was OK... and able to carry on without any problem.

Anita said she was going to kiss the ground when we got back down... but when I pushed her to do it she said if she got down to do it, she would never be able to get back up again...

So Chuck symbolically did it for her... as Toy faked giving him a kick in the behind!

When we reached the parking lot our watches told us we were gone about five hours.

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt."