Monday, March 1, 2010

Escape from Wasson Mountain!


Right! So a lot of time to make up for here... Woosh, we shall whisk right through the rest of Tucson, into New Mexico, and out into Texas (which is where we are actually now)!

So Feb. 7th started out with rain and cats strolling around in puddles... It ended with me hiking through the desert with my flashlight... And I AM happy to report zero mountain lion sightings and a safe return to the RV! Yes, I got a late start on my hike up Mt. Wasson and spent the last hour or so back in darkness. Dummy me, would've been my fault if a sick, hungry puma decided to try for easier prey...! Esp. that delicacy fed on ice cream and chocolate...!!! But at least I got to see sunset from a cool vantage point...

This picture is actually just behind our RV park, in the Tucson Mountain Park. Aren't the saguaros cool? And they rightly deserve our respect! One of these cacti can weigh 10-15 tons (almost all water), and grow up to 40 feet tall, at maturity. They can live 150 years or more. And they grow so slowly! 5 years for that first inch!!! 30 years and it may be as tall as 3 feet! So be nice to them!!!! They have a hard enough time!
OK, so now on with the hike! The trailhead for the King Canyon Trail is right behind the Desert Museum. It's 6.5 miles and almost 2000' gain to the 4687' peak. This is a view looking back over part of Tucson proper towards Mt. Lemmon.

A moody scene, looking out to the east. Our RV park is in the shadows, center right.


Mt. Wasson, highest point in the Tucson Mountains and the western portion of the Saguaro National Park.

Mt. Lemmon and Mt. Wasson's shadow.

View to the west - the rest, I suppose, of the Tucson Mountain range.

Straight into the sun.
Headed back down the trail.
Trying to beat the night - yeah, right!
Pretty sight and kind of weird look with some kind of reservoirs. Hmm, don't think I'm likely to do the return 3.2 miles in the next 10 minutes or so...!! (esp. while I can still boost the ISO on the camera...!)
OK, well this is it. The parting shot. There's no more light.
And so we leave Tucson.
New Mexico next.


1 comment:

  1. The photo of the shadow cast by the large saguaro was awesome. Enjoy the next part of your journey.

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