Ventana Canyon - sat 23 sep 06

my hiking preseason is OVER! four hikes is all it took to get back in shape. my friend / co-worker glenn jr and i went to the window this past saturday. it took us nine hours to make the 15 + mile roundtrip. as always, it was well worth it. the morning started on what seemed to be a very ominous tone.

i set my alarm so that i could get up early enough to make this hike possible timewise. i was not sure we would make it, as i hadn't hiked 15 miles since late may, and jr had not been hiking this year. he didn't even move out to tucson till after my last major hike back in may. he came from minnesota. anywho, instead of getting at at 4:30, i awoke at 6:00. i hurriedly get up and call jr first thang, as we planned. the phone rang forever before he answered. i could tell by his 'hello' that i had awoken him. i could also tell he was hungover. i used to know that suddenly-awakened-and-still-half drunk-because-you-only-went-to-bed-a couple-of-hour-ago-tone all too well. i asked him if this is the case, to which he readily and groggily admitted to. he still wanted to go hiking regardless. i tried to talk him out of it. he was adamant about it though, HE WANTED TO GO. i thought it was just the alcohol talking. i mean, getting drunk, being hungover and tired is no way to prepare / be for a 15 mile hike up a mountain and back. we agree to meet at the trailhead parking lot at 8:00. i take my time eating breakfast and getting ready, knowing it is a possibility that he may not even get out of bed. i was preparing my 'i am going as far as i can, with or without u, you stupid drunk' speach on the way to the trailhead. i stopped for some more H2O on the way, and realized i was not the only stupid one. i forgot my wallet at home.

that was the end of the bad stuff. now the good stuff.
we meet at a gas station by the trailhead. he is wearing a black T-shirt that reads 'i am not scared of tickles'. he buys me H2O and jerky. already having gotten a coffe, he gets more H2O, a gatorade, and jerkey. he seems alright, but admits to being tired and not feeling the best. he seems excited though despite his hungover state. so we hit the trail. i decide to spare him my 'lecture' and see what he's got.

so, finally, we start out on the trail. not even five minutes in, we see water, trickling down the hiking path that is adjacent to the rapidly running creek. when i went hiking by myself on the 9th, there was not any water on the path, and the creek was only gently flowing. it seems like it rained overnight. there was an unusual, large cloud mass hoverring over the mountains in the morning. i did not think it was a raincloud, till now. i am all the more excited, and a little worried that the stream bed crossings may be uncrossable. jr reads my mind and states how awesome it would be to get rained once up in the mountains, as long as it isn't a downpour, of course. only one way to tell...

we press on, and on, and on. about a mile in, we cross the path of a rattler. i am leading, and came about 4 or 5 feet from him (or her), before i notice 'it' and stop. the rattler is not startled. 'it' is probably too cold, and takes its sweet time slithering off the trail enabling us to press on. never did 'it' rattle its tail. that would take too much energy. we only encountered two more snakes the entire day. one was a black snake with red stripes. the other was another rattler that we only heard rattling, on our way back. we saw alot of 'footprints' and large dropping piles along the way, but saw no other animals aside from harmless squirrels and chimpmunks. small toads were everywhere. it was hard not to step on them. lizards scurrying about were aplenty, as always. lots of large multi-colored grasshoppers. one big centipede was noticed, ughhh. stinkbugs were everywhere. luckily, none attacked. red ants on the path are always a given. we did see a group of small black beetle-like bugs with irridescent blue spots on their backs that neither of us had ever seen before. surprisingly, not alot of birds were seen or heard. as for people, we only saw one dude and his dog past two miles into the trailhead.

jr seemingly is gaining energy as we go. the trail past 2 miles is badly overgrown. as on the 9th, i am prepared. i have my pruners to trim the nasty thorny mesquite trees that have grown into the path. mesquite trees were not the only annoyance along the way. a bush / weed that has a long cylindrical, green, sticky, thorny growths (along with pretty orange flowers) are worse, especially when they stick to your leg hairs. due to all the rain we have had this summer, all plants and cacti were thriving. lots and lots of blooms. the coolest of the bunch we saw were large (aproximately 4-8 inch long) white flowers on a pumpkin like vine about 3-4 miles in. the second picture from the top was taken from the mountain ridge right below the window. white daisies, red/pink tree like weeds (?), and yellow and purple flowers mixed well together and provided an excellent fill-in amongst the dead and blackened trees that had dominated this landscape on my one and only other hike to the window back on feb 19th. i also tasted indian paintbrush for the first time. it was the sweetest, most delicious naturally grwing thing i have ever tasted.

we make it to a sign at a trail intersection that is allegedly 1.25 miles from the window. this sign has my name carved into it from the 19th solo excursion. from this sign to the ridge mentioned above is hellaciosly steep, especially after already having hiked 6 miles and gaining a couple 1,000 feet in elevation. i cannot honestly say if i would have continued on without jr. by this point, he was no longer feeling the ill effects from the night before. we pushed each other well though throughout. we took turns leading the way. it is easier to see the overrun path when trailing. we switched positions often without even saying a word. this would occur when the leader wandered off the path, and the follower continued on the path. for both of us, our tired legs seemed to re-energize when taking the lead.

so, we finally make it to the window! the third picture from the top is looking thru the window. the fourth shows the window from 2-3 miles away. it is amazing how little it looks in the picture, and in real life, from this distance. you must click on the picture to even see it. the large rock formation i have dubbed the chimney (the last picture of the group) is about a mile from the window. the fifth one down is the spiered mountain top to the east of the window.

so, there you go. another day in paradise, hiking in tucson.

Ventana Canyon - mon 06 sep 06

finally, i have gotten around to type up this hike. i went on this hike by myself. i only went about 3.0 miles in. it now seems to pale in comparison to my recent excursion to the window, which i just got done typing up. but it was my final 'preseason' warm up hike. it was cool also because of all the times i have been on the ventana canyon trail, it was the first time i thoroughly explored the maiden pools area. the heart shaped pool and the pool WAY down below that it falls into (as seen in the third and second pictures down from the top respectively) can only be seen when going way off the trail and climbing down the slippery bedrock that lays at a precariously declining angle.

the praying mantis that cannot be seen well until you click on the topmost picture was just one of many lifeforms encountered on the way. i had never seen so much life on a hike.

the other pictures are pretty self explanatory. of the 51 pictures i took, these were my six favorites.

so, this was the most excellent way i spent my day off on memorial day.