Coronado National Forest - Sabino Canyon #2

Last week I spent much time in Sabino Canyon, likely Tucson's most visited park, part of Coronado National Forest. I did several early morning hikes there attempting to capture some pictures of the moon setting at sunrise. With the moon setting in the southwest and knowing the canyon runs that direction I knew there would be numerous places to enjoy and photograph the moon over the canyon. The water was getting low but still plentiful enough to delight in the sound of it rolling over rocks and take in some pretty reflections of the moon and canyon in the pools. In general, this is a great place for sunrise hiking and you will find many locals out exercising in this spectacular spot. I took several exquisite mornings relishing the canyon's beauty, taking pictures, lying on the rocks relaxing, and enjoying one of my trips with friends. Unfortunately, I am still being plagued by equipment problems, although using a friends Nikon FG, I was able to land a few nice images from the weeks outings. This was a relief after arising at the terrible hour of 4:30 am to be able to do sunrise hikes this time of year. It is the best way to see the desert during the hot months, which have officially begun, when being done with a hike by 9:00 am or so is ideal if you don't want to be miserable from the heat or even risk heat caused illness. It was a wonderful few mornings that I hope to repeat again soon. With it only being about a 7 or so mile roundtrip on a paved trail with only a slight grade it makes for an easy early morning jaunt, assuming I can coax my body out of bed.

• Hey everyone I've just joined Flickr where I am now posting many of my images - so go check them out!

• Many of my images are also available at my Zazzle gallery.

• If you are looking to travel to Tucson, Arizona, or anywhere else, be sure to click over to my travel site.

• For Coronado National Forest visitor information click here. For those looking for a nice ride up the canyon there is an open air tram ride through Sabino Canyon Tours. (You'll thank me later for this link as it seems there are all kinds of websites with wrong links to this company.)
  

Read more...

Coronado National Forest - Mt. Lemmon - Sunset Trail

Trail info: Length: Appx. 3 1/2 miles (out and back)
Last week I set out on one of the few short hikes on Mt. Lemmon, the Sunset Trail. You can access this short trail at either the far end of the parking lot at Marshall Gulch or off Catalina Highway across the street from the Butterfly trail head. This trail is not in all of the guides or named on many maps or even the Forest Service website, but it is there. I started out at Marshall Gulch as I wanted to hike along the stream there first. The trail goes downstream from the big parking lot and stays along the stream, but only for a little while. It quickly climbs away from the stream and up the hillside. While it offers many great views, this hike traverses through a lot of dead forest, a result of the fires a few years ago. The trail is not too difficult and has only a few areas of climbing over rocks. With so many dead trees you are exposed to the sun regularly on this one which made this hike a bit warm. There were some pretty flowers in bloom and some nice overlooks which made the hike worth doing, but I wouldn't put it high on my list of hikes to go back an do again. One excellent view, which is a nice sunset spot (see photo above) is probably how the trail got its name can be easily reached by hiking from the trail head at Catalina Highway down (most of that trek is along a forest road for cabin access), and is likely no more than about 2/3 of a mile to reach. I spent some time at this spot gazing into the valley below and ultimately laying down to relax while a refreshing breeze sweeping across the hillside kept me comfortable. It was certainly a peaceful hike and I never ran into anyone else hiking it which provided some nice moments of solitude and letting the mind wander.

If you are looking to travel to Tucson, or anywhere else, be sure to click over to my travel site.
If you like the images you see they are available at my Zazzle gallery.
For Coronado National Forest visitor information click the link.
I now have images on Flickr ! Please visit and post comments.

Read more...