12/6-8 Catalina Mountains and state park

What a Gem of a State Park, but I guess we find that often, the State Parks are in beautiful places, and are well put together.

We were ready for a shower, and these were just great! Spacious, clean, and hot. No waiting :)

I managed a bike ride to explore and set out on the "fifty year" trail- great fun!!

Big rocks, check

Small rocks, check

Sand traps, check

Big rocks on steep climbs, check

Plenty of cactus to catch your fall, check, check!

Great sunset, check!

This is going to be a good camp.

Susan want on a birding walk, we found some hikes, learned of the desert big horn in the area, saw a reptile display, even went to an evening concert (Karaoke covers), I dialed in our plan for the California coast, and made a dozen reservations for that part of the trip home. I guess it felt good to get some of the housekeeping things done.

Watching others is very entertaining, and there are different types of campers in different places. Catalina SP had the RV crowd. There were various trailers from micro teardrop trailers to monstrous fifth-wheel homes with multiple pop-outs the size of our van. Few van campers. Susan noted that the "sprinter crowd" seems to be in the national parks/ monuments more than the RVs. RV-ers seem to have a community, and like to camp together. I would not be surprised if they did pot-lucks together. And they have a lot of outside lights!, in this case Christmas lights.

12/5, Picket post Mountain

We took a great hike today, more level than normal, on the north side of Picket post Mt. close to where we wild camped last night. The posts on all trails were all about "be careful of the snakes" and "encountered a territorial diamondback" We didn't see any snakes, nor did we see the skunk that one fellow hiker said he saw- I guess both of those things are good!

I really enjoyed Picket post Mt. I think that it has the similar feeling that Mt. Hood does at home- it's a standout feature, rather than one of many. The nearby Superstition Mountains are incredible, but are a range of peaks, so don't have the same affinity for me.

12/4, The Superstition Mountains

The Superstition Mountains, Superstition wilderness. And the story of the lost Dutchman……… who was really German? Peralta Trail, Freemont Saddle, Tortilla Flats.

Some trails just seem to keep climbing! The route to Freemont Saddle was like that. Superb temperature, but the sun is intense, and the bouldering made the climb a workout. Views along the way were great, and from the top better! Lots of cactus and other plants, but the Saguaro stole the show for me, especially with the rocky spires as a backdrop.

We had to stop in to the saloon in Tortilla Flats. It's wallpapered with dollar bills, and has saddles to sit at the bar. The museum just 3 doors down has a jail cell out front where Ginger was talked into entering.

Evening was wonderful under the stars and Saguaro cactus, even a campfire! It's really nice not to be cold or wet.

Saguaro, Freemont Saddle, Superstition Mountains

Ginger gets tossed in the Tortilla Flats Jail!

12/3 Globe and the detour

I was rather ho-hum about going to the Boyce-Thompson arboretum. I think of it as a garden of trees, and I'd just as soon explore a trail in the woods without paying the admission fee. So I used Ginger as an excuse to drop Susan off, and go scout our camp site for the evening. Well, that only took 6 minutes, and Susan sent me a text saying that dogs are allowed to go in the arboretum. I checked my attitude, and thought it would be best to go on in. It was great, a huge property with a gazillion different types of cactus and desert plants. I even learned that a lot of what we refer to as cactus, are not, rather succulents. As an example, the agave plant is not a cactus, even with the thorns and thick "leaves". It was great, and we were able to spend more time than planned. We didn't get stuck :)

There were a lot of birds enjoying the trees, so we spent considerable effort spotting them- no I don't remember which ones we saw, aside from the humming bird…….

The road from Globe to Superior is only about 30 miles, but as luck would have it, it was closed for construction causing a 70 mile detour past some vast, enormous, mountain sized open pit mines. I spotted a few billboards touting the new technology used for a greener copper. "less water used means more for nature and our communities" or something like that. Would that be "greenwashing" or just "misleading"? Funny, I didn't think to photograph the mines….

12/2 Aztek Peak, Workman Creek Road

From our fantastic campsite on Rose creek, we drove up workman road to explore and hike to Aztec peak. The road was steep, narrow and rocky, so we hiked quite a bit of the road. At the trailhead, it was hard to find where the trail was, so we played it safe and hiked the road to the top of Aztec peak. It seemed rather circuitous, but that's what roads do I guess. The views from the top were great, and we bushwacked thru 2 miles of berry patch vines grabbing at us on the trail coming down.

Gaia GPS is a great tool, but we've joked that staff haven't visited Arizona in a long time. The trails are sometimes in the wrong place, and roads are named differently.

After the 8 mile hike, I drove up the 4x4 road to a fantastic camp spot in the trees- that was a little crazy, but the site was really amazing. I had a campfire, which I've been enjoying more than I anticipated.

There were some Arizona inconsistencies- two of three campsites on Workman road have been converted to day use areas, with no obvious signs in the sites. The last campsite was posted "No Camping", but nothing about the camp being closed or converted to day use. The youth camp (closed for the season) has play structures for small kids, and targets for a shooting range. Hanging on the entrance gates a "no shooting" sign (for populated areas)- ??

David Duck Photography

Discovery

12/6-8 Catalina Mountains and state park

12/5, Picket post Mountain

12/4, The Superstition Mountains

12/3 Globe and the detour

12/2 Aztek Peak, Workman Creek Road