Tuesday, February 21, 2017

SWEETWATER TRAIL...ONE OF OUR FAVORITE HIKES

Monday, February 20 – This morning we hiked one of our favorite trails here in Tucson, AZ. It is located on the west side of Tucson in Sweetwater Preserve. This is a very popular trail area so if you want to hike here we recommend heading out early to beat the crowds. There are also many mountain bikers that ride in this area so you find yourself sharing the trial with them. We hiked on President's Day so that may have added to the number of people out of this beautiful day.



The parking area is large so parking is not a problem. We started west on the Saguaro Vista Trial.



This is a very memorable area. Thousands upon thousands of Saguaro Cactus dot the mountainside.





We even found a crested Saguaro along this part of the trail.



We continued on taking most of the perimeter trails until reaching the “Spine” trail intersection.

Here we turned east picking up several trails until we returned to the trail head. The trails are well marked with signs showing “You are here” spot on the trail map.






We covered about 4.2 miles in under 3 hours (We stop often for pictures.) and took just over 12,000 steps. The elevation gain is minimal. As mentioned above, we hiked this trail previously and have always remembered it as one of the best for seeing Saguaro Cactus. We weren't disappointed!

This baby was sure a strange one.


A garden of prickly pear cacti greeted us along the tail.



















That is Mt. Lemon with snow on the top.



















Birds were every where.

















We no more arrived home when a car pulled up. Here were Mary and Dave, long-time readers of our blog. We have never met them. They are staying at the campground right down the road. It was wonderful chatting with them and learning more about their home in Canada. Thanks for stopping by Mary and Dave. Their dog, Houdini, had to wait in the car. He liked Bella a bit too much....lol It was great to meet you three.

Mary and Dave




















After a quick bite to eat, we took Bella, our cat, on a hike in the desert near the campground. She loves the desert!

Miss Bella



















We then relaxed for several hours before cleaning-up to meet RV friends for happy hour at Buffalo Wild Wings. This is the first time we have had the opportunity to meet up with Monaliza and SteveSue and Dave, Lisa and Hans. Thanks for a great time, and thanks Monaliza for the photo.

L-R: John, Dave, Sue, Marsha, Paul, Steve, Monaliza, Lisa,
Hans, Pam.
The gang

















Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

9 comments:

  1. What a great hike and wonderful Happy Hour..

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  2. What a great day out on the trail!! Love all those Saguaro cactus!! They are quite large.
    Always great meeting up with friends!!

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  3. Small world! We met Mary in Mission, TX when we both were staying at Bentsen Palm Village. Glad to see they still have Houdini. Sweet dog, as long as he stays away from cats ;-)

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  4. Absolutely gorgeous area. We love areas like that.

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  5. The Sweetwater Trails are a great way to get up close with the saguaro without killing yourself:) Glad you found this cute crested saguaro. Bella looks very comfortable out there hiking on the desert trail:) It was so nice to get together and for you to finally meet some blog friends! Safe travels north. See you soon!!

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  6. Last year we houses at a home that backed to Sweetwater and enjoyed that area. What fun with friends.

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  7. Yet another trail to explore, thanks for the peak. Finally after years of following each other we have met! It was a pleasure meeting you and Paul. Safe travels and hope to cross paths somewhere.

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