Photo Friday: Tucson area hikes

I'm catching up on photo edits again, and have some shots from some of the hikes I did around Tucson last month. It's such a contrast from Seattle's winter landscape!

The next afternoon after arriving I went for a short hike with a friend up the very popular Sabino Canyon. We were so busy talking and catching up that I pretty much forgot to shoot photos, but did capture this, one of the most graphic warning signs I've seen (I kind of collect interesting signs).

"If you aren't careful you will ruin your bike and fly off the bridge to land on the rocks below and die."

A day or so later I went to the local "A Mountain" (not just a mountain, but the one with the big white A for the University of Arizona) for a bit of trail-running (heavily mixed with walking). That offered some good views of the city.

Tucson, with Saguaros.

People below me are sitting on the big A.

A third hike was out by the Sonoran Desert Museum, in the National Park's West Unit. I'll report on the museum in another post, but have a few shots from my hike up the King Canyon trail, which made a nice loop of about an hour. It was a good hike for checking out the cacti.

Wandering into the hills with the park's namesake cactus.

Cholla, with fruits.

Once a gila woodpecker makes a hole in a cactus, the plant creates a "scab" around the wound, which makes a dry and secure home for the woodpecker--and other birds who may come after. The cactus doesn't seem bothered by the holes.

No one seems to know just why some saguaros make a single stalk and others get branches. Sometimes a lot of branches.

Looking southwest from the park.

While I was still in Tucson I shared some cell-phone photos from my final and largest hike, in the Douglas Springs area in the eastern unit of Sonora National Park, focused on the drought. Here are a few more to give the feel of the hike, a 6 1/4 mile loop up into the hills. I'd like to do it in the spring when things are in bloom!

Yes, Petey came with me!

Finally got an early start, with better light for at least a little while.

The desert plants depend on each other, with young cacti growing in the shade of mesquite and palo verde. In this case, it looks like both a saguaro and an ocatillo sprouted in the shelter.

Sometimes the branches look like they are curious about us ground-crawlers and reach a tentacle down to check us out!

Though very skinny from lack of water, the prickly pears were wide-spread, and always cool when back-lit.

Last year's fruit, or possibly bloom?

The trail wound across the flats and then began to climb, soon offering views to give me excuses to stop and rest. Once I reached the higher valley where the Three Tanks trail made my loop, I found ocatillo in bloom!

Too dry for leaves, but apparently not too early for flowers.

There were hummingbirds sipping their nectar, but they moved to fast to photograph.

When I stopped for a snack at the high point Petey got out to look around.

When the trail wound back around to descend again, the view was out across Tucson.

Dry watercourse--another thing that might be much nicer after some rain, with water running in it.

This venerable saguaro has clearly survived a lot of trauma, and still stands strong and towering above the palo verde that may have sheltered it in its youth (this one, or a predecessor? I'm not sure about relative life-spans!).

That's all for now--I still have some photos of museums and around town to share, but I'll save them for another post. I'm glad to be home, working hard on the novel and in a position to get back to regular blogging. See you soon!

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025
 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.



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