Since I live steps away from the Tucson Mountain District of Saguaro National Park, I usually hike in the park every other morning when I am in town. I cross the vacant lot between our front door and the gas line maintenance road, turn right and enter the park. Walking the .6 miles along the gas line maintenance road is the worst part of the hike. As you might deduce, the road covers a maze of natural gas pipelines that for some reason need regular repair or inspection. Therefore, the road is often an excavation site populated with backhoes, painted arrows on the ground, yellow warning tape, litter and various employees from the chosen contractor. What is most unusual about the road is that it is a gated four-wheel drive road with a number of steep hills composed of loose rock and gravel.
To reach the beginning of Vertical Cliffs Trail from Abington Road, where we live, requires traversing four hills along this often-changing obstacle course they call a road. Until a year ago, the first hill was not terribly challenging. It consisted of four short slopes separated by narrow ledges, most likely covering gas pipes. Unfortunately, for some unexplainable reason, those ledges now resemble sloped speed bumps composed of loose rock—a dreadful way to start and end a hike. The second hill is longer, but tolerable, but the third hill is a short 60° up and down with sections of loose rock. There is a short bypass through a wash, but I’m usually too stubborn to make use of it. The fourth hill leads to the above ground gas pipe installation that often emits the odor of natural gas. I could get into my car and drive five minutes to within a few feet of the Vertical Cliffs Trailhead and avoid the hills, but then what would I have to complain about?
In any case, I digress. There are a series of interconnected loops beginning about three-quarters of a mile down Vertical Cliffs Trail. I usually hike the one that goes from Vertical Cliffs Trail to Abington Trail to South Veterans Trail, then back onto Vertical Cliffs Trail, back to the gas line, up and down the hills and back home. It’s about a five-mile hike that takes a couple hours.
In most parts of the country you can find dates for peak fall color. Here, in the Sonoran Desert, we observe peak spring color, that is if it rained during the previous winter. This year, to-date, we’ve had more than three inches of rain and an inch of snow. We average about 10.5 inches of precipitation annually and most of that comes during the late summer monsoons, so it’s been an above average year so far and the desert has expressed its gratitude accordingly.
A couple of weeks ago, an old friend, Tom Kennedy, was visiting and we went for morning strolls in the desert. Tom has seen everything. He spent a decade as the Director of Photography for National Geographic Magazine. Even so, every few steps, he stopped and took pictures with his cell phone. He was seeing the desert in bloom with the awe of a child while I was immune to the beauty of the everyday. After Tom left, I decided that I needed to see the desert anew once again and that I needed to document and share it.
I’ll add other seasons in the years to come, but for now, enjoy a few glimpses of peak spring color. Thanks Tom.