South and North Honeybee Trails

I've been trying to motivate myself to hike more short hikes—under 6-7 miles—as a way to fill in during the week to take the place of my boring old repetitive walks. Perhaps hikes that sweeten the pot by providing an interesting destination, geologic formation, or flora or fauna. 

Today I headed up to the Honey Bee Canyon Park and combined the two Honeybee trails, the Honeybee Loop Trail to the south, and the Honeybee North out-and-back trail for a blistering total of four miles. But these two trails had some interesting elements to make them worth the effort: human artifacts from disparate historical eras. The first, on the Honeybee South Loop Trail, is a dam (never a good environmental idea) from perhaps the beginning of the 20th century or the end of the 19th; the second—and to my way of thinking much more interesting—are the Hohokom petroglyphs on the North Honeybee Trail, from around 500 CE, or so it is surmised. The Hohokum people lived in the Tucson area from around 1 CE to their disappearance around 1,500 CE. 

Perfect weather once again, 73º and a slight wind, with clear skies. Saw one two people on the south loop, and no one on the northern segment.

Most of this hike was in the Sausalito Creek wash, so sandy with few rocks to hike over.

Someone thought it prudent to dam up this beautiful

canyon some dozen decades ago.

This is what lay beyond the dam.

There is another newer dam on the north trail, a few hundred yards before the petroglyphs that are this trail's raison d'ê·tre.

Hohokum petroglyphs.

The mountain ridge in the background captures the quiddity of the Santa Catalina Range, of which it is a part.

 

Ram's Canyon (Catalina SP) and Walter’s Cascade Trails

After hiking the Ram's Canyon Trail in Oro Valley a week or so ago, and looking at the trail's proximity to Catalina State Park, I thought I could connect the two hikes near the large water tank they have in common. I was basing this supposition on the satellite maps for each hike (see below) and sure enough, they do connect. One could easily create a decent 10+ mile out and back trail combining both hikes, or a shorter point-to-point hike.

Today's hike is an agglomeration of several trails but primarily based on the Ram's Canyon Trail inside Catalina State Park. The first mile is the last segment  of the Alamo Canyon Loop if one hikes it clockwise; the next mile or so is a portion of the Dead Horse Canyon out-and-back; Ram's Canyon up to the water tank; and finally, the final leg of the Dead Horse Canyon hike, a piece called the Walter’s Cascade Trail, which I hiked to on a previous Dead Horse Canyon hike.

Had to pay ten bucks for this hike today primarily because the State of Arizona had no choice but to raise their day pass rates and more than double the price of annual park passes because of cutbacks from the Neo-Nazi nitwits in the fatuous fascist Shitler government. This all affects poor people the most, of course, just so the cretinous deranged orange monster can give massive tax cuts to his billionaire friends. Despicable. But enough ranting about MAGA asshats. 

Beautiful weather today. Clear skies, no wind, and 73º. Saw a few other trail users, including a couple on horseback, but mostly I had the trails to myself.

The water tank, looking northeast.

Satellite images of today's hike, on the left; last week's, on the right. The grey circle is the water tank.

The cascading water, mostly a trickle today, but check the video below.

Seven Falls, Bear Canyon, East Fork, Sabino Canyon Loop

Finally got to do our longer hike today, just shy of 18 miles, and we did it in a wicked fast pace compared to prior hikes. Aren't you supposed to slow down when you age? Highlight of the hike was seeing a black bear cub scrambling ahead of us on the trail, near a water source so probably a mother nearby. I have never seen a bear down here, but they live here in theory. Humans have really taken over the environment, unfortunately. Didn’t get a picture as we were trying to get well past the little fellow and put mother and offspring in the river view mirror.

Glad for the catharsis hiking brings during these trying times, when every day some stupid Nazi incel from the Shitler administration does something incredibly cruel to a person of color, or murders a protester, or destroys our relationships with our allies and cozies up to dictators.

But enough about those MAGA ass hats. 

We hit the trail around seven in the AM, fully an hour and forty minutes before I usually arise, or so my watch tells me. Beautiful day for a hike. Under 50º at the start, but mid 70s on the return mid afternoon. Luckily we got an early start and saw only two other hikers before Seven Falls. Most people don't go beyond them, and today we saw no one until lunch, on the other side of the loop.

Love the mountain silhouettes in the early morning.

 

Bear Canyon is oriented toward the north, so morning sun takes a while to hit anything but the upepr reaches.

Saw only two hikers on Bear Canyon on the way to Seven Falls, a very popular destination. Glad we started early.

This little guy thought he would hitch a ride...

...and he is a family member of this Teddy Bear Cholla, cute but the quills, tiny as they are, are not something you want to attempt extracting from your skin.

Seven Falls, not flowing so well now that the rains have ended.

Seven Falls.             （Photo by Misty Atkins）

Seven Falls.

Happy to turn the corner on this sliver of Tucson sprawl and out into simulated wilderness. And after we left the Falls, we saw no other hiker until the intersection of the East Fork and West Fork trails on the north side of the loop.

From whence we came: Rather reminds me of the switchbacks on the South Kaibab Trail in the Crand Canyon.

(Photo by Misty Atkins)

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                                                                                    (Photo by Misty Atkins)

The apogee of this hike is about nine miles in, and

almost precisely where the Bear Canyon, East Fork, and

Sycamore trails coincide.

 

Our lunch spot where the East Fork, West Fork, and Sabino Canyon trails meet. The West Fork takes you up to Romero Pass and other trails, as well as Hutch's Pool, a favorite destination; also a longer hike and one we might do next week.