Tumamoc Hill

My first hike since arriving in Tucson was a short 3-mile trek up Tumamoc Hill and back, a popular walk and run for locals because it's so close to downtown and the University. It also provides a cardiac workout without a big time commitment (I made the short but steep 1.5 miles up in 23 minutes, and I'm elderly!). 

Mini Mea Culpa
I would like to make an abashed amendment to my urban sprawl rant from the last post; my criticisms of Tucson generally only apply to the exurbs and outlying sprawl, much as I don't care for West Des Moines, or Johnston, or Ankeny and often rail against them. The older parts of Tuscon, as in many cities, are a lot more livable and human scaled. And diverse. Also, Tucson is a blue dot in a red state, the only place of any size here that isn't heavily tainted by the toxicity of insane, selfish Republicanism.

Research building built by the Carnegie Institution in 1903.

Tumamoc Hill is part of an 860-acre ecological reserve. It is a U.S. National Historic Landmark established by the Carnegie Institution in 1903. The scientists and Carnegie later parted ways as Carnegie wanted to exploit the land the scientists wanted to preserve and protect. Sound familiar? The university of Arizona later purchased the preserve and continues to conduct scientific exploration of the area. The area has been inhabited for millennia and was once home to the Hohokam people.

Wikipedia: Tumamoc, which is an O'odham word for "regal horned lizard",^[4] was a home to the ancient Hohokam people. It is the site of the earliest known trincheras village, consisting of 160 foundations of round stone structures, as well as large stone perimeter walls.^[5] Over 460 petroglyphs and a prehistoric garden beside the hill provide further evidence of Tumamoc’s importance to these people.^[5] For long after that time, 1,300 years ago, the site continued to provide resources to the Tohono O'odham, Akimel O'odham, and the Hopi. It has also been reported to be a burial site for the Apache and the O'odham.^[5]

All pavement. This is basically a service road for the Desert Lab and the plethora of antennae on the peak.

Fauna du jour, meep meep.

A little closer look.

Foundation stones moved to the summit as early as 2,400 years ago.