Sand Canyon

On my day off I took a ½ day trip to go to the Canyon of the Ancients/ Sand Canyon to hike.  The trail is in Colorado on the way to Cortez from Shiprock.

The directions are the type where you turn at x stoplight and then drive for approx 15 miles and then there is the trailhead.

Well, I missed the trailhead on my initial drive.  I was too busy enjoying the view on the drive.  The green of Colorado and the blooming wild sunflowers were gorgeous.  I appreciate greenery even more now that I live in the desert.  Both types of landscapes are beautiful in their own right.

Here are some pics from the hike. 

Trailhead, start of the hike - back from the road a little - that's why I missed the giant sign the first time I passed it. :)

Greenery :)

Beautiful layers within the rocks.  If only I were a geologist so I could tell you more about the different layers.

The Sand Canyon

When was the last time you went for a hike?  Where did you go?

A Camping Adventure

I am 1/2 way through my 13 day stretch of straight work.  Today worked 7am-7:30pm, will repeat tomorrow.
Due to such hours and my level of tiredness, "A Camping Adventure" shall be mainly a picture blog.  I have added a few minor comments, but for a better story make up your own commentary :)

Last weekend, Sarah, Penny, Buster, Bart, and I all went camping at Mount Lemmon...

First night camping - Sarah's apartment.  Rain on Mount Lemmon

Guarding the ice chest.  

1/2 of my car full for one night :)

hiking

Buster

Penny

Bart (short for Bartholomew) or Bart Bart, or Bart-mew for short.

Bestest buds

Yup....that's right, boxed wine.  Oh and a bucket hat :)

Bart is a camping dog - LOVES the dirt

My dogs - they like camping too :)

family photo

Penny hiding from the rain (and by rain, I mean sprinkling - the kind where you're like, "I think I might have felt a drop")

"GOOD MORNING" wake up call - Buster style

Pretty Posing Princess Penny

Again perfect example of what a good camping dog Penny is 

pooped out on the way home

Monument Valley

As promised here are some of my pictures from Monument Valley.
You may recognize some of the scenery as it has been filmed for multiple movies and commercials.  I am sure my Grandparents would recognize it as they have seen every western movie ever made at least 5 times.
My mother recalled Forrest Gump and that this is where he turned around and decided that he was done running.

Still driving up to the Valley.

View from the lookout at the visitors center.  After realizing that the guided tour was $65 for 1.5 hrs on the back of a truck in some benches that had been bolted down without air conditioning, I quickly decided that off-roading in my SUV with air conditioning for only the price of my gas was a much better deal.  So....off I went down that little dirt bath you see in the above picture for 17miles.  The most off-roading I or my car has ever seen!

Me - to prove that I was there.

The different buttes and mesas each have their own names.  This one is the 3 sisters.

This is the Rain God Mesa.  It looks as if water has been poured over the top of it.

The next 2 pictures follow in succession of this one - as if panning to the right.

The Northern Window.

Scavenger Dash

The weekend before last - my co-resident, Sarah, and I entered a Scavenger Dash.  It's approximately a 5 mile, run/walk/ride public transportation race around the city - following clues, completing tasks, and gathering items.

Here we are prepping for the race - both packing our bags.  2nd use for my camelbak and still I didn't drink enough water during the day.  I guess I forgot that I was in the desert.

"Two White Chicks"

That's our team name.  It's from an inside joke, that one of our other co-residents honestly believed that we both are through and through white.  According to her, neither of us appear to have any different ethnicity in our blood.  hmm....???

The rest of our team uniform - tail feathers and all!  MoJo is our favorite type of granola bar.  My favorite MoJo flavor is mountain mix - Trader Joes sells them for $0.99 each.  (like that plug)  Maybe next time we should contact the Clif Bar company to see if they will sponsor us!

The starting point - "The Hut" in Tucson.  We ran to get our envelope of clues and then immediately started trying to figure out the answer.  They give you all of the clues at once, so if you figure out all the places you need to go then you can map out your route accordingly with the least amount of back tracking.  You're allowed to use cell phones and have a "pit crew" who is at home and can look up stuff.  I immediately called Waseem (my old roommate from last year who was in town visiting) and Sarah started searching on her phone.  After a few minutes we decided to start and have Waseem figure out the clues as we headed for one of our first destinations.  (I eventually ended up emailing Waseem a picture of the clue sheet)

1st photo clue done - Picture with a Mannequin.

1st challenge - we met a representative for YELP and had a challenge that involved searching their website for clues and reviews.  This took us longer than it should have, because we were trying to use our iphone apps rather than use the actual YELP website.  Eventually, I got fed up trying to find it on my phone and called Waseem.  This ends with me yelling "SPLOOGE" - S-P-L-O-O-G-E - into the phone in the middle of a cafe.  Waseem couldn't hear me for some reason and wasn't getting "splooge."

2nd challenge - (sorry no picture) involved Sarah blindfolded in a park standing in a maze of cones.  It was my job, using only my voice to guide her through the maze without touching a cone or else we would have to start over.  1st try was a success!!!  I guess all that talking I do paid off and Sarah's a good listener.

Next photo clue - picture of the team in an elevator.  This is a random elevator at a parking garage on the U of A campus.  

Next up - put a dollar in the donation safe at a museum (can't remember the name of the museum now)

While on the U of A campus - we made a quick run into a Jimmy Johns and grabbed a "WIPE" - which apparently is just a Jimmy Johns napkin with the word WIPE on it.

A picture of border issues.  Who is who?

NCAA Softball Champions for a certain year - we found the plaque.  woo woo

Time to do some planning.  Where are we headed next?  Can we catch a bus back part of the way?  Let me tell you - reading the bus map/schedule is more complicated than you would think.  And....if you know me - you know that I'm not the best when it comes to directions.

YAY!  Having fun.

Oops....something went awry.  One of our clues was GPS coordinates that needed to be converted into an address.  Waseem sent us an address and well....it stuck us in an alleyway.  We actually caught a bus by chance, rode it for one stop - jumped off, only to find we were not in the right spot.  Sarah called another friend to try and see if she could help us with the coordinates after we both attempted searching on our iphones.  A new $1.06 iphone app later and we had found the address.  Waaaayyyyy down the street from where we were - many more bus stops.  Now that we knew where we were headed, guess what  - no bus.  So we walked and eventually made it to Rocks and Ropes to pick up a sticker.

Last stop/worst stop - at least for Sarah anyways.  Time to eat something nasty.  A pickled egg.  No bugs though.  Sarah reported the egg as being disgusting, all the wrong texture - apparently it was chalky and not easy to swallow.  A small 5 ounce beer helped wash it down, but probably a whole gallon of beer wouldn't have been enough.  We were both glad that was our last stop & not our first.

WE MADE IT!!!  Woo hoo.  Drinks in hand.  We didn't finish so hot in terms of ranking, but we had FUN!!! 

Hiking Through Residency - Mount Lemmon Loop Trail

Today was the first of many hikes that I will take while in Tucson.  Sarah (my co-resident) and I headed up to Mount Lemmon for a hike.  It was a nice way to get out of the heat.

This may have been a little bit of an ambitious first hike, but we survived :)

Trail stats:

Distance:  8.6 miles

Trailhead elevation:  9100 feet

Elevation loss/gain:  2100 feet

The loop of course started out with the easier part, heading down hill.  It was cool atop Mt. Lemmon today.  I was happy to be wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt.  At the beginning of the hike, the mountain is covered with pine trees and wildflowers.  

It rained on us some in the beginning of the hike - HUGE raindrops!  Well...actually not raindrops.  Turned out it was HAIL.  That's right, I got hailed on in Tucson in the middle of August.

Storm Clouds

Proof - HAIL!

After hiking down 2100 feet the vegetation changed and became more desert like in nature.  The sun came out and the sweating began.  eww....  At this point, about 6 miles in I was still feeling pretty good.

Then the ascent began.  Let's just say it was much quicker than the descent had been.  My right calf was burning and I was sucking wind and could feel the elevation.  We had approximately 2 miles of switch backs to the top where we had originally started.  It started to rain, but it felt good - cooled me off some.  The view from this side of the loop trail was GORGEOUS!!!  It was amazing and completely worth it.  

Of course the picture doesn't do the view justice!

A horrible picture of us on our hike - nice.

By the time we reached the top I was exhausted.  Poor Sarah who drove home, watched my head bob like a bobble head in the seat next to her, trying to stay awake.  It's 8pm now - my legs still feel like spaghetti.  I think I'll be in bed and passed out by 8:30pm.  It ended up being a great hike, but probably a little much for my first hike in a while. 

Bugs on the trail:

swarms of ladybugs sitting on these plants for some reason?!

close up of a bunch!

Purple/blue beetle!!!