Tucson

We are spending the week of Christmas in Tucson, at Justin's Diamond J RV park. It isn't a resort by any stretch, but the sites are large, the hookups full with 50 amp and there are trails right outside the gate through the beautiful Arizona desert.

There are cholla, saguaro and prickly pear cactus thick in this part of the Sonoran Desert.

The nearby trails were developed and are maintained by the campground staff.  They are labeled with neatly printed signs on the rocks.  At one time the signs must have been different.  In 2 places we saw this old tin baking sheets with long faded arrows marking the way.

The have a sense of humor, as well.   Here are two "graves" along the track.  The jug at the head of the right-hand grave reads "Platte River."  It comes from Missouri.

These folding chairs once provided a resting place along the trail.  There have long outlived their usefulness.

The day after Christmas we went hiking in the nearby national park.  Can you guess which one it is?  We are near Saguaro National Park West.

What a Hike!

Tuesday we hiked the Hugh Norris Trail in Saguaro National Park. The ocotillo is blooming profusely. We have never seen so many flowers. It's good the scenery was so beautiful. It distracted us from the pain in our legs, caused by all the steps we had to climb. Maybe even more steps than ocotillo flowers. The section of the trail that we hiked was 2.7 miles one way. Steps like these were a constant for maybe half of that distance. First we went up. Then we had to come back down. Both were hard on us. And when there were no steps, there was mainly an uphill climb (or downhill, depending on our direction). It was a great hike. But we won't be redoing that trail for a while. Living in an RV, we only have 7 steps to climb. We are out of practice. I guess it is good for us to do it, however.