Tucson, Arizona : Picture Rock Trail

East of Tucson...you take Picture Rocks Road and as soon as you go through a pass there is a parking area on the right.  Cross the street , but be careful...it is a busy road.  Take the Ringtail trail to get to the cut off for picture rocks wash.  Picture rocks wash is called that because there are some fairly nice petroglyphs to see.  When you hit the wash, there are no signs to direct you.  Luckily we ran into some people that knew the area.  You hang a left when you hit the wash.

it is not a hard trail; our fitbits logged this as a five mile round trip

a bird...he was different so click to enlarge

The petroglyphs--more than 100 dating from about A.D. 900 to 1350. The carvings are believed to be the work of ancient Indians known as the Hohokam.  They depict animals, human-like figures, solstice and equinox markers, spirals and other designs.

it is always amazing to see these

Tucson, Arizona - Tanque Verde Hike

So is it safe or not

and here we go...after reading those signs you can guarantee we will be careful.  The trail to the canyon is only .5 miles down and there are no clouds in the sky...so we will be good. 

a beautiful day to be outside

you can see the snow capped mountains of Mt. Lemmon in the distance. (click on any picture to enlarge)

Down in Tanque Verde Canyon

Trying to find a trail upstream to the big waterfalls

As far as I could get trying to climb vertical

The "trail" going up

The wise woman decided to play it safe

Coming down, I spent most of the time on my butt

Smug and safe

The failure coming back

Until the next trail

Tucson, Arizona- Catalina State Park - Romero Pools Hike

Quite a few trails to choose from; we are doing the Romero Pools hike. Due to recent rain and snow melt, there should be a waterfall to see and some pools. Our fitbits logged it as ten mile round trip!

first, you have to forge the stream...we found some logs and rocks to get across on; otherwise you have to take off your shoes and roll up the pants.

the next challenge---a lot of these stairs

after the stairs, we ran into a very rocky path; sometimes it was hard to see where the trail led :)  Click on any picture to enlarge it

elevation gain is somewhere around 1,200 on this hike, so that is a whole lot of climbing; however, it was worth it because the views were beautiful

yes, you have to watch your step while taking in the view

Still climbing

A natural campsite on a ridge sheltered from the wind

Watch out for pricks on the trail

several types of flowers were blooming in February at 6,000 feet.  See the red bark?

Trying to make an arty shot while eating a sandwich and composing the overture for new opera.

some snow higher up

on the ridge, the hiking was much easier

yes, that is the trail

Lots of nice plants on the hike

up and evidently down

there's our peek at the waterfall...now have to do some research to see if any trails will take us there; it was huge; bet is is amazing up close and personal

The Romero Pools are pretty neat; the water does not look deep but a good foot or two and crystal clear. The areas of the pool where water lands are three to six feet in spots. Deep enough for a soak.

small falls at the pools

Let's head back to the car.