Agua Caliente, MUY Caliente!

October 25, 2014

Agua Caliente Hill

After last week's hike, we were anxious to go out and do another with our hiking pup. We chose to hike to Agua Caliente because we heard it was dog-friendly and one Curtis had only done once, 3 years ago. Last time he did it was in the "winter," and according to him it was cold and cloudy and he wasn't able to enjoy the view. Today, it was perfectly clear and the 3 of us set out, excited for a new adventure!

Agua Caliente is on the Northeast side of Tucson, between the Catalina and Rincon mountain ranges. The trail begins with a lot of elevation gain in a short amount of time, and uses stairs to help with the incline. It goes up the East side of a hill, and then evens out on a ridge. Charlotte did a great job with this - she had plenty of energy and spunk that helped her to jump up even the higher stairs. There were 3 different groups that we ran into within the first mile, all heading the other way and all took time to give Charlie some love.

One hiker showed us how to get Charlotte to drink from our Camelbacks. This turned out to be super helpful, especially because we forgot to bring her water bowl this time! To get her to drink, we sit down next to her and take a drink with her watching. Then, we hold out our hand and pour water into it. It didn't take her long at all to figure it out, and she really enjoyed it - which is a good thing, because it got HOT!

That very green pool is called Cat Track Tank. Gross...but still kind of cool looking, not something we've run into before! This is about 2 miles into the hike. After following the ridge past several hills, the trail descended at this point and continued through a valley.

Looking ahead to where we're headed

We thought that peak in the background was our destination. It wasn't until we were past it that we realized the trail went much further than we thought! 

Looking back (Southwest) and waiting for Charlie and Curtis to catch up. It was starting to get hot...WAY too hot to be out here! But being so far already, we weren't about to turn back! The peak we *thought* was our destination was getting closer and closer!

Here they come! Charlotte walked for most of the first 3 miles, with some help at an especially steep part, and then one more mile before the end of the trail. She was a bit slower and more distracted than last weekend, we think it was because of the heat and because she didn't have new exciting people and another dog to follow!

Only 1.5 miles left! At this point, she was getting tired and was constantly looking for the next shady spot to take a rest. Here, she's standing in my shadow. :)

Waiting for Curtis to share some of his cookie with her!

Nap time! Poor girl. We were giving her lots of water, but it was just too hot! This trail doesn't provide the same shade as the trail to Wrightson does either.

Facing East

Looking ahead (East) - we thought that peak was it. Nope! However, the trail up here was very pleasant (besides the heat). After a steep part getting here, we walked along this ridge, over a few hills, and then on past the peak we were looking toward.

At the point where we realized we had a bit further to go... New destination: the peak further ahead in this picture! It was a little discouraging, but the trail at this point was still easy so it didn't bother us too much. Last time Curtis did this hike, this whole stretch was cloudy, so he didn't remember anything up here.

After a very steep end of the trail, we finally made it! The end of the trail was more difficult than the rest. It consisted more of rock face and loose rocks, while the majority of the rest of the trail was well maintained and easy to walk on. Curtis gave Charlie a lift for the last part, but as soon as we reached the top, she miraculously regained her energy!

Facing West, toward Northern Tucson

Facing Southwest - this peak gave an amazing view of Tucson. And to think we thought that those smaller peaks in the foreground were the end! ;)

Facing South - to the left is the Rincon mountain range.

Facing North, toward the Catalina Mountain range.

Micah Mountain

Micah on the left, Rincon on the right!

Curtis and Charlotte went off and found a Geocache together. :)

We did it! Family picture at the top. Sadly, I couldn't find a way to get us and the view!

Family selfie!

Charlie stopped cooperating so we let her run off to eat cookies while we took more pictures looking into the sun. :)

Facing East - away from Tucson!

The way down was difficult for Charlotte. Even though it was all down hill, it was around noon and just too hot. She didn't like being carried either, all she wanted was to lie down in the shade!

Admiring all the green in the valley...while waiting on my small dog to give in to Curtis. She's turning out to be quite the stubborn little basset hound!

Letting her walk when the trail was less rocky. She's still looking out for shade!

We actually managed to make great time heading down, despite a stubborn puppy. We only stopped twice for her once we started carrying her. She was so happy to finally reach the truck - she went and laid down under it and wouldn't come out...until we offered her cookies. After the hikers/joggers we saw earlier, we saw no one on the trail, and there were no vehicles in the parking lot. I guess everyone else was smarter than us and checked the temperature before setting out on a 9 mile hike! The high was only in the mid 90's, but out on the trails it felt much hotter.

Charlie, enjoying the breeze on the way home. She was pretty lazy the rest of the day, and took many naps. :)

Map My Hike app - here's our trail!

The elevation gain - you can see that the last part of the trail (in the middle of this graph) has a ridiculous amount of incline in a very short amount of time! However, I really think that if it wasn't so hot, we wouldn't have struggled with it so much!

March 2014 Adventures

A review of our March, just a little late :)

What were we doing in March when we weren't on our vacation?

Having adventures, of course!

Curtis' semester has been heavier than last, so there have been more nights at home with homework. But we've still gotten out a bit and enjoyed this gorgeous weather - the warmest winter ever on record for Tucson! It was a great year to move down here…until of course, this winter is followed by the "hottest summer ever"…not sure if I'm ready for that! Considering we already have to run the AC at night, it's going to be a long summer!

But time to stop worrying about that, and remember all the great hikes we had while it was still tolerable~

The month started with a hike in Oro Valley at sunset - and what a lovely sunset it was! I couldn't focus on the letterboxes we were getting, the sky was so beautiful.

Then these clouds started rolling in - they were a beautiful shade of blue, and with them came much needed rain - all weekend long!

I love the blue skies contrasted with the bright yellow flowers.

The next weekend, (3/8/14) we drove down to Patagonia, AZ. While driving down I-10, we came across this oversized load:

At first, we got excited thinking it was a small plane, but then realized it was a boat. Bummer!

We started near Vail, AZ, where we met up with other Tucson letterboxers and did our road cleaning duties. That's fair, right? The city of Tucson lets us hide boxes all over (whether they know it or not) and in return, we pick up trash off of a road twice a year. :)

We made a few stops on the way down to Lake Patagonia, all for letterboxes. I didn't get many pictures on this trip, but the few I do have only begin to show the beauty of this area.

Petroglyphs on a rock, somewhere near a box.

Green! :)

So funny story: This area is a big bird watchers area, as many different and unique birds frequent this area. Our main goal was letterboxing, but we hiked with hopes of seeing a cool bird or two. As we were walking down this trail, there was the lake to our left, with the typical water plants all over. At one point, Curtis stopped and pointed, saying "look! I think I see a crane! There's it's backside!"

After looking, I had to break the news: "that's not a crane. That's a cow." :)

So he mistook a cow's front for a crane's back side. Common mistake, right? Sadly, no other bird - or almost bird - sightings that day.

The next 2 weekends were our spring break trip, but we pick up again on March 29th, with a few different hikes off of the Catalina Highway and Agua Caliente.

Above: a Japanese Isolation hole thing, from back when the Japanese prisoners were building the highway. 

Curtis plays around in them. I did not, it's rattlesnake season and I am paranoid.

Curtis: "They're basically Japanese time-out chairs."

After this picture, he climbed out of this tiny hole.

Hiking Soldier trail in the Catalina Mountains.

Selfie: Me with Tucson in the background!

Our destination: Beautiful overlook, and a letterbox!

New growth on the prickly pears.

We were able to get all letterboxes off of the Catalina Highway (Yay!) and we finished with a hike on Agua Caliente trail, for another letterbox. Thankfully not too strenuous, as it was really warming up! It pays to begin hiking early in the day.

The next day, (March 30) we drove up to Phoenix to meet with Curtis' sister, Lydia, and her husband, Jeff.  We hiked 3 miles together in the beautiful South Mountain Park, the largest municipal park in the country, and found a letterbox from 2000! Afterwards, we ate at a sushi/Hawaiian restaurant, which served the BEST SUSHI EVER, no joke! We're so excited that Lydia & Jeff are moving to our lovely state soon - it'll be so nice to live closer to family, even for just a year!

And that was our March - I can't believe that we've hiked about 130 miles already this year (not counting a 10 mile hike that only Curtis did with friends), and found 148 boxes so far! I'm hoping we can still have some time during the summer to keep up, but if not, there's always next fall. :)