The
Pima Canyon Trail in Oro Valley, near Tucson, AZ, was a real workout! The first part of the
trail skirted private property; that was the boulder hopping segment.
Six
Javelinas in the wild! We had seen them before as they wandered
through the schoolyard, or slept at the Desert Museum, but these were
really
in the wild, about six of them, nibbling on the vegetation instead of
on leftover bits of student lunches. The picture below shows one at
the school, but today we watched instead of photographing.
 |
| Javelina in the schoolyard |
 |
| Javelina snack. Ouch! |
About
halfway through the morning, the vegetation changed from prickly pear
cactus, barrel cactus, creosote bushes and lots of saguaro cacti, as we entered the
side of the canyon, the shady side. Mesquite trees, ocotillo, and
other small leafed trees (live oak?) lined the trail, creating a
dappled shade. The path wasn't quite so littered with rocks. I don't have a picture of the shaded part.
 |
| Tall Occotillo |
The
first landmark was the Cottonwood
trees,
and even a few shallow pools of water and
bits of a stream
escaping downhill. Water!
“What
on earth is that?” I exclaimed.
Something large and brown moved in
a small tree, but it wasn't a bird! At first it looked like a group
of monkeys. Russet brown fur, long bushy tails, and faces like
badgers or raccoons. The Arizona Coati! These
creatures were eating the berries of the tree, truly hanging in every
direction just like monkeys.
We
kept asking people if there was a destination to our trail, and
finally a couple of volunteers who were trimming branches told us
about a dam.
“It's
about a mile and a half from here. You cross the wash (dry canyon
bed) two or three times until you see some cattails and a small dam.”
 |
| Rock dam on left |
I
could hardly wait. I didn't really have our whole lunch with us, but
stuffed a few items into my fanny pack at the last minute—cheese, a
piece of carrot and one green onion, and a few walnuts and dates.
That would have to be our midday meal, and it was
noon, three hours after we started.
Finally!
There was the dam, a wonderful deep pool of water, and a big slab of
rock if you wanted sun, and a granite “bench” to have some shade
to cool off.
Across from us the canyon wall held the promise of
seeing the Canyon Wren
close up. I had spotted it earlier, but now got reacquainted with
its song, kind of a descending trill made up of five notes.
“I
bet he'll come right on that rock in front of us” said Terry as we
quietly munched on our snack. And he did.
 |
| Desert Marigold |
Oh
yes! I almost forgot the Indian grinding holes that the volunteers
mentioned. These were by the dam as well.
As
we approached the small parking lot at the beginning of the trail
again, five hours later, Terry hugged me and exclaimed, “Well done!”
And
I was pleased that I had walked 10.5 km, the same distance as the
trail on Madera Canyon, in April 2015.
I
think all my muscles will be sore tomorrow, though!
