A good movie and a really, really long hike

A morning moon

With stormy weather in Tucson on Monday, Joan and I stuck close to home in the morning although I got in a good workout at the fitness center in the park.

The full moon was up and beautiful when I was out about 6 a.m. headed to the fitness center so I came back to the trailer and did my best to take a picture of it. The photo does not do it justice.

In the afternoon we decided to head to the movies (it was Senior Citizen Day at the theater – only $5.75 if you are 62 or older all day) to see Les Miserables. The movie was long but good. On the way to the theater we saw the most vivid rainbow that either of us had ever seen.



Me at the top of Wasson Peak

The bands were wide, bright and lasted for a long time. Of course I left my camera back in the park, so no photos of the rainbow. Actually there was a double rainbow, but the secondary rainbow was nowhere near as beautiful as the main one.

Before we left for the movie Joan put a pork roast in the crock pot and we had a delicious pork roast, simmered in cranberries when we got home. A couple twice baked potatoes and some dinner rolls rounded out the meal.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The challenging hiking group always has a hike on Tuesday. So I was up early and ready for today’s hike, which was billed as the season’s most difficult hike. It was cold overnight (30s) and there was snow on many of the higher peaks in the Tucson bowl.



A view from the trail

I met up with the hiking group at 8 a.m. and I offered to drive myself and four of the hikers to the trail head which is in the Saguaro National Forest.  Two of those who rode with me were “Stan and Jan” who were kind enough to drive me to the hike last week.

We headed out on the hike about 8:45 a.m. for the 8-mile round trip. The geography was simple. The first four miles to Wasson Peak – our destination – was uphill and the final four miles on a loop trail was pretty much all downhill.  Wasson Peak is the highest point in the Tucson Mountains, although there are other higher peaks in other ranges near here.

The climb was steady and at times on loose rocks so it was not a simple hike. When we reached the higher altitudes the temperatures were chilly and the wind was blowing very strongly (30-35 mph gusts).

Looking down at our "down" trail below

But once on top of Wasson Peak the views were spectacular (be sure to scroll down after this post to see some additional photos) and well worth the effort to get here. We were on the peak a little after noon and we spent about a half hour eating lunch and drinking in the vistas.

When everyone was done eating we headed down a very steep trail, which included a long section in a gravel wash, and we arrived back at our trail head about 2:20 p.m. The trip down, as you can imagine, was much quicker than the “up.”

Despite the chilly temps I worked up a pretty good sweat so I visited the shower when I got home and Joan had spent the day cleaning up and making a “Tuna Surprise” salad for the RV park potluck dinner tonight.

Everyone in the hiking group is very nice and despite the hard work, we share a lot of laughs and experiences.

Petroglyphs on the rocks (look hard you'll see them)

The potluck was fun. Everyone places their dish in front of their place setting and then everyone walks in one direction around two rows of tables picking samples of food until you arrive back at your spot and sit down.

Lucky for me, a little (just a little) of Joan’s Tuna Surprise was left so maybe, just maybe, I’ll get a rerun on one of my favorite dishes tomorrow night.

We met a couple new people and had an enjoyable dinner conversation with them. Lots of great dishes and plenty of wonderful desserts.

By 6 p.m. we were back at the trailer and ready for a quiet night at home.