A hike to Bridal Wreath Falls, more like a trickle

I was up and at ‘em early today for a hike into the Rincon Mountains in Tucson.

Last Friday I went with the “Easy” hike group and today’s hiking group takes on more challenging trails each Tuesday. I was a little apprehensive about taking this hike to Bridal Wreath Falls as I have not done any serious hiking since my son Tim and I did a 35-mile back pack trip on the Appalachian Trail in October.



Me pointing to Bridal Wreath Falls

My worries were for nothing. It was a moderately difficult hike but nothing like the Appalachian adventure. Next week the group is climbing to the summit of Wasson Peak, the highest point in the Tucson Mountains and that promises to be a little more challenging.

The group that showed up for today’s hike was so large we had to break into two groups to comply with National Park Service regulations that limit the size of hiking groups to 18 people.

A nice couple from Washington, Stan and Jan (yesterday it was Randy and Candy) offered to let me ride with them as Joan sat out this hike. They were extremely nice folks and we had a nice visit on the way out and on the way back from the hike.

Temperatures today rose into the 80s so we finished the hike when it was fairly warm. I would not want to do this hike in the summer when the temperatures soar into the 100s.

We didn’t see any wildlife and probably won’t with groups this size, but the beauty of the cactus and desert is often awe inspiring. The distant views of the City of Tucson as we climbed into the mountains were spectacular. I have posted a number of photos below this post, but they don’t do justice to what we saw.

If you look real close you might see the "trickle"

Unfortunately, the falls were pretty much just a trickle today, but we stopped for an extended lunch at the falls, which is a 2.9 mile hike from the parking lot. The return trip down the trail was quick and the total  length of the hike was 5.8 miles. We did it in about 3 ½ hours.

When I arrived back at the trailer Joan had finished the laundry and I volunteered to make our bed which is always a trial as the bed is tucked into a little cove at the front of the trailer and you pretty much have to make the bed by climbing on top of it.

After I completed that chore I took my second shower of the day to wash the sweat and trail off of me.

I continued reading my book and then Joan decided this was a good night to go out to dinner. We found an Olive Garden and had the best waiter ever – Cameron. It’s always nice to see someone who is really good and enthusiastic at what they do.

The reason we picked Olive Garden. Wait for it……we had a $4 off coupon. Sometimes we are the stereotypical senior citizens.

Our lunch stop

 This has nothing to do with our current travels. But last night we thought about watching an Animal Planet show called “Finding Bigfoot.”  Except that every program about Bigfoot always ends with them NOT finding Bigfoot.

And in case you were wondering, that’s because there is no such thing as Bigfoot. You might find a big man in a Bigfoot suit, or maybe a bear at a long distance, but I’m not wasting any more time watching programs about “Finding Bigfoot” only to find out in the end that no Bigfoot was found.

Usually they put out one of those cameras that automatically snap a picture in the middle of the night when there is movement. All they ever take a picture of is a skunk, a deer, a dog or a squirrel. Never, ever a Bigfoot.