Thursday, November 22, 2019 (Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ)

We woke to clouds this morning...and although we prefer blue sky, today's clouds made for a perfect hiking day. RV friends Dale and Ruth told us about a great hike nearby that they had recently done...Brown Mountain Trail...so we all piled into Dave's truck and headed to the trailhead. Turns out it wasn't very far away and we could have walked it...oh well, we're here now. As we were getting ready to hit the trail, poor Margaret managed to get a cholla needle in her paw. After some frustrating moments trying to get it out, it finally came out...and Dave took Margaret home...might not be the best trail to take her on.

Brown Mountain is named for C.B. Brown, the man who became a tireless advocate for protection of Tucson Mountain Park and is considered its founder....

We hit the trail at 11:00 and after a couple of wrong turns, we were back on track thanks to the "AllTrails" app on our phone. We did the loop trail counter-clockwise...it starts by following the valley, winding around, up and down...

You have to be very careful you don't get pricked when walking some of the trails...

You can see the trail on top of the hill...

A forest of Saguaro!

It can take 10 years for a saguaro cactus to reach 1 inch in height. By 70 years of age, a saguaro cactus can reach 6 and a half feet tall, and will finally start to produce their first flowers. By 95-100 years in age, a saguaro cactus can reach a height of 15-16 feet, and could start to produce its first arm.

Fishhook Cactus...

Arms growing every which way...

 A pack rat midden is a debris pile constructed by a woodrat. A midden may preserve the materials incorporated into it for up to 50,000 years, thus may be analyzed to reconstruct their original environment, and comparisons between middensallow a record of vegetative and climate change to be built.
This dead Saguaro looks like some sort of alien...

We came across a couple of bucks...

This Ocotillo is growing all around the Saguaro...

...and then the trail turns and starts up the mountain.

Below is a picnic area and in the distance is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum a must see when in the area...

The trail was pretty narrow with quite a drop off...something that both Leslie and I are not fond of. They are from the flatland's of Alberta and aren't used to the mountain hikes. Dave is helping Les and as you can see, I'm as far to the mountain side of the trail as I can possibly get!

The trail ahead in the distance...

We think this is a Cactus Wren nest...

The trail went up one peak, down...and then up to another peak...4 times!

The trial continues onto the next mountain...

Spectacular views!

Don't like that drop-off...

A nice spot for a break...

Steve hamming it up..."The Thinker"!

Down again...see the trail up to the next peak?

Are we tired yet?

Down we go...

The ground really started to change colour on this hill...

And finally no more peaks to climb...but this downhill was very rocky and pretty steep. My knees weren't happy...

The campground below. Our rigs are in the centre...

This was a particularly tough spot. Dave helping Leslie get her footing...while I'm sizing it up...

Our hike took us almost 3 1/2 hours and was 5.1 miles/8.2 kms of beautiful scenery and views...but we were all thankful when we finally reached the truck! And poor Dave, we think he must have lost all the feeling in his hand with all the hand holding LOL! Glad we drove to the trailhead after all! We were all tired and sore...my knees were screaming! But it was a fabulous hike...one of the best and well worth it if you are ever in the area.

Back home, we did some recuperating in our reclining chairs with more water for about an hour and then joined Leslie and Dave for happy hour. We headed home just after 5:30...I think everyone was looking forward to a quick dinner and then an evening with feet up in front of the TV!