Back from an enjoyable walk up at the Richard ‘Dick’ McGee trailhead.
Construction was well underway on several new homes, each inches from the wilderness boundary. They were blasting away with power tools, even on a Saturday.
We hiked up Ponototoc ridge to the ‘no dogs’ sign and Odin ventured up to the mine. I sat with Hottie, enjoying the view and the (relative) silence.
Although many complain about this area’s lack of wilderness qualities (myself included), it is still a beautiful area and a nice escape from the city. Sure, the city’s presence is unavoidable, but it’s still a natural area and better than being surrounded by concrete and automobiles.
The builders, sellers and owners of these properties should surely should be crowned heroes, but I don’t fret much about it anymore. It has happened and there is little anyone can do about it now. It’s ridiculous, but it’s still possible to enjoy a nice morning up there.
We had a few mishaps including cholla needles and a biting spider, but we survived.
After the hike we stopped by Summit hut to check out their big-top tent extravaganza. It was mildly interesting, but I generally loathe huge commercial events. Odin picked up a new backpack and Hottie got a ‘perfect’ kid-sized camelbak, so it was not a total loss.
The parking lots and side streets around ‘the hut’ were crammed full of cars–many displaying such stickers as ‘kill your TV’ and ‘Tucson audobon soceity’. I felt stupid driving to the sale, but we were already that far east, so it wasn’t too far out of the way from our hike. I too felt stupid for driving to the hike, but, alas.
My digital versatile discs arrived from DGM today. They should keep my speakers and computer busy for a while. A new Crimson DVD and I get to see them live in Phoenix next week. My ears are happy.
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