The Window

We spent a nice day up in the Catalinas today. Hottie ran with her friends in the morning, then we headed off to Ventana Canyon. Destination: the Window.

This is an arduous hike, but well worth the trip. The trail is faint and overgrown for most of the trip and you climb around 4000 feet in roughly 7 miles. It is very slow going.

I absolutely love hiking from the lower desert through the chapparal/oaks and finally to the pines. It’s a journey. It’s like nothing else.

We found hints of changing fall leaves, a black rattlesnake, a lizard that looks and acts like a snake and several dozen gallon jugs left by firefighters of the Aspen fire. The headwinds that caused me grief riding back down Oracle yesterday were ever present. At the ridge they grew strong but paled in comparison to the strength of the wind blasting through the window. It was very impressive.

The ridgeline was completely torched by the Aspen fire. But it has opened up expansive views of Cathedral rock, Mt. Lemmon and Samaniego Ridge. It was quite incredible up there.

The walk back was long and the sun set as we neared the bottom. We stopped to take some night photos of the moon and glowing clouds. A perfect evening. I wished we were camping out there; I did not want to go back home.

But, the grind continues for us all. School days, school days. I’m lucky that I still have few commitments, so I maintain a very flexible schedule. But, our paper deadline is approaching and there is much work left to be done.

There’s also much riding, hiking and other adventures to be done. Which is more important? I will be sufficiently tired for the next day or so, so I suppose I can focus on work for a while.