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| Hiking | 13.28 Miles |
4,333 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.28 Miles | | | |
| 4,333 ft AEG | | | | |
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[ show ]
| no partners | | Hike #1 Memorial weekend 2022 and staying far away from northern traffic, so headed south to Tucson. The hike Saturday was Ventana to the Window. The temps were slated to be in the 70s to 90s. I considered that it might be warm for the hike, but I usually can handle it. I was lucky to have the Gelinator (and Slick) as partners for the day. We left the TH at 6:00 on for the Pusch Ridge adventure. My goal was to try to keep up. I didn’t, lol.
Ventana means “window” in Spanish so it is a fitting name for the canyon. There was absolutely no water anywhere along the canyon floor. The Bighorn fire summer 2020 (2 years ago) fried this area and recovery is ongoing. The damage is depressingly clear in the burnt big trees like Alligator Juniper and Sycamore. Wildflowers are still in moderate bloom, especially as elevation increases. The overall canyon was generally brown with dried grasses. There were some shaded areas where the trees provided a nice canopy.
I choked a bit on the 4300 AEG, but sometimes you just suck wind. The mind says “go” and the body says “no”. It’s good to be humbled now and then, so your head doesn’t get too big. The highlight at the top is always worth the climb up. We hung out a while, took pictures and had a snack. It was time to go before I knew it, and down we went. Was considering Kimball too, but not on this day. Had a pretty nice breeze most of the way back, which took some (but not all) of the bite out of the temperature. The freeways were clear the entire way back. This was a nice finish to another great day in the Catalinas, spent with an awesome strong hiker. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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