On a ridge above Sabino Canyon there is a small stone structure – the structure isn’t noted on the topo maps I have and you won’t find any informational signs as you circle the structure, but a 2012 article by Doug Kreutz for the Arizona Daily Star explains that “The structure is a water tower – or above-ground storage facility – probably associated with a well to the south and east” and likely built in the 1930s or 1940s.
The Aspens along the Red Ridge Trail are bare – from the Aspen Trail we can see a few trees still with fall colors – but the best color is lower on the mountain where the walk from the Sunset Trailhead into Bear Wallow on the 1918 Trail flows thru red and yellow maple leaves in the trees, and on the ground…
The Fastest Known Times – FKTs – for the Arizona Trail were last set in 2011 and, with the exception of Kathy & Ras Vaughan’s yo-yo of the Arizona Trail, the Arizona Trail page on the Fastest Known Time site has stayed quiet. But in 2016 there have been two new records!
If you thought it felt warm out on the trails in October you were not wrong – the Arizona Daily Star reports that “It was the warmest October on record for Tucson, with an average high of 92.4, an average low of 62.5 and a median of 77.4 degrees.” – the previous record was set in 1952. Yes, Tucson’s October was warm — the warmest on record – tucson.com.
The Catalina Bighorn Sheep Reintroduction Project update for Sept 29 – Oct 26, 2016 contains a number of noteworthy details:
“In February and March of this year, this ram embarked on a month-long trek through the Rincon Mountains and south towards I-10, spending time at Colossal Cave Mountain Park, and venturing even farther south to the train tracks north of Marsh Station Road before returning to the Santa Catalina Mountains. Ram #39538 was captured in the Imperial Hills in 2015.”
