The houses near the [link slug="richard-mckee-finger-rock-trailhead"/] crowd against the forest boundary and many of the views from the trail include Tucson and the surrounding communities - some days the city pulls me back down with thoughts of friends and the warmth of home, other days it is a sprawling terror that pushes me up the mountain.

I don't quite make it to the top of the ridge today - too bad since it will be my last chance in 2016, the [link slug="pontatoc-ridge"]route up the ridge[/link] is not an official Forest Service Trail and it will be [link slug="bighorn-sheep/"]closed at the beginning of January[/link] to help protect the Bighorn sheep that have been reintroduced in recent years. Something for next year...