Thru San Manuel, a sharp left then the familiar right turn at the San Pedro - but today the last turn takes me into unfamiliar territory - a strange, freshly paved, night black road parallel to the river - it takes me a minute to reconcile this new thing with my memory of Redington Road.

It makes me sad and uncomfortable to see more pavement encircling the Santa Catalina Mountains - there is nothing encouraging about its current end at the Pinal County line. Maybe the pavement really isn't that important one way or another - inconsequential compared to the destruction that the SunZia power transmission lines will likely bring to this part of the San Pedro River Valley in the coming years.

Charles Bowden, [link slug="frog-mountain-blues"/], 1987:

The mountain no longer seems like a thing that can stop a city in its tracks; it seems more like a cornered beast. When I hike the Catalinas now and stare down at the valleys, I feel I am on an island, one that is being constantly eroded by the fierce waves of energy sweeping across the desert floor. When I leave the city for the mountain, I walk past bulldozers on my way to the trailhead.