We followed well trodden trails covered in cow tracks to flowers and views of the Santa Catalina Mountains…
The Friends of Redington Pass have posted on Facebook that they are partnering with Tread Lightly! are holding a clean up in Redington Pass on Mary 7th at 9am – their last event “removed 7 tons of trash and an abandoned vehicle from the Pass”!
The Santa Catalina Bighorn Sheep Reintroduction Project update for the period ending March 9 was released earlier in the month – it reports that 19 lambs have now been observed this season and estimates the population could be up to 87 sheep! However the most fascinating Bighorn news for the month was probably Domestic sheep, goats pose threat to Catalina bighorns from the Arizona Daily Star. Signs have been posted at several trailheads warning that domestic sheep and goats can transmit diseases to bighorns – apparently there was a report of someone walking a goat on the Finger Rock Trail. Walking the goat is legal – the signs are meant to discourage people from unknowingly endangering the bighorn sheep in the area.
Hiker with medical issue dies at Seven Falls, Arizona Daily Star: A 62-year-old hiker died on a trip to Seven Falls.
Firefighters extinguish small brush fire on Mt. Lemmon – TucsonNewsNow: A human caused fire near the Butterfly Trail was put out by Mount Lemmon Fire District Crews – a camp grill left burning and unattended has been indicated as the cause.
The plans for Improvements at the Marshall Gulch Trailhead and Picnic Area – “replace restrooms, renovate picnic sites and trailheads, install vehicular bridges over stream, naturalize stream channel, and improve roads and parking areas” – is now listed as expected in July 2016 – Schedule of Proposed Actions for the Coronado National Forest.
Partners continue Lower Bear Canyon restoration – Coronado National Forest: “The Santa Catalina Ranger District, Coronado National Forest and the Sky Island Alliance will continue work on a project in Lower Bear Canyon to remove invasive fountain grass and restore native plants for pollinators and other wildlife. The year-long project is funded by the National Forest Foundation, and is expected to continue through May.”
Some seasonally-closed gates reopen on Mt. Lemmon – Coronado National Forest: This release was from the beginning of March and notes some gates as still closed – while these gates may be open now this is a good reminder that there are a number of gates that close seasonally and warm weather in Tucson may not always be a good indicator about the ice/snow/conditions of road thousands of feet higher up the mountain.
7 runs: Break a sweat, enjoy the party, Arizona Daily Star: A schedule of selected runs including a long running, and quite fun, trail run in Catalina State Park.
A colorful spectacle: Canyons in bloom, Arizona Daily Star: Great wildflower pictures and a call out for the flowers along the Ventana Canyon Trail.
Brief snowstorm blankets Mount Lemmon, KVOA.com – Despite overnight snowfall, Catalina Highway is open, TucsonNewsNow: In early March there was a wonderful storm that, briefly, brought new snow to the mountain!
Introduce the family to camping in a state park, TucsonNewsNow: The Arizona Family Campout Program is taking place in Catalina State Park April 16 and 17 – the program is for families that have little or no camping experience, families are asked to bring some equipment but tents, sleeping mats, chairs, help, knowledge and activities are provided! Registration is required – see the Arizona Family Campout Program page for information.
Balloons floating up into the sky can seem beautiful and symbolic – but after picking up balloons from an astounding number of places in the mountains – including many off-trail destinations with no sign of people/trash for miles – I cringe when I see a piece of floating trash ascending into the sky… For more sad pictures of balloons and a bit more information see Balloons in the Backcountry.
In January a boulder with a petroglyph was pushed over and some surrounding vegetation was damaged in Catalina State Park – if you have any information please contact the Coronado National Forest Supervisor’s Office at (520) 388-8300. It is sad anyone would vandalize a site like this – January was not a great month in regards to vandalism with an incident also reported in Saguaro National Park. Vandalism at Catalina State Park – Coronado National Forest, Catalina State Park vandalism under investigation – Arizona Daily Star, Native American petroglyph vandalized at Catalina State Park – TucsonSentinel.com, Vandals strike Catalina State Park – Tucson News Now.
The comment period for the Catalina-Rincon FireScape Project is open and the Forest Service is holding several open houses about this project:
The press release from the Forest Service provides this quick summary of the project – “The CRFS is a landscape-scale restoration project that focuses on promoting resilient ecosystems; protecting life, property, and natural resources; and encouraging natural wildland fire to function as a healthy process in the ecosystem” – and the Scoping Notice provides background including:
The fire history recorded by tree rings indicates that, since the beginning of the early 20th century, the frequency of natural fire has decreased dramatically. Tree-ring research has shown that for many centuries, the Santa Catalina and Rincon mountains shared broadly similar fire regimes and ecosystem properties. However, since the early 20th century, natural fire regimes have been significantly altered because of grazing (which removes the fine fuels that carry surface fire) and continued fire suppression.
The latest Santa Catalina Bighorn Sheep Reintroduction Project update was recently released:
Coronado National Forest waives fees in honor of Presidents Day – Coronado National Forest: Coronado National Forest will waive fees at most of its day-use recreation sites Monday, February 15, in honor of Presidents Day – Fees are waived generally for day-use areas, such as picnic grounds, developed trailheads and destination visitor centers!
Recreation projects completed on Mt. Lemmon – Coronado National Forest: A recent press release from the Coronado National forest notes several recently complete projects include 22 new interpretive signs along/near the highway and new restrooms at the Cypress Picnic Area and Showers Point Campground.
Rescues/Accidents/Incidents including information from the SARCI Newsletter:
The Catalina Comet was featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day – the picture was taken by Fritz Helmut Hemmerich who has more beautiful shots of the comet on flickr. The information with the picture notes that “Comet Catalina is now outbound from the inner Solar System and will slowly fade in coming months.” The Catalina Comet was discovered by – and named for – the Catalina Sky Survey.
Wildflowers blooming in desert canyons — in midwinter – Arizona Daily Star: A great call out for the flowers that are appearing around the Santa Catalina Mountains! Lucky rain and weather this year…
Recent Santa Catalina Bighorn Videos – there are five new short videos of Bighorns in the Santa Catalina Mountains on YouTube and currently linked on the Friends of Santa Catalina Bighorn Sheep Facebook Page – a nice contrast to the deaths in recent months!
I recently found the blog Contributing to the Problem – there are several great posts linked on the Hiking in the Santa Catalina Mountains page – I particularly enjoyed Molino Thimble and Airmen Peak that includes a short description of climbing the ‘Molino Thumb’ (southwest of Airmen Peak and labeled ‘The Thumb’ in the Molino Canyon Overview of Bob Kerry’s Backcountry Rockclimbing in Southern Arizona) and references the Airmen Peak page on this site.
