Romero Canyon Trail to Romero Pass – 3/22/2015

Up the Romero Canyon Trail from Catalina State Park – flowers and pools, steep climbs, stops at the two big fire rings and good memories of past hikes with friends.

1503 Pools in Romero Canyon
Pools in Romero Canyon – above Romero Pools. March 2015.
1503 Scoured Canyon
Following the cairns along a section of washed out trail in Romero Canyon. March 2015.

From Romero Pass I wandered off-trail to random points and points where Bighorn Sheep have stood, slowly collecting vegetation data as a volunteer for a AZGF research project.

1503 Sunset from the Mount Lemmon Trail near Romero Pass
Sunset from the Mount Lemmon Trail, a few minutes above Romero Pass. March 2015.
1503 Looking down from near Romero Pass - Night
Looking down into town from near Romero Pass. March 2015.

The sliver moon disappeared early in the night, with temperatures were the 30s I spent most of my time in my quilt, reading, watching the clouds, looking at the stars and occasionally taking a picture.

1503 Indian Paintbrush
Indian Paintbrush along the Romero Canyon Trail. March 2015.
1503 Poppy 1
A poppy on the Romero Canyon Trail. March 2015.

It was warm on the way down, as the trail went lower I hurried thru the sun back to the car. 20 miles, +/-6000′ of elevation gain and loss.