snow

Bighorn, Crossing, Decapitation, Comet, Snow, App, Rescues – 11/15/2015

Posted - Charles Miles

There are plans to release 30 bighorn sheep from near Yuma into the Santa Catalina Mountains during the third week of November. Pneumonia – identified as the cause in a number of recent deaths – is still a concern but the bighorn planned for the release “have been previously exposed to the illness and are therefore resistant to it.” More Bighorn Sheep Coming to Santa Catalinas Near Tucson – Arizona Public Media, More bighorns coming to Catalina Mountains next month – Arizona Daily Star.

Wildlife crossings pave the way for biodiversity in Sonoran Desert – Arizona Sonora News: There is an exciting project that is part of the widening of Oracle Road – two wildlife crossings that will help link the Tortolita and Santa Catalina Mountains! The Arizona Department of Transportation has a single sheet overview of the project that is quite informative. While the project is not finished it appears that a tortoise is the first documented user of the new crossing!

Decapitated deer found tied to tree on Mount Lemmon – KVOA.com: Near Molino Basin a deer that had been shot and decapitated was found tied to a tree on Nov. 6 – there is a $2,000 reward for information (contact Operation Game Thief – 1-800-352-0700). A quote from the article: “This case is very troubling, given the nature of the crime scene. We are outraged by this, and expect that the general public will be as well” – Regional Supervisor Raul Vega of Game and Fish in Tucson.

Mt. Lemmon biz looking forward to El Nino winter – KVOA.com: “General Manager [of the Sawmill Run Restaurant] Steven Sanders said the more snow, the more people come up and the more jobs there will be to go around.”

First snowfall of season on Mt. Lemmon brings out plenty of sightseers – Tucson News Now: First snow of the Season!

Catalina State Park: Blue skies, flowing water – Arizona Daily Star, Sabino Canyon gearing up for busy season – Tucson News Now: Two articles that are a great reminder that we are starting to have days with amazing weather for getting outside to the desert/lower elevation areas of the mountain!

Long Term Permit for Sabino Canyon Shuttle Services – USFS: This page contains information about the proposed 20-year special use permit for the shuttle system in Sabino Canyon. The SCRA Shuttle Scoping Letter has some interesting notes about the project including a list of design features that mentions minimizing conflicts between the shuttle/hikers/bikers and reducing ‘auditory impacts’ from the shuttle that seem to depend on ‘modernizing [the] existing 1970s era shuttle fleet’.

Space junk crashing toward Earth found by Mount Lemmon lab – Arizona Daily Star: Space debris – possibly an old rocket booster – that entered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the Indian Ocean was first spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey!

Comet named after Catalina Mountains may soon be seen with naked eye – Tucson News Now: Comet Catalina will soon be at its closest to the sun and may be visible with the naked eye. The comet was discovered in 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey. This post from EarthSky.org has information on locating the comet in the sky.

Closure of shooting sites on Redington Pass extended – Arizona Daily Star: Three unofficial shooting areas off Redington Road that were closed for clean up will remain closed until next year while the Forest Service works on a management plan for the Redington Pass area.

Motorcyclist airlifted after Mt. Lemmon crash – Tucson News Now: non life-threatening injuries sustained in a crash near milepost 17.

UA College of Science Produces Mount Lemmon Audio Tour – UANews: The University of Arizona College of Science has produced a mobile app for Android and iPhone called ‘The Mount Lemmon Science Tour’. The app is largely a guided audio tour with great accessible science content (how the mountain formed, life zones, water, …) that is timed for a drive up the mountain.

Rescues/Accidents/Incidents including information from the SARCI Newsletter:

  • Crystal Spring Trail – 10/25: Exhaustion results in a hiker carried out to the Control Road
  • Blackett’s Ridge – 10/7: Ankle injury, hiker carried out.
  • Seven Cataracts – 10/2: Hiker injured in a fall on the unofficial trail/route from the Seven Cataracts Overlook to the pools in Seven Cataracts – hoisted out and transferred to a medical helicopter.
  • Sutherland Trail – 9/23: Lost hiker calls for help after being unable to follow the trail – the current trail conditions plus attractiveness of this route continue to cause incidents.

Lambs, Funds, Star Party, Oracle State Park, Winter Weather

Posted - Charles Miles

The Bighorn Sheep Restoration Project Status update for 1/15 to 1/28 is now available (all updates are currently available here):

  • Five lambs have been sited! The update links to a video of several of the previously sited lambs: Bighorn lambs & ewes in Santa Catalinas.
  • Residents in the area of Ina Road and 1st Avenue reported 3 Bighorn to AZGF. GPS data confirms that these Bighorn have moved into the edge of the urban area bordering the Pusch Ridge Wilderness several times and also notes several other urban sightings: a Ram was seen several times last year by Oracle Residents and two ewes documented in the Ventana Canyon and Finger Rock Estates areas. “Our intent is to encourage the Catalina bighorn sheep to use appropriate habitat removed from the urban interface and hope that incursions into urban areas will be rare if at all.”
  • The report breaks has some information on the funding sources for this project:
    • 31% State Tag Funds
    • 23% Private Grants and Donations with most of the donations “from sportsmen oriented groups and individuals” including large donations by the Arizona Chapter of Safari Club International, the Wild Sheep Foundation, the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society and Safari Club International Foundation.
    • 46% From the Pittman-Robertson fund – this is a federal excise tax on firearms, ammunition, accessories and achery equipment that provides funds to manage wildlife.

Catalina State Park will host a Star Party on Feb. 21 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm – the event will start with a presentation by Jim O’Connor with excerpts from his book, Native American Night Sky Stories, and there will be a variety of telescopes at the event. See the Arizona Star Party Astronomy Events page for more details and for other dates at throughout the year at Arizona State Parks!

Arizona hike: Oracle State Park – azcentral.com – Mare Czinar: A short article about the hiking in Oracle State Park – the days that the park are open to the public are limited (currently Saturday and Sunday 8am to 5pm) but it is well worth finding an open day to visit!

Winter weather! There was rain and snow that temporarily closed the highway and caused 3 hikers to be stranded due to rushing water in the Sabino Canyon Area. Winter weather closes highway up Mt. Lemmon – Carissa Planalp – TucsonNewsNow.com, Snow in mountains, rain in Tucson valley expected – tucson.com, Three hikers stranded because of rushing waters – Ina Ronquillo – KGUN9.

Knagge Trail to the Cabin, Snow – 1/31/2015

Updated - Posted - Charles Miles

Lower on the highway everything was wet – Seven Cataracts is roaring and all the usual road-cut waterfalls flowing – but somewhere around Barnum Rock the rain turned to big wet snow flakes!

1501 Driving Snow
Snow! Driving up the General Hitchcock Highway. January 2015.

The snow seems like a surprise after the rain – but it has been snowing long enough to cover Incinerator Ridge Road and put snow on the Incinerator Ridge Trail – a frozen sign greets me at the start of the Knagge Trail.

1501 Junction of the Knagge and Kellogg Mountain Trails
The upper Knagge Trail sign covered in snow. January 2014.

Clouds cover the mountain and snow covers the trail – there aren’t any footsteps to follow today but finding the trail isn’t a problem. I start to wonder about snow collecting on the highway – but surely there is time to make it to the old cabin site…

1501 Old Fire New Snow
Snow along a fire-cleared section of the Knagge Trail. January 2015.
1501 Into the Storm
Disappearing into the storm. January 2015.

The snow has turned to rain by the time I finish the hike down to the cabin – out of time I head back up into the snow.

1501 Walking up the highway
Snow on the highway – walking back up to the parking pullout above Incinerator Ridge Road. January 2015.

2.5 Miles, +/- 1100′ of elevation gain and loss.

Lambs, Beetles, Wine

Posted - Charles Miles

After several recent Bighorn deaths it is encouraging that there are now reports of an additional lamb – More lambs spotted in the Catalinas – Ally Aldrete – KGUN9, Another lamb seen in Catalina Mountains – Arizona Daily Star.

In Bear Canyon the Forest Service is starting a project to try to reduce the Bark Beetle population – trees will be removed from areas including “Cypress, Middle bear and Chihuahua Pine Picnic Areas and General Hitchcock Campground. Generally canyon bottom and north-facing slopes” with the goal of stopping the spread of the beetles to adjacent trees and reducing the fire hazard that can be created by trees killed by the beetles. Expect closures to these areas when work is in progress. Forest Service Schedule of Proposed Actions for the Coronado National Forest, 400 beetle infested trees to be removed on Mt. Lemmon – Matt Fernandez – KVOA.com, Bark beetle removal project to begin on Mt. Lemmon – Elizabeth Walton – Tucson News Now.

Oracle State Park events for 2015 – Elizabeth Walton – Tucson News Now: Also see the Oracle State Park homepage.

Let it snow – Chastity Laskey – The Daily Wildcat: Some notes on the recent snow and things to do in Summerhaven and on the mountain.

Off the Vine wine festival – Elizabeth Walton – Tucson News Now: A wine festival is scheduled for the Steam Pump Ranch in February.

Pima Canyon Trail in the Snow, 1/1/2015

Updated - Posted - Charles Miles

Winter weather forecasts have disappointed many times – but the New Year’s Day conditions lived up to the hype – snow covering all of the Santa Catalina Mountains and blanketing the desert – what a fantastic start to 2015!

At 10AM there was snow covering everything around the Iris Dewhirst Pima Canyon Trailhead – all wintery and white! There were quite a few cars in the parking lot and the first section of the trail was filled with people enjoying the snow – the views looking up the canyon were amazing!

1501 Looking up Pima Canyon
Looking up Pima Canyon – Winter Wonderland! January 2015.

After the first canyon crossing snow covered plants hung over the trail – not hard to push thru, but cold!

1501 Snow covering all the plants along the Pima Canyon Trail
Snow covered plants push into the Pima Canyon Trail. January 2015.

The footsteps in the snow disappeared before the dam…

1501 Rock and Snow in Pima Canyon
At the first dam looking up canyon with clouds swirling above. January 2015.

After the dam the snow becomes subtly ever deeper and the trail becomes a little harder to find – even in good weather this section has fewer visitors – I pause occasionally to puzzle out a path.

1501 Snow around the Second Dam on the Pima Canyon Trail
Deeper snow blanketing the area around the 2nd Dam in Pima Canyon. January 2014.

The shoe prints ended over a mile ago – now there are deer tracks in the snow, it doesn’t take long to realize the the tracks are following the trail, for a time I simply follow them – the deer clearly knows this section of trail better than I do.

1501 Higher in Pima Canyon
Looking up canyon from the Pima Canyon Trail – eventually in the tight canyon ahead I lost the trail and turned around for the day. January 2015.

A sound draws my attention across the canyon and I turn to watch ice falling from rock walls – the deer tracks plunge steeply off the trail towards the bottom of the canyon – at the time I didn’t think anything of it, but in retrospect maybe they know the conditions better than I do… Minutes later the trackless trail crosses the canyon and I loose it on the hillside above, it takes a few zig-zags up and down the hillside to find it again. A few more minutes of trail and I am left standing in the bottom of the snow covered canyon trying to remember if the trail crosses onto the hillside above or stays near the canyon bottom – time to turn around.

Lower on the trail the conditions have changed – the plants that were covered in snow earlier are now standing straight again – wet, but without a hint of snow.

1501 Later in the day on the Pima Canyon Trail with the snow melted
Lower on the trail the snow that had blanketed everything earlier in the day was gone – amazing to see it change so fast! January 2015.

Pima Canyon Trail. 10.9 miles, 3000′ of elevation gain and loss.