The colors were the highlight on this Agua Caliente Canyon and La Milagrosa Trail loop – the yellowish green covering Gnat Tank with patches of purple and yellow flowers nearby, subtle hints of fall color in the bottom of Agua Caliente Canyon and fallen fall color in the cool clear water.
The Santa Catalina Mountains had a fantastic Winter Storm early this week – over two inches of snow! The weather has already warmed up this week so we will have to wait for later storms to bring lasting snow to the mountain. Greg McGowan posted my favorite picture from this storm on his Facebook page, PCSD: Catalina Highway closed at base of Mt. Lemmon (of course, now open…) – Tucson News Now, ‘Winter Wonderland’ after snowstorm hits Mt. Lemmon – KVOA.com, A great shot of driving conditions from the PCSD.
While the snow didn’t hang around it will add to the water flowing on the mountain, the canyons should be beautiful! A quick shot from Soldier Canyon, not far from Hairpin Turn:
29 Bighorn Sheep from the Yuma area were released into the Santa Catalina Mountains on Monday 11/16/2015 – one captured Bighorn was not released and as of Monday was in a clinic in Phoenix due to possible “capture exhaustion” – probably the most interesting quote was from the AZGF Facebook page:
This was the last of the three planned releases to restore the historic herd that once existed in the area. Department biologists and the advisory committee that oversees the project will now monitor the population to determine if it can become self-sustaining on its own.
29 More Desert Bighorn Sheep Released in Santa Catalinas – AZPM, More bighorn sheep released in Catalinas today – Arizona Daily Star.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the bottom of Agua Caliente Canyon I leave the trail and spend a few minutes chasing the water down stream across the sand and boulders, surrounded by insects I can not name – in this section of the canyon there are not any towering walls or thundering falls, just intimate moments – a little too soon I find the trail again. Milagrosa/Agua Caliente Loop, 6.9 miles, 1450′ of elevation gain/loss.
From the Phoneline Trail Sabino Canyon sounded like a raging river – as we descended we wondered if there was a chance that we wouldn’t feel comfortable crossing – but down by the canyon the flow didn’t seem as impressive and the crossing was fine – we enjoyed the cool knee deep water.
A glance at the USGS Guage for Sabino Canyon shows that we were lucky to see higher water levels – the storm fed flow peaked late on the 19th and quickly diminished.
