Red Light Cows in southeast AZ

January 7^th Benson

We never did meet them but there are quite a few signs on the smaller rural roads warning you of these marauding debauched cows. Good thing they haven’t made it into the cities.

Jan 10^th Tucson Desert Wandering

It started with a walk out the back of Justin’s Diamond J rv resort. Easy flat mini trails through a wide variety of cacti right next to the Saguaro National Park.

Chained Fruit Cholla

It can take up to 50 years before the first arm grows. This guy is OLD

Fruiting Barrel Cactus

Not content with the minis we took off on the park fence road (only good for 4X4’s or atvs) just to get some exercise. And when we saw a nice little hill we decided that the top was our destination. You can see the trail up in the background in the following photo.

3 things learned here: the trail will never be anything but broken up rocks or sand that continually move under your steps; the hill is always a lot further away than you thought; and the hill is both higher and steeper than it looked in the distance.

At the top we could just barely make out the resort (“it’s over there Honey!”)

Norene confidently followed me back to our point of origin. I confidently led her way past the resort through a horrible round pebble wash (like walking on 6 inches of marbles). 4^th thing learned: Norene was right – we should have turned left. Is this OK to say in print?