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Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
When we see the throng of tourists with kids waiting for tickets, we nearly turn around. Did we end up at Disney land somehow? The Line Thankfully we persevere, and the crowds disperses a bit once inside. There is a reptile lecture featuring a live gila monster and rattlesnake scheduled shortly after we gain entry,…
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Mount Kimball
We realize we’re about to leave Tucson without doing any of the “challenges” we concocted for ourselves while researching the area. The most practical one is to hike Mount Kimball via a trail in Finger Rock canyon that gains 4,000 feet of elevation in 5 miles, for a 10 mile round trip. We figure we’ve…
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Tucson Botanical Gardens
On the menu today: a cornucopia of cactus. There are many other attractions at the Tucson Botanical Gardens, like a butterfly house that is important to the world migrations of some species of butterflies, but we’re hungry for cactus. With biological diversity in decline, it feels good now and then to just blow your mind…
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Return to Jailhouse Rock
I figure this now-familiar area is a good place to see if I can lead something a little harder. After a few nice easier routes in warm, pleasant afternoon weather, I pick out Solitary Refinement 5.10a. It’s a shady, gently overhanging, blocky sport climb. Ann and I are both nervous, and I fight to stay…
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The Arizona Trail in Molino Canyon
After seeing signs for the Arizona Trail, I get curious how it traverses Molino Canyon, where we’ve been climbing a little at Jailhouse Rock. I’ve also noticed that some trails show up in this area at OpenStreetMap.org, but not the AZT. Thus today’s mission is born – map the AZT in Molino canyon while enjoying…
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Soldier Canyon
Ann makes an astute observation: we could save ten miles of driving if we hike to the Jailhouse Rock crag from below, up through Soldier Canyon. It’s just five extra miles of hiking, and a couple thousand feet of elevation gain to haul our forty pound climbing packs up. No brainer! We sweat our way…