Category: camping and travel

We secured a week at a favorite Pima County Park, Gilbert Ray Campground. It is located in the Tucson Mountain Park which has wonderful mountain biking trails (the same mountain biking trails that we accessed from Desert Trails RV in Nov and Dec). The park exists thanks to the work of C. B. Brown who was able to prevent mining interests from developing the Tucson Mountains. In 1929 Pima County established Tucson Mountain Park on 29,988 acres of the Sonoran Desert. It was the largest country park in the United States at that time.

Part of the joy of travel is discovering unique local restaurants. There are lots of Mexican restaurants in the Tucson area but La Indita offers an interesting twist. The family restaurant draws on its Tohono O’odham roots to influence the menu. One of the specialties is the Indian Taco. Think of a taco with the tortilla replaced with Indian fry bread.

We also found an excellent bread bakery that specializes in sourdough breads; Barrio Bread. If you find yourself in Tucson don’t pass up a visit.

Some of the Tucson Mountain Park trails require biking skill levels beyond what we are capable of. That’s not really a problem because those are the trails we hike. One of these is the 5 mile Brown Mountain Loop.

While it’s only early March, spring has begun and this means wild flowers.

After seven days in Tucson Mountain Park it was time to move on. We hooked up the Tincan and headed northeast to Catalina State Park. The park is very popular and we were only able to secure a few days in their overflow campground. Basically a dirt parking lot with spots very close together. You also have access to a very nice modern bath and shower facility.

The upside is that the other campers are friendly and considerate of other peoples space and we had a spot in a favorite state park where we can continue to hike and bike.

Camping at Catalina SP also puts us within biking distance of the Steam Pump Farmers Market where we stocked up on coffee and greens.

On our last day in the park we decided to hike the Canyon Trail and check out some of the fire damage from the October 2020 fire that burned 47 acres of the park.

Tucson is our turn around point. From here we start heading north.

The park gets its name from the legendary Lost Dutchman Gold Mine. Jacob Waltz, a German immigrant, is purported to have found a rich gold mine in the late 1800’s. On his deathbed he gave a cryptic description of its location in the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction. Prospectors are still searching for it in the hope of “striking it rich”.

The park is a popular weekend destination for hikers. To avoid the crowds on the trail we did a scenic drive to the Salt River Canyon with a stop in Globe.

The Salt River divides the San Carlos Apache and Salt River Apache reservations. The Apache leader Geronimo once called this area home.

In 1875 silver was discovered on the San Carlos Reservation. The mining camp then relocated to what is now Globe Arizona which was incorporated in 1876. In 1880 copper mining took off and Globe grew along with it.

Besh-Ba-Gowan is an ancient 200 room pueblo of the Salado people who resided there between AD 1250 and 1450. It is located in a city park in Globe.

The site was excavated and reconstructed in the late 1930’s and was funded by the government Works Projects Administration.

The excavations uncovered a wealth of prehistoric artifacts. We particularly enjoyed seeing the Gila Polychrome pottery.

The mountain biking is limited so we spent more time hiking the trails leading up to the mountains.

The Siphon Draw Trail is a magnet for hikers. This strenuous hike takes you up into the Superstitions with an option to go beyond the Draw to the top of the Flatiron.

We were able to work in another concert at the Musical Instrument Museum. The Kenny Barron Trio with Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums provided an hour and half of inspired playing.

On our last day in camp we decided to make our way into town for a meal and a visit to the Phoenix Art Museum.

“Become one with eternity. Obliterate your personality. Our earth is only one polka dot among the million stars in the cosmos.”-Yayoi Kusama

We stopped in to eat at Glai Baan which specializes in Thai street food. We highly recommend this restaurant, some of the best Thai food we’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. We then wandered down 24th street to sample the offerings at Wren House Brewing. This brewery is highly rated for good reason.

Our week went by quickly as it always seems to when your enjoying yourself. There is more to explore in the area so we will be back.