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H IKE
OF
THE
MONTH |
| T E X T
B Y
T
O M
D O L L A R P H O T O G R A P H B Y
M
A R T Y
C
O R D A N O From the December 1995 Issue |
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Brown Mountain Presents
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It's only a dozen days before winter solstice,
but I have to glance at my wall calendar before leaving home to see what
month it is in southern Arizona. The station my car radio is tuned to announces
the late-afternoon temperature: 75° F. Only a few wispy clouds way down
on the southern horizon blemish an otherwise seamless vault of blue. There
is no wind. I'm wearing hiking shorts, T-shirt, and a floppy hat as I step
toward the trailhead. In my fanny pack, I carry a quart of water, flashlight,
nylon windbreaker, and binoculars. Always binoculars.On the Brown Mountain Trail, it's 2.4 miles
from the trailhead near Gilbert Ray Camp Ground to the Juan Santa Cruz Picnic
Area adjacent to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Brown Mountain is actually
three low hills that roughly parallel Kinney Road in Tucson Mountain Park
west of the city. The hike itself is a series of climbs and descents across
the hills. It's moderately strenuous, depending on your pace. Some days I
go fast. Others I sit on a rock to watch the sunset or scope black vultures,
rare in these parts, wheeling overhead.As warm as it is, I'm on the lookout for
snakes, even this late in the year. Sure enough, I spot one. It's a small
gopher snake, maybe a foot long, sunning itself on a rock. A rattlesnake
mimic, it flattens its head and shakes its tail when frightened. I step around,
leaving it to warm itself unmolested.From a distance these hills appear brown
and bare. But they're not. The vegetation is classic Sonoran Desert: dense
stands of saguaro, lots of paloverde, ocotillo, creosote (lower down), jojoba
(higher up), cholla, barrel cactus, and ironwood. Each time I hike here,
I see something as if for the first time.Today it's standing saguaro skeletons, one
in particular just where the trail crosses the second dry wash and begins
to climb the first hill. Ribs bleached from long exposure to the desert sun,
it stands erect beside the trail. Ten feet up where its trunk is split, the
remains of a bird's nest spill over its edges. At its base, as if placed
there by a gardener, grow three young saguaros, a foot to two feet tall.
With long-lived saguaros, "young" is a relative term. None of these immature
saguaros is less than 15 years old.I pause at each hilltop to scan the horizon.
Altar Valley spreads south to the Mexican border, more than 60 miles away.
To the west I spot a sprinkling of telescopes atop the national observatory
on Kitt Peak. On a clear day you can make a game of identifying distant peaks
from up here.It takes me an hour to hike to the Juan
Santa Cruz picnic ground, where I refill my water bottle before heading back.
Shadows lengthen fast this time of the year, and I'm always amazed at what
I see in half-light. The saguaro forest with its slanting shadows suddenly
appears much thicker, and I think, "What if they had leaves?"The sun flares then drops below the horizon
north of Kitt Peak just as I begin to descend toward my waiting car. At a
sudden chorus of coyotes, I pause, smiling, to listen. The temperature drops,
and I yank my windbreaker from my fanny pack. I quickly move downtrail ahead
of the dark. |
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The preceding was published as the "Hike of the Month" feature in the December 1995 issue of Arizona Highways. For full details on the monthly hikes, subscribe to the magazine by calling (800) 543-5432. | |
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 For directions
to the Brown Mountain Trailheadand a map of the area, click here.
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