Sabino Canyon is in the Santa Catalina Mountains, at the northeastern edge of the city of Tucson. There’s a road up the canyon with bridges across the creek that was built during the 1930s. The road is closed to normal traffic, but it’s used by sightseeing trams that carry visitors up and down the canyon.
Category Archives: 2008
Journal for April 7, 2008
The ice is melting on Lake Pepin. Every year we hope to watch it break up, but we always miss it. Last Thursday the ice was melting away, and there were big patches of open water with Bald Eagles sitting around them.
Madera Canyon
Madera Canyon is in the Santa Rita Mountains, south of Tucson and close to Arizona’s border with Mexico. The mountains are called “sky islands” because they reach up from the desert, forming cooler, wetter habitats than the surrounding hot, dry desert. The canyon has a small creek running along the bottom from the melting snow.
Picacho Peak
Picacho Peak State Park is about 40 miles north of Tucson. We were hoping to see California Poppies in bloom there, but the weather had been too warm, and most of them had finished blooming. There were still some poppies in gullies that were protected from the sun. We did see many other wildflowers – especially Brittlebush, which was in full bloom.
The Infant – an early spring moth
Journal for March 31, 2008
I’ve been able to start working on some of my spring projects this week because the snow has nearly gone. The fields are clear of snow, and so are the south facing slopes of the hills. There are still big patches of snow in the woods.
The Trip to Arizona
We just spent a week in Arizona, mostly helping Paul – my father-in-law – pack up his place so he could sell it.
Journal for March 24, 2008
We got back from a short trip to Arizona this week. We were wondering if spring would have come while we were gone.
Early Blooming Willow
As soon as the temperature warms a little, the fuzzy blossoms on the willow trees start to open. They looked a little frozen on this below zero day, but they mean that spring is really coming soon.
Journal for March 7, 2008
Winter doesn’t seem to be going away – we’ve had a few warm days, but then it gets cold again and snows some more. This morning the temperature was below zero.