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Shea Road
We pick our campsite for the evening with the help of freecampsites.net, and find a large tract of BLM land sparsely dotted with boondockers like ourselves. It takes a little exploring to find a spot we like with a good phone signal, but then we’re quickly settled. After dinner we go out for an evening…
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Saddle Mountain
We’re still developing a sense of when to turn around when exploring dirt roads to possible camping and climbing areas. Today we’re headed toward Courthouse Rock when the road goes to dirt, then gets bumpy, then narrows, then gets sandy. Turning around in these areas with camper and trailer is not easy, so we when…
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Picacho Peak
We were thinking this would be a kind of remote, lonely little hike, but we failed to consider several things. We see the first as we approach: this peak looks really dramatic, with cliffs on three sides, some overhanging. Second, it’s right by Interstate 10. And last, Picacho State Park is scheduled to be closed…
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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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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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The Green Slabs
We nearly give up on this crag without climbing anything. Aside from a fun looking 5.9 offwidth that I don’t feel up to yet, the routes look hard to find, or hard to protect, or just kind of scrubby and uncertain. Further up the hill, though, we find some other climbers with a toprope up,…
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Barefoot to Lime Falls
It looks like rain, so I head for a non-canyon hike. The trails in Saguaro National Park are so nice for barefooting, I make the whole run shoeless. Along the way I pick a spot and take a waypoint for Ann to find when she follows – our own simple geocaching game. The lime falls…
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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…
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Pima Canyon Peramble
Another trailhead in the midst of posh houses takes us through an easement corridor and into the alternately rocky and lush Pima Canyon. Our goal for the evening is “the dam”, a waypoint 3.2 miles up the canyon. I run ahead, getting some barefoot time in, until the peace of the place overcomes me and…