“Buckets of rain
Buckets of tears
Got all them buckets comin’ out of my ears
Buckets of moonbeams in my hand
I got all the love, honey baby
You can stand
I been meek
And hard like an oak
I seen pretty people disappear like smoke
Friends will arrive, friends will disappear
If you want me, honey baby
I’ll be here …”
— Bob Dylan, “Buckets of Rain”
The Monday Morning Milers hiking group had scheduled to hike upper Butterfly trail to Novio Falls, which I had done Friday with the SCVN group. I like this trail because it is both a beautiful and challenging hike. It was a sunny morning on the mountain when we arrived at the trailhead. The faster hikers had already started down the trail, so I set out to catchup with them and was making pretty good time till I started stopping to take photos. I was trying to take advantage of the sunlight we didn’t have on the Friday hike.
Before leaving the parking lot to car-pool up Catalina Highway, some of the hikers indicated they would only be hiking to the Crystal Spring trail. But, when I reached the Crystal Springs cutoff, no one was there. Not seeing them on the trail, I assumed they had continued on to Novio Falls. As I got closer to Novio Falls (The area to the right of the big rock in the above image.) I could see clouds beginning to cover the higher elevations.
When I got to the falls no one was there, so I decided to continue to where a F-86 airplane had crashed in 1957. Once I got there, the rain began, so after taking a few photos, I started back toward the falls when I met a couple sitting under a large ponderosa pine. There didn’t have rain gear, but the tree was keeping them dry, at least for a while. (Unlike my earlier hikes in the rain, there was no lightning.) As I left them behind the rain began to come down heavier.
This is when I learned that my wind-breaker was not waterproof. I had already placed my camera in a plastic bag, but unlike my previous hikes in the rain, I decided to remove it now and then to capture some rainy images. Since the rain was still pretty heavy, I tried keeping as much of the bag over the camera after removing it in order to still keep it as dry a possible — then back in the bag.
The higher elevation in this view shows the direction in which I was headed returning to the upper Butterfly trailhead. I wasn’t sure how the images were turning out, since I wasn’t taking the time to view them, nor check how much rain was on the lens.
As I got further down the trail from the falls, I turned around and took this image toward where I had been.
As you can see in this image, see the clouds were beginning to break up over one of the last ridges I would be hiking to the trailhead.
At this point in my return the rain began to diminish.
This image is a view not far from the trailhead. The rain was now a sprinkle as the clouds continue to break up.
Remember I mention that we carpooled up the mountain, so those in my carpool had to wait for me — at least I was hoping they would. Based on where the others had turned around on the trail, and the distance I had gone, they had to wait one hour — man, did I blow it! I was very apologetic and pleased that they had not reported my failure to return after an hour to the Forest Service.
As we rode down the mountain they shared the various scenarios discussed while waiting, if I had not returned in more than an hour. They knew I’m a capable hiker, but . . .!
With all the rain I’ve experienced this month, while hiking on Mount Lemmon, I decided to start this blog posting with the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s song, “Buckets of Rain” and included a YouTube video for those of you interested in listening to this Dylan song — with buckets of moonbeams in your hand.
— kenne
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Incredible scenery and awesome photographs! Perfect song too:)
Thanks, your comment is most appreciated.
awesome! Thank you!
You are most welcome. I just take the photos, all the credit goes to nature. Thanks for the comment.
thank you for bringing us closer to nature. Have a great day!
Great photos with rain adding atmosphere to the gorgeous scenery.
Thank you.
Really beautiful images. We went to Crystal Springs, but I wish we had gone to Novio Falls. The faster/ longer group should probably carpool together. We had to move very fast to get back in time. Glad you are OK.
I agree. As I said in the post, I wanted to catchup with you guys, but kept stopping for photos.
As always, the best photos and this way I didn’t too wet.
Believe me, I got wetter than I had planned on, it was a real experience.
First hiked this trail with you; I can small and feel every wet image! Great story.
I would like to hike Butterfly Trail again, but too many foot problems now.
Reblogged this on Becoming is Superior to Being and commented:
In July 2013, I experienced “buckets of rain” and started the original post with the lyrics from the Dylan song, “Buckets of Rain.” Little did I know the second line, “Buckets of Tears” would be so appropriate today. The Bighorn Fire burned this beautiful area. — kenne
Kenne,
Is this then the “Butterfly Trail”? At the risk of being too optimistic here, the burn severity map indicates that this area burned nearly all at either a moderate or low severity. There were a few patches that burned at high severity but they were very small. Strange as though it may seem, the map also indicates a few very small patches that were left entirely unburned. I guess we just won’t know for sure what this looks like now until we can get up there again.
But what is truly awful, awful, AWFUL is the area around the fire station, the upper end of the Control Road and going out toward the north along the Oracle Ridge. That burned very, very hot through there and I’m afraid it’s gonna take a long, long time to grow back. If we could plant some seedlings through there, that might cut a decade or more off the natural regeneration.
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
These images are of the upper Butterfly Trail area leading to Novio Falls, a side trail to the wreckage from a plane crash, and eventually up to Mount Bigelow.