Images by kenne
(CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES TO SEE A LARGER VIEW IN A SLIDESHOW FORMAT.)
The last SCVN summer hike on Mt. Lemmon included two very special naturalists, BJ and Jim Martin. The two have been active members of SCVN for over thirty years. I first met BJ and Jim on one of the summer hikes four years ago. BJ would wait at one of the picnic tables, and/or visit with people at one of the mountain visitor centers, while Jim hiked with us — sometimes as a guide.
This summer the Martin’s had not been on the hikes, so it was a pleasant surprise when they were at the Catalina Highway carpool location.
The trails scheduled for our last summer hike would take us in and out of the Marshall Gulch picnic area on Mt. Lemmon, so BJ would select a picnic table where we would later have lunch. Part of the hike would take us through some of the areas burned during the 2003 Aspen Fire. Appropriately, one of the naturalists, Jeff Ornstein, wore his Aspen Fire t-shirt. Now eleven years out, the mountain vegetation is making a welcomed comeback, while signs of the fire still remain.Â
As I hiked with Jim, I kept trying to channel what he would have been seeing before the Aspen Fire, the closest I will ever get to experiencing the Aspen Trail before the fire.
Jim may not be hiking as often as he use to, however, both Jim and BJ remain active working nature demonstration tables at the Sabino Canyon Visitors Center.Â
Hope to see you somewhere on the trail.
kenne
