“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.
The Aspen Loop trail starts and ends in Marshall Gulch on Mount Lemmon. Part of this trail contains recovering forest from the Aspen Wildfire, which burned parts of Mount Lemmon ten years ago.
Before the fire, much of Mount Lemmon was a thick forest.
After the fire, aspen and New Mexico locust were quick to take over the forest.
When removing a fallen pine from the trail, one creative volunteer cut a seat for resting in the shade.
As the burned forest ages, each year the tall pines succumb to nature.
Volunteers are busy removing trail obstructions, which will include trees like this one
Hiking up the Aspen Trail.
Plenty of room to shelter.
Now ten years out, the slow-growing pines are becoming more established.
The signs of recovery are all around.
Images by kenne
“In climbing a mountain,
if we persevere, we reach the summit;
we get, you might say, to the point. Once on the mountaintop
there is nothing to do but come down again. . .
Descending the mountain
we enter by degrees into a friendlier,
more comfortable, more human environment —
forest, rushing streams, sunny meadows —
and soon hear the cowbells,
see the villages and the roads,
all that is familiar and reassuring.”
— Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season In The Wilderness
Clouds begin to move into the Wilderness Rock area.
Kenne at Marshall Saddle with Wilderness Rock trail behind me as the rain continued.
One of my favorite hiking trails on Mount Lemmon is the Wilderness Rock trail, which is reached by taking Marshall Gulch #3 to Marshall Saddle, where you take Wilderness Rock tail to Lemmon Rock trail — the combination of which is my “Wilderness Rocks Hike.” Yesterday, this hike was really rocking!
I was the lead for the weekly SCVN Friday hike, with Edi Moore and Dan Collins assisting. We guided seven hikers on this six-mile, 850′ elevation change hike through a beautiful part of Mount Lemmon. Because I was the lead, I was only carrying my point and shoot camera, which turned out to be a great decision not take my Nikon D800. Even though I was carrying a plastic bag for the camera and a poncho to help stay dry, the rain and the length of time in it resulted in everything getting wet.
Edi was the tail guide, Dan in the middle and I in the lead. Even though we had checked our two-way radios at the trail head, I was having trouble communicating with Edi, who was falling back with a slow hiker (Dave). At a point just past the Marshall Saddle, they turned back. Dan was able to get part of Edi’s message about having lunch before returning to Marshall Gulch.
Meanwhile, we continued on to Lemmon Rock trail, stopping for a snack. Before starting out return, I took the above photo as clouds began to move in. Shortly after staring the return hike, it began to rain. The rain was steady with plenty lightning and some small hail. When the lightning sounded closer, we sought cover next to some of the large boulders near the trail.
One of the things you learn about mountain trails is they become streams in heavy rain. Mount Lemmon recorded about 2″ of rain.
As we continued our return the rain and lightning was creating more of a sense of urgency with the faster hikers, so I picked up the pace. Dan was setting a slower pace with Bonnie, who was doing fine, but was six months out from knee surgery. Dan and I were able to maintain communication with our radios.
It was still raining when we returned to Marshall Gulch, where we were expecting to see Edi and Dave waiting at the trail head — but no sign of them. Knowing that it was not like Edi to leave without letting us know, Dan and I were concerned. As it turned out, Edi had tried to communicate via the problem radio that she would be returning to Tucson with Dave. Since we were all soaking wet, leaving a note was not possible.
After returning to Tucson, which had not received any rain at the base of Catalina Highway, I called Edi. Her returned with Dave was stranger that fiction. Dave has a two-seater convertible. Apparently, he had a problem locking down the top, so they drove the 29 mile return down the Catalina Highway, with the top off, in rain and hail — yes hail. I don’t know how much hail was falling on them, but I do know that on our return (approximately 30 minutes later), there were areas along the highway where there was so much hail on the ground it looked snow-covered. Water was falling in currents off the rocks, washing large pieces of the nearby cliffs — it was freaky! Edi will have to tell her story.
Some may conclude that this was a “hike from hell,” but not for me. The resulting challenges brought back youthful memories — it was invigorating!
Looking northeast atop Mount Lemmon in the morning a clouds begin to build bringing rain to the Tucson area. Note how dry the plant in the foreground. The rain is much-needed. — Image by kenne
Even though parts of southern Arizona received some rain late yesterday, the southwest remains very hot and dry. It is hope the the summer rains will help firefighters contain the fires without additional loss of life after the 19 deaths in the Yarnell Hill Fire last night.
When conditions are this dry, rain is needed to add moisture, reducing the amount of fuel for wildfires. However, with rain comes lightning, as was the case with yesterday’s rain in southern Arizona. Lightening started a fire at about the 5,000′ level in the Santa Catalina Mountains, not far from the eight mile marker on the Catalina Highway. The fire has burned over 200 acres and has been named the Prison Fire since is in the area where the former WW-II prison camp, now the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site.
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View of Catalina Highway near Windy Point with smoke to the upper right and a red helicopter near the lower center of the photo.
On most Mondays in the summer, I hike with the Monday Morning Milers on Mount Lemmon. This morning’s hike was on the Knagge Cabin trail at Incinerator Ridge, which is located about 3,000′ above the Prison Fire.
Readying the bucket to drop water on hotspots.
After starting the hike, I noticed a red helicopter circling below, so I move for a better view of what was up. The helicopter was landing near a water tank where a bucket was being attached to a cable from the helicopter.
Since I had driven up the mountain by myself, not needing to wait for other hikers, I decided to get a closer look at this helicopter firefighting method to help put out hotspots. Driving down the highway, stopping at several points to take photos. I was not able to go into the Prison camp area because of security, so my closest photos were taken near the entrance. A professional photographer was nearby, so we talked about the wildfire. He is in one of 26 images you can see on Flickr by clicking here.
Over night we received .6 inches of rain and Mount Lemmon another 10 inches of snow. The clouds block the mountain peaks above 5,000 feet, but the cooler temperatures brought snow down to the 3,500 foot level — my favorite way to see snow from the desert below. Last night’s rain brought the total rain fall for the year to 11.6 inches, a little below normal.
Tomorrow the Catalina Highway is expected to be open, as will as Ski Valley, which are normally closed on Tuesdays — wish my legs could take to the slopes.
Hiking up the ridge the Sycamore Reservoir Trail from the Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi Recreational Area to the Sycamore Reservoir.
The Sycamore Reservoir Trail is now part of the Arizona Trail.
Looking down from the ridge above the Sycamore Dam and riparian area.
Sycamore Reservoir Trail Gallery (Click on any of the thumbnail images for a larger view.)
Hikers At The Dam Area
Top Of The Dam
Nearing the Dam Area
Horse Corrals at the Prison Camp
Sycamore Dam
The Sycamore Reservoir Trail Become Part Of The Arizona Trail
There are some who complain about the long drive up the Catalina Highway to Mount Lemmon for summertime hiking at the cooler higher elevation temperatures. Being able to escape the desert heat in the summertime is a blessing, but it wasn’t till the middle of the last century that the journey became easy.
Work on the Catalina Highway began in 1933 in order to make it easier to get to the summit of Mount Lemmon. Starting at Tanque Verde Road in east Tucson, the highway goes several miles north before starting a 5,300-foot climb, passing through five of North America’s seven distinct life zones. Although a road up to Summerhaven was built in 1920, the road was on the north side of the Catalina’s, a good distance from the more populated Tucson area to the south of the mountain range. Prior to the early thirties, the route to the community of Summerhaven from the south was a trail from lower Sabino Canyon to soldier Camp on up to Mount Lemmon.
Efforts to build a highway from the south struggled for seven years until Frank Harris Hitchcock convinced federal prison authorities that a prison camp in the mountains could provide a cheap labor source. The facilities called the Catalina Federal Honor Camp were much like those in other western mountain campgrounds, i.e., barracks, a mess hall, a laundry, powerhouse and a small sawmill. As a tent camp, with no walls or fences, the prison camp was primarily made up of car thieves, bootleggers, tax evaders, draft dodgers, Mexicans entering the country illegally, and conscientious objectors, existed until 1951, when the road was finished. During that time period over 8,000 prisoners worked on the road, including 44 interned Japanese-Americans during World War II.
To supply water to the camp, Sycamore Reservoir was constructed several miles away, which included a pump-house to pump water through a six-inch pipe up over the ridge to the campgrounds. The pipeline was above ground placed on rock pilings, many of which can be seen from the trail from the honor camp to Sycamore Reservoir. Like many small mountain reservoirs, they become even smaller from mountain floods washing rock and sand into the reservoir. What remains of the dam and the lake area serves to maintain water levels for a riparian area that extends into the two canyons that form the dam site.
As mentioned above, during the war Japanese Americans were interned at the camp. Among those was Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi, an American sociologist and religious pacifist who defied internment. In 1942 he turned himself in to the FBI, after which he was convicted of curfew violation and sentence to 90 days in prison. He appealed the verdict, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled against him.
Given the wartime conditions, officials would not transport him from Seattle to the Prison Camp in the Catalina’s, nor would they pay for his train fare. After two weeks hitchhiking to Arizona, he arrived at the Prison Camp. Since it took him two weeks to arrive at the camp, his papers were not ready, causing the warden to suggest that he just leave. Hirabayashi thought that might look a little suspicious, so the story goes that he should go into town, have dinner and go to a movie — the papers were ready when he came back. One has to wonder how this took place given the camp location in relationship to the city, but then it could have involved days before arriving back to the camp.
Hirabayashi was to later spent one year in federal prison for refusing military induction. In 1999 the Prison Camp recreational area was renamed the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreational Area, where he had served 90 days during the war.
In April of this year, President Barack Obama announced that Hirabayashi would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his principled stand against Japanese-American interment. The honor was present posthumously May 29, 2012.
After posting the last blog enter, Capturing The Moment — Sky Island Scenic Byway, I stumbled upon a blog posting titled, 39 of the world’s most inspiring routes for road trips [PICs]. I have experienced some of the American scenic road trips, so I can appreciate they’re being on the list. If it wasn’t for the Catalina Highway (Sky Island Scenic Byway) being only about 25 miles, it could easily qualify for such a list.
A some point in the future, I will do a photo project on our scenic highway up to Mt. Lemmon, till then I have pull a few photos to make my case. You will also note that road is a favorite of many area bikers.
kenne
The Catalina Highway curves through the eastern part of the Catalina Mountains.
This view shows Rose Lake and to the upper left, the highway near Windy Vista Point, which offers a favorite view of the Tucson valley.
Many bikers descend down from Mt. Lemmon well above the posted 35 mph limit. If you look carefully in the upper left of the photo you can another segment of the highway. I had passed this couple coming down the mountain and as I had the camera pointing in their direction, she said, “Cheese!”
This image has bikers coming down, now back in the desert. Some of our summer monsoon rain ar falling south of the Tucson International Airport.
This image was taken about mid-day at the lower elevations of the highway, so the rider was getting a late start in upper 90’s temps. Most riders up in the early morning when the desert temps are much lower.
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.
Forest Thinning On Mount Lemmon — Images by kenne
Santa Catalina Mountain Rock Images by kenne
Hooker’s Evening Primrose — Image by kenne
Golden Columbine
Cranesbill
Aspen Fleabane
Bearded Penstemon
Wright’s Bluets
Macromeria
Western Sneezeweed
Richardson’s Geranium —
The Aspen Loop trail starts and ends in Marshall Gulch on Mount Lemmon. Part of this trail contains recovering forest from the Aspen Wildfire, which burned parts of Mount Lemmon ten years ago.
Before the fire, much of Mount Lemmon was a thick forest.
After the fire, aspen and New Mexico locust were quick to take over the forest.
When removing a fallen pine from the trail, one creative volunteer cut a seat for resting in the shade.
As the burned forest ages, each year the tall pines succumb to nature.
Volunteers are busy removing trail obstructions, which will include trees like this one
Hiking up the Aspen Trail.
Plenty of room to shelter.
The signs of recovery are all around.
Images by kenne
Clouds begin to move into the Wilderness Rock area.
Kenne at Marshall Saddle with Wilderness Rock trail behind me as the rain continued.
Looking northeast atop Mount Lemmon in the morning a clouds begin to build bringing rain to the Tucson area. Note how dry the plant in the foreground. The rain is much-needed. — Image by kenne
View of Catalina Highway near Windy Point with smoke to the upper right and a red helicopter near the lower center of the photo.
Readying the bucket to drop water on hotspots.
Images by kenne (To See More Images, 
After posting the last blog enter, Capturing The Moment — Sky Island Scenic Byway, I stumbled upon a blog posting titled, 39 of the world’s most inspiring routes for road trips [PICs]. I have experienced some of the American scenic road trips, so I can appreciate they’re being on the list. If it wasn’t for the Catalina Highway (Sky Island Scenic Byway) being only about 25 miles, it could easily qualify for such a list.
A some point in the future, I will do a photo project on our scenic highway up to Mt. Lemmon, till then I have pull a few photos to make my case. You will also note that road is a favorite of many area bikers.
kenne
The Catalina Highway curves through the eastern part of the Catalina Mountains.
This view shows Rose Lake and to the upper left, the highway near Windy Vista Point, which offers a favorite view of the Tucson valley.
Many bikers descend down from Mt. Lemmon well above the posted 35 mph limit. If you look carefully in the upper left of the photo you can another segment of the highway. I had passed this couple coming down the mountain and as I had the camera pointing in their direction, she said, “Cheese!”
This image has bikers coming down, now back in the desert. Some of our summer monsoon rain ar falling south of the Tucson International Airport.
This image was taken about mid-day at the lower elevations of the highway, so the rider was getting a late start in upper 90’s temps. Most riders up in the early morning when the desert temps are much lower.
Images by kenne
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