The spring weather in the Sonoran Desert is alluring, with beautiful blue skies and temperatures in the upper 70s. However, many drought-resistant plants are dying, very few if any wildflowers are blooming due to a troubling draught in the Sonoran Desert. What makes the Sonoran Desert so diverse and beautiful are two rainy seasons, summer monsoon storms and steady winter rains. The two seasons still exist, but half the normal amount of rain.
— kenne
Loma Alta and Coyote Wash Trails (March 19, 2021) — Photo Essay by kenne
This panorama was created from three images taken from Wasson Peak, atop the Tucson Mountains March 13, 2015. The Tortolita Mountains are to the left, Santa Catalina Mountains in the middle, and the Rincon Mountain off to the right.
Douglas Springs Trail in the Rincon Mountains — Image by kenne
You tasted it. Isn’t that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That’s all we’re given in life, that’s all we’re given of life. A taste. There is no more.
Hidden Pasture Trail In The Rincon Mountains — Panorama by kenne
Hidden Pasture Trail is a 6.8 mile lightly trafficked out and back trail located off of Mescal Road on the eastern side of the Rincon Mountains in the Little Rincons. Hiking to Hidden Pasture provides great Rincon Peak vistas to the west.
I’ve seen coyotes wondering by.
I’ve seen the sun hiding
Just over the ridge,
The morning shadows
Beginning to move
Across the rolling hills —
So peaceful, so quite.
Tucson Basin from Marana to South Tucson with the Tortolita Mountains, Santa Catalina Mountains, and Rincon Mountains
as seen from Wasson Peak in the Tucson Mountains — Panorama Image by kenne
“There are many people writing songs. That is absolutely wonderful.
Who knows, there may be some kid in diapers and he or she might succeed
in capturing in a few dozen words what great writers have spent years trying to say.
Just the right word in the right place with the right melody behind it and the right rhythm.
It might get around the world inch by inch, and people realize that this world is in danger,
that we’re in danger. That’s the way “This Land Is Your Land” got to be so well known.”
Miller Creek Trail in the Rincon Mountains — Digital Art by kenne
“When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You’re too this, or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”
Tomorrow’s Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN) Friday hike will be on the Douglas Spring Trail in the Rincon Mountains. For the first time in several years, I will not be participating. I will miss being on this hike.
A flat start into the morning sun Hikers leaving behind long shadows On a trail that will soon disappear As we start our climb in The mountain’s shadow, stopping Only to watch things themselves Letting the sun and earth
Go about their changes.
View of the Santa Catalina Mountains from the Douglas Spring Trail in the Rincon Mountains — Panorama by kenne
Turkey Creek Trail In The Rincon Mountains — Image by kenne
Catalina Sunset (View from Mica Mountain of the Santa Catalina Mountains) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Pistol Hill Road — Image by kenne
Hidden Valley Rock Formations — Images by kenne
Tucson Basin from Marana to South Tucson with the Tortolita Mountains, Santa Catalina Mountains, and Rincon Mountains
Rock Formation Along Catalina Highway — Image by kenne
Miller Creek Trail in the Rincon Mountains — Digital Art by kenne
Hiking Douglas Spring Trail — Image by kenne
Agua Caliente Trail (View from Agua Caliente Trail of the Rincon Mountains.) — Image by kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 