Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ

Day 36-39, Monday to Thursday, February 19-22, Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ

We got up and got organized, leaving the campground about 9.  We arrived at Gilbert Ray about 12:30, were very lucky to get spots on H Loop, not our favorite!  They do not take reservations here, and the demand has been so great they have been turning away 25 to 30 campers some days.  I went on a hike up Brown Mountain, just to the first peak and back down again.  We went down to the little laundromat at Tucson Estates, and I got a haircut from a nice lady at the salon next door.  I went into the hardware store and picked up more postcards for kids and grandkids, and got more stamps at the post office there.

View of cholla and Brown Mountain from trailhead.

View of campground from Brown Mountain.
I could see 3Z and the kayaks with my binoculars.

 On Tuesday, I walked from the campground through the canyon to the Arizona Desert Museum, about 3 miles, and it took me a little over an hour.  If I had hiked up and down over Brown Mountain it would have taken a lot longer!  I met Jan and Dwayne there, and we had a tasty lunch in the restaurant.  Jim was fighting a cold and felt like taking it easy.  There is so much interesting to see and learn there, impossible to take it all in.  I watched the raptor performance, with free-flying birds, including a family of 4 Harris Hawks.  Most raptors are solitary hunters, but Harris Hawks hunt in groups!

Harris Hawk.  Note white stripes on tail, a way to identify them!

Coyotes posing for their picture

Javelina family snoozing in the shade of a bush.

Nice mountain lion exhibit.

Wednesday, Jim and Dwayne went to the Pima Air and Space Museum, and Jan and I went to Saguaro National Park, watched the video and a slide show about the plants and animals of the area.  Then we drove on a dusty road to see some ancient pictographs. 

After we got back, I rode my bike on the loop out of the campground, down McCain Loop and back along the highway, then through the campground loops, about 12 miles.  The drivers around Tucson area are polite to bikers and give you a wide berth!  Jim likes to ride the sandy trails around here, but with my lack of courage and my smoother tires, I am not comfortable with that!

Happy chain-fruit cholla at Saguaro National Park Visitor Center.

Jan at the top of pictograph hill.

At Pima Air and Space Museum.

There must be thousands of planes there, inside and outside!