December 2023 in Tucson

A Week in Tucson Visiting Friends & Hiking | Colossal Cave Mountain Park | Saguaro National Park | Tumamoc Hill | December 2023

For this trip, we planned to spend at least a week around the Tucson area, which would hopefully be enough time to see as many friends as we could and revisit some favorite places. Besides the bigger outings that we’ve shared in other posts, here’s a summary of our week back in the city that was our first hometown together.

Colossal Cave

After leaving the cranes in Wilcox, we drove to Colossal Cave Mountain Park to do some hiking, letterboxing, and our usual lunching and loitering while we waited for friends to get off work. It was cold with occasional showers, but we still wanted to get out and enjoy our first walk back in the Sonoran desert. We attempted going on a short hike together, during which I realized how much more challenging it is to walk a blind dog in the desert. I was constantly looking out for Charlotte and making sure she didn’t veer off trail into a cactus. It didn’t help that there were horse droppings all over the place that I also had to keep her away from, and when it started raining it just got to be too much. We road walked back to the parking lot where Charlotte and I hung out in the pavilion while Curtis went back out to find some letterboxes. After he had some success, he returned and we had lunch together in the shelter. When a school bus full of middle schoolers arrived, I retreated to the van with Charlotte and let Curtis go on a longer loop on the Arizona Trail.

Overall, it was great to be back in the desert with its familiar smells, sights, and plants. Back in a place that has so many opportunities for recreation, and where letterboxing means more than just a trip to the local cemetery. We just wish that it wasn’t so cold!

Saguaro National Park – East

The day after our road trip to Coronado National Memorial, we decided to spend the morning in Saguaro National Park. We rode with Mitch, Emily, and their dogs, and together hiked the short nature loop together. While Charlotte was her normal pokey self, this trail was easier than the last because it was a bit wider. After the loop, we left Curtis to hike back to the visitor center so he could earn his “I Hike for Health” badge, and drove the loop back to the visitor center, where we sat and worked on the Junior Ranger program while waiting for him. (Maybe someday I’ll come back and earn my own badge, but for now I’m perfectly fine with taking care of Charlotte while Curtis works on his hiking goals!)

Tanque Verde Wash

After spending the weekend with Mitch and Emily, we said goodbye for a couple days so we could spend some time with Curtis’ cousin, Gen. But before crossing to the other side of Tucson, we made dinner plans on Monday night with more good friends. Before going to meet them, we went on a short hike to and in the Tanque Verde wash, where we enjoyed views of the Catalina and Rincon Mountains. Then we drove over to Pat and Jack’s house, where we enjoyed catching up with them and Jodi over a delicious meal. We always love hearing about their travel experiences and getting advice for our own future plans.

After dinner, we drove over to Gen’s house, where we spent the next several days hanging out, as well as getting some work done. Unfortunately on the first day, Charlotte had a little incident where she broke a couple of her toenails, which made it very painful for her to walk around, especially on rocks and gravel. Thankfully Gen is trained in animal first aid and was able to help right away, so this didn’t end up with a trip to the vet. It did mean that I did even less hiking/walking for the next few days, but less than a week later Char was seemingly back to normal and very eager to resume her normal daily walks.

Tumamoc Hill

Curtis: Since Charlotte wasn’t up for any longer hikes, and we weren’t willing to leave her alone so soon after her injury, our previous plans to go out to Tucson Mountain Park for walks and sunset were postponed. But Jess allowed me to go for my own walk to the relatively close Tumamoc Hill. Supposedly one of the most popular trails in all of Tucson, and we somehow had never done it. I didn’t particularly want to deal with the parking situation, so I added a couple miles of street walking to the hike. There’s a paved road all the way to the top, but it’s only for hikers and university faculty. An easy but steep road walk with great views across the valley.

After a few days at Gen’s and our night in Ironwood Forest, we returned to Mitch and Emily’s for the weekend, when our friend group had planned to celebrate Nugsgiving (kind of like Friendsgiving, but better). It had been 8 years since we were last able to attend, but they all welcomed us back with open arms and it was so good to be around people that have remained some of our closest friends despite years apart and miles between us. It was a great evening with games, BBQ, and conversations. It’s so great to be reunited and be reminded that we have such wonderful friends to come “home” to in the desert.