Merry Christmas 2025

 That sounds better than *cough, cough* A Sickly Christmas.  

Julia thinks I've gotten her sick too so I'm not getting any pity from her.  I'm muddling along but still managing to have some good family fun.  

Finger Rock

Just so my readers don't think I'm sitting in a rocking chair on my front porch, looking at the mountains all day, Julia and I headed out before sunrise for a challenging and beautiful hike in the Catalinas this morning.

This hike on Alltrails is called "Finger Rock, Pontatoc Connector and Pontatoc Loop.   We arrived at the trailhead parking lot at 7 a.m.  There are some really fancy houses near the trailhead.  We were thankful that their "back yard" (the Coronado National Forest) is still free to the public for outdoor enjoyment.

Alltrails has some good advice on this loop.  It's best hiked clockwise, especially for us early-starters. Most of the hike was in the cool shade of the canyon, and we finished the hard part first.  The Finger Rock section is gradual for about the first mile but quickly steepens and involves scrambling on rocks with hands and feet for the next two miles.

Cool Shadows of Canyon at Sunrise

After a couple of hours, things began heating up, both in temperature and trail difficulty.  

This is a hike where there are views everywhere one looks.

From the top of the trail

From here, there is a new Pontatoc connector trail which was absolutely beautiful (and fairly flat at the top).  Then it was the Pontatoc loop which brought us back to the initial trailhead (and later to the Tucson Hop Shop.

Hazy IPA and Oatmeal Stout (nitro tap)

The Catalinas at Sunset

 

It's a great time to be in Tucson with high temps in the 70's and low temps in the low 50's.  All it takes is this view from our front porch tonight to remind me why we moved here.  

Visitor season is approaching.  Allie arrives in ten days and will stay for two weeks, working remotely.  After that, there will be a steady stream of friends and family through April.  Next month, my shell for the Dodge Ram should be delivered.  I plan to do some rough "truck camping" in the desert this winter.