After a week of cool and cloudy weather in Tuscon Mountain Park we headed off south of Tucson to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains. This canyon and its water filled creek traverse four life zones between the desert floor and the snowy mountaintops at 7000-9450 ft. It has become world famous for its flora and fauna, and they say that the variety of climates within the less than 10 mile length of the canyon is similar to that found in driving from Arizona to Canada. Our campground was on a oak, pine, fir, and juniper forested hillside at 5050 ft with grass lands leading up to it. The canyon is also famous for its bird population with over 250 species found here in the spring/summer/fall season. Not a lot of birds around in the winter unless you are up early in the cold mornings. We spent 3 nights here in the 13 site campground and hiked as many trails as we could.
A windy morning and two impending rain storms sent up back to lower elevations to sit out some colder than normal temps for the next few days so we are off to Tubac.
No comments:
Post a Comment