Fall is my favorite season. While living in Tucson I have desperately missed seeing the seasons change but lucky for me I can still go visit fall and not have to travel too far!
I didn't see a single person hiking from Juniper Basin Campground to Manning Camp, I was completely alone. But I loved it. I really enjoyed hiking up this portion of the trail, realizing that I'd hiked up from cactus to pines! The views were beautiful, I've always wanted to see the Rincons from this perspective, you can't see it from Tucson and only get a glimpse of it from the Catalinas. I love exploring new places and I felt gratitude for yesterday's decision to continue on, otherwise I would have missed these views!
I was excited to finally get back out there by myself but I was feeling trepidation as well. What if I no longer liked backpacking? What if I got lonely? What if I ran out of water? What if this is too hard for me and I haven't trained enough?
I'd just finished reading Wynne Brown's biography of Sara Plummer Lemmon called "The Forgotten Botanist" and was reminded that Sara and her husband JG Lemmon spent a lot of time botanizing the Huachucas, an Arizona Sky Island I'd never visited before! I looked on a map and quickly started planning my trip there.
Our August Art Hike allowed us to explore the Bigelow Trail after an incredible week of monsoons in Tucson. The Santa Catalina Mountains have been gobbling up all of this rain, turning the mountains lush and green, and sending huge amounts of water down to the thirsty washes and desert below.
For June's Art Hike we headed back up Mt Lemmon to one of my favorite trails: Marshall Gulch. We got incredibly lucky with some cloud cover because this trail can get warm in the sun. We had another great group come out to hike and paint, some new faces and some who joined us last month.
I hadn't been on this trail since the devastating Bighorn Fire burned almost 200,000 acres of the Santa Catalina Mountains. It was started by a lightning strike on June 5, 2020 near Bighorn Mountain (hence the name) and burned until July 23, 2020. Due to an almost non-existent monsoon season and extremely dry conditions the wildfire spread quickly from one side of the Catalinas to the other. It was gut wrenching to see the entire mountain up in flames and see billows of smoke from my backyard.
Then I thought of another what if: what if I got out there and loved it. What if I started hiking and I felt so strong and I wanted to keep going? What if I conquered my fears and attempted this hike even though I'm still scared? What if I miss out on an amazing adventure because I doubt myself?
Bravery isn’t something you do once and then check off your list. It’s a constant thing. Just because you’ve done a brave thing doesn’t mean you’re not scared to do it again.
