Adventure Blog

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?

Wildflower season is here! The desert is full of color!

For our last Art Hike of 2022 we visited one of my favorite hikes: Seven Falls in Bear Canyon. I love recommending this hike to people visiting Tucson because you get a little bit of everything: desert landscape, plenty of saguaros, canyon views, many, many creek crossings, and of course a waterfall at the end!

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.

This month's Art Hike took us to one of my favorite areas of the Catalinas: Bear Wallow. I love this trail because it's fairly flat so it's accessible to most people and you get a lot of "bang for your buck" in terms of beauty. Gorgeous aspens, conifers, ferns and wildflowers can be found along this trail. 

Last month I hosted the very first Arizona Art Hike with The Kula Academy! I've wanted to do something like this for years, to finally combine my paint brushes and my hiking boots was a dream come true. It's kind of why I went with the name Brushes and Boots.

For living so close to Saguaro National Park, I don't make it there as much as I should. The Park is split into two districts, East and West, on either side of Tucson. The East district is 10 minutes from my home.

I haven't visited Sabino Canyon this much in years but this spring it's been calling my name! It's popular for a reason. I was delighted with how many blooming wildflowers and cacti I saw during this hike. Spring has sprung in the Sonoran Desert!

If you want to hike in Saguaro National Park but don't want to drive all the way into the Park, I have a not-so-secret secret to share with you: the Broadway Trailhead.

The Desert Museum is part zoo, part natural history museum, part botanical garden, part aquarium, art gallery and institute. The majority of the museum is outdoors with plenty of paved and gravel trails to follow. I loved the native flowers and plants that filled the walkways. The Sonoran Desert proved once again to be an infinite source of inspiration for me.