Three Days with Juliet

Tread not upon my dreams and memories... 

Temperatures below Arid-zona's equator eventually tumbled into the "tolerable" range, enough that we stumbled south from red rocks to Sonoran desert. The landscapes between megapolis Phoenix and crossroads Palominos are my childhood stomping grounds. Familiar warmth and spectacle melts layers of ice from long dormant memories—year after year after year spent probing forests of saguaro, amber grasslands, and sky island mountains. Mom's voice rings out as I set off on daily adventures. "Watch out for rattlesnakes, young man."

An hour south of Tucson we met up with fellow Lazy Dazer, roamer, hiker and now mountain bike rider, Chris. He was comfortably camped above valley heat at 5,500 feet amid sweet scented pine and cedar, along with gray barked oak and white skinned sycamores. Such lush, diverse vegetation is found midway up sky islands. And water, alternating between trickle and flash flood according to season. As a dry dwelling desert-rat child, I found flowing water nothing short of miraculous...as well as something I needed to dam.  

Recall from previous posts (or my sidebar links: More Life Less Waste) Chris's daughter, Juliet. Juliet is a Seattle-based outdoor lover, as well as a budding, oft philosophical blogger who aspires (and succeeds, in my opinion) to "live a life worth writing about." 

Juliet flew down in order to escape the dismal damp wintertime of Seattle and to hang with dad, Chris...not to mention couple of his Geezer friends. Three days of fun, sun and outdoor adventures. It would be our third time in the past year to cross paths with Juliet, and we looked forward to catching up with her life while getting in a few miles on Santa Rita's generous network of trails in Madera Canyon.

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Rv pal Chris with daughter Juliet

I believe it was about this time last year that we paraded Juliet through the Sonoran Desert in nearby Saguaro National Park. What a shock to all the senses, to go from rainforest to desert in less than 3 hours.

One Year ago, with hiking buddies Susan, Maikel, Juliet, Chris and Bobbie (below)

This past November Juliet flew down to Utah to meet up with Chris (and again, his Geezer friends) near our annual Zion camp. Ms Autumn had worked her magic on Zion's maples and oak brush. We managed to happen across bighorn sheep (up close, maybe even too close) as we negotiated an assortment of less traveled canyons.

But on this trip, Chris wanted to show off a favorite canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains, one that is renowned, if not revered, for birding. With persistence and a little luck we hoped Juliet might catch a glimpse the ever-elusive Elegant Trogon, a colorful, tropical bird who's territory continues to expand north from Mexico. I guess Global Warming has a few perks...

Enough words. Here is a photographic summary of Three Days with Juliet... plus Chris and a couple of Geezer friends.