On the trail again

On Saturday I did something I haven’t done in far too long–set work aside and went hiking. lnhammer and I hiked Ventana Canyon Trail to Maiden Pools, a route I’d somehow never gotten around to taking before before, probably because when I first moved here trail access was more complicated then it is now.

The hike pretty much had everything a perfect Tucson hike does: achingly blue sky, towering red cliffs, high circling ravens (with a possible glimpse of nest in a cliff hollow), wildflowers of all colors, green ocotillo leaves and spiny saguaro spines both turned to gold by the sun. A running stream as we hiked along the canyon floor, then stunning views back down to the city as we switchbacked steeply up and away from the stream.

Water is magic in the desert. Other places, one gets used to its flow. Here, it’s new and soul-regenerating every time. You can hear it before you see it. You can smell it–I never really knew what water smelled like, until I moved out here.

And from higher up, it seemed as if you could reach out and touch the city (there’s more of it now than in the pictures I linked to)–and yet at the same time, we were very much surrounded by the deep stillness of wilderness.

Maiden Pools itself was a lovely place for wading and foot-dangling, with a trickle of water flowing behind us and semi-secluding rocks around. We holed up there for much of the day–I alternated between writing, splashing around, and sunning myself lizard-like on the rocks.

Getting out into the mountains always makes me feel more grounded, and–paradoxically in a place where part of the point is getting away from other people–a little more human. Cares and concerns just sort of slowly slough away.

And simply being out and moving feels good, too.

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