Day 15 & 16 Last Day in Tucson Area

Today we decided to do a walk or hike. I wanted to see if I could do an 11 mile hike up to Mt. Wrightson (9500 feet) and Sylvia opted for a 6 mile walk around the Green Valley area. It will become obvious that Sylvia's a lot smarter than me. I thought it should take me about 5 hours so I threw a Snickers bar and a bottle of water in my jacket and headed up the mountain at 9 o'clock. I guess I didn't dress properly because I alternated between sweating and freezing depending where on the mountain I was. I passed a couple of bird watchers and one said that this was his "fifth consecutive day looking for one stupid bird and I haven't seen a damn thing." The only other people I saw the rest of the trip were three Mexicans walking down the mountain from the direction of Mexico. They smiled, nodded and continued on. It could have been a rather touchy situation. At the 2.2 mile mark I passed a memorial that marked the spot where three Boy Scouts died when a snow storm surprised them while camping. It was a weird feeling but I started up towards Old Baldy Shoulder which was only one mile from Mt. Wrightson. The trail got steeper and it narrowed down to about a one foot path cut out of the side of a mountain. It came to an end though at about 8600 feet when the trail turned to solid ice. I should have rented Crampons, but I didn't think they made them to fit penny loafers. After two and a half hours it was time to turn around a mile and a quarter short of my goal. I was getting really cold anyhow. I ate my Snickers and started down. It took almost as long as the walk up. I was back at the car by 1:30 and I had gotten 9 hard miles in, so it was a good trip with unbelievable views. I can understand why people climb mountains. I rewarded myself with a taco, a tamale, the best beans in the world, and several beers at El Sole de Cobre . The picture, taken from about half way up is of the mountain I was trying to get to. I got close to the base. For dinner we went to Trattoria Ragazzi and had a pleasant Italian meal...Sylvia the homemade Ravioli, and me the Lamb Shanks.

Tomorrow we head up to Sedona. It looks like it's going to be cold.