Tag: nature

We made it.

11:16 pm

Getting to the Window in the Santa Catalinas is a challenge, mostly because of the 4000 foot elevation gain. In the past two years Diane and I have made three previous attempts, all of which were aborted because we simply either ran out of time or energy.

Today, we left very early in the morning, and because we are right now in very good shape, made it with little trouble, completing the entire hike in just under eleven hours. Some pictures below the fold.
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Hiking to the Window in Ventana Canyon

6:01 pm

An evening pause: My posting on Sunday will be light until the evening, as Diane and I will be doing a 13.2 mile hike up Ventana Canyon to a giant natural bridge called the Window. This canyon is in the Santa Catalina mountains that overlook Tucson. These mountains are quite rugged, with some intense elevation gain in a very short time, comparable to the Grand Canyon. For this hike we will gain 4,000 feet in 6.6 miles.

Below is a video of this hike but only going about halfway up the canyon.

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First day caving in Nevada

11:19 pm

It is late and I have to up at 5 am to head to another cave tomorrow, so there is no time to give a detailed update of what happened today

However, here is a quick summary. Our goal was to find and map a rarely visited and difficult to find cave. After four miles of hiking and a lot of wandering across some pretty spectacular mountainsides, we failed to find the cave. However, we did locate two other small caves, which we surveyed, and then, on the way back to the vehicles, discovered a previously unknown cave of some size with significant formations. This was quite exciting, as the cave was clearly virgin, never seen by humans before.

We hope to return to explore and map it later in the week. Once again, I will get to go where no one has ever gone before!

Tomorrow will probably be as long a day as today, so I probably will not be able to post a more detailed report until Saturday. Stay tuned.

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The first solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in two decades will occur on May 20.

7:09 pm

Set your calendar: The first solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in two decades will occur on May 20.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the earth and sun, but the lunar disk does not completely block out the sun and instead leaves a “ring of fire” visible around the moon at the point of maximum eclipse. Most anyone west of the Mississippi will see a partial eclipse, but the real treat will be for those located in the 200-mile wide path of the eclipse which will trek east from the California / Oregon border through Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and finally set below the horizon in west Texas.

Remember, you will need good eye protection if you choose to look.

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