Reflecting on Our First Weeks in Tucson

Jason is graduating from college next week, and we’ll be closing the Tucson chapter of our life soon. We began this journey only three years ago, and I’ve gained a lot of perspective in a short amount of time.

We moved to Tucson having never been here before. We pulled into town in our 2004 Ford Explorer on a nearly 100-degree day – June 19, 2014. I remember that date well because it was the day before Jason’s college orientation.

I was immediately in awe of the mountains – those lovely tall Catalina mountains, and the incredibly blue skies. Those, along with the cactus and other interesting vegetation, will always be wrapped in my memories of our time in Tucson. 

Cat Mountain

 

Location: Cat Mountain, Tucson Mountains

Elevation: 3,852 ft

Temp: 39F at 7:00 a.m. (start) / 65F at 12:05 p.m. (end)

http://www.summitpost.org/cat-mountain/598423

On Black Friday, we elected to follow over 1.1 million others to #OptOutside – a movement by REI to take the day and be outside. Easy enough. I hate shopping!

We ventured out with TeamRWB to hike Cat Mountain – one of the standout peaks in the Tucson Mountains. When we met up with a few others at the trailhead at 7:00 a.m., the temperature was a crisp 39F, and the nearly full moon was still out greeting us while the sun was just starting to crest the Catalina Mountains to the east.

The TeamRWB group, minus Jason, our photographer.

There is no “official” trail to the top of Cat Mountain, and as such, the plan was to follow the trail in and then scramble to the top of the mountain. Sounded simple enough. As a group, we were trying to attack the rather tall peak from the northeast side, which would be less challenging.