Thunderbird Trail - Tucson

N and I really had the urge to hike the other day, but we've been a little bored with our choices lately. Not that Sabino Canyon and Mount Lemon aren't incredible, they are! It's just that we've been there so many times that we wanted to try something new. Enter Thunderbird Trail at the foothills of the Tucson Mountain Range. This trail was great! Not only was it only about a ten minute drive from my place, it has some of the most lush vegetation I have seen in this area. The 4 mile round trip hike was not difficult, but also gave us a decent workout since you are either decending on the way in or ascending on the way out. To make it even more interesting, there are several abandoned mines along the trail.


I don't know if this mine is seeped in some tragic past, if it was the cloudy day, or the sadness to see such a huge saguaro come to it's end, but N and I both got a very eery feeling around the mine. We both remarked that it felt like a grave yard. I'm curious to know if something happened here in the past.

Regardless of the somber mood, these spines were facinating to see up close.

It seems that Warren at Touch the Wind started something. I found myself searching the entire hike for a saguaro arm that is eeking out into the world. Ah ha! Mission complete!