apAdventures

After a pleasantly mild spring, the Tucson summer has officially arrived. We can’t complain, seeing as we made it all the way until JUNE before the thermometer hit the triple digits. I heard on the news this hasn’t happened since the 1980’s! What a treat.

So now that the heat is here, we naturally either head to the pool or to the mountains. Here are some photos of a couple recent trips to Flagstaff. School is out for the summer now too and it’s nice to have our three day weekends back again. 🙂

Intense play: We’ve got a sushi food truck teetering off the edge of a massive cliff, requiring immediate helicopter evacuation! Wait a minute, is that a flying car coming to the rescue!??

Brothers goofin’

Look, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Campsite in the pines

Silas climbing at Priest Draw. A favorite boulder you’ve seen many times here at apAdventures.

Absorbed in sketch

Silas climbing some more. This is a perfectly child-sized boulder that I used to jokingly refer to as the “kids boulder” every time we passed it…back before we had kids!

Topping out the “kids boulder”

Little brother’s turn

Evening fire

Me on Twister, v6

Paul on The Egyptian, v11

Silas’ first ascent of his very own “L-Traverse” which he has deemed “v7 at least!”

And Ivan’s first ascent of his very own “Crusher Climb” which he is still debating the rating. And in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes. They picked out, climbed, named and rated these lines all completely on their own. Paul and I just keep quiet and chuckle amongst ourselves when they’re not looking.

A climb that I’ve been meaning to get serious on and send for nearly 5 years now, Meateater, v7. After two weekends on it, I can confidently say I’m FINALLY serious! Woo! Time to finish this thing already!

And Paul on his latest obsession, Cosmic Tricycle, v10

More Cosmic Tricycle

Ahhh summer: cold forest, warm fire, kids staying up late

A tag-team trail run on the Weatherford Trail on Mt. Humphreys. One of us runs…

…while the other hikes with the kids, and then we switch.

And then we all picnic together in a postcard-picturesque spot such as this. We are loving’ up this summer for sure!

posted by arr

posted by arr

You’ve seen this shot many times as it is from one of my favorite trails to run, Douglas Springs. But have you seen it THIS green??!!! Yey for summer monsoons!

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The pic says it all. I have a hard enough time resisting to run through sprinklers by myself while I’m running. With two kiddos it was impossible. This woman walking her dog even almost decided to join us….almost. 🙂

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With Silas now a certified big-kid bike rider, we do our stroller run / bike ride combos at nearby parks that have nice paved paths (without cars!). Last week the kids had a real treat. Our path was closed so that workers could chainsaw down a giant dead Eucalyptus tree. Awesome!

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The itch is back to do some running while we take a break from the bouldering. Thankfully the desert temps have been so amazing this month that we’ve been able to knock out significant mileage without having to wake up at 4am to beat the heat!

…a treat that will be gone by next week I fear…say the smart weather guys and gals on the tv.

An early morning moon on Douglas Springs Trail

Sunrise over the Catalina Mountains

A rare, gloomy morning overlooking Tucson with my running chica, Mandy

Ok, so this one technically doesn’t count as a trail run because it’s not. It’s my early morning road run that I’ll sometimes squeeze in real quick before Paul heads to work, with this wash being my destination. Beautiful, eh?

A gila monster scaling a rock! AWESOME!

Your’s truly psyched as all heck to stretch my scrawny running legs

And me and my other fav running chica, Linda

Virga. “In meteorology, virga is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates or sublimes before reaching the ground.”

The Catalina Mountains again as seen from Douglas Springs Trail, this time at sunset.

Tucson is down in the green flatness. Hard to believe with all the spring vegetation in bloom right now.

Mandy rockin’ it on Phoneline Trail on yet another cloudy, cool and stormy day just last week!

Sabino Canyon from Phoneline Trail. And no, that’s not virga this time. Real rain in the mountains threatening to come down and pummel us.

A sea of saguaro cacti with the Rincon Mountains on the left in the distance and the Santa Ritas further away on the right

Photos from Paul’s run with John on the Bear Canyon trail

Seven Falls

The Bear Canyon Trail as it wraps around Seven Falls

A pool at the bottom of the Falls

Another pic from a Paul run, Sycamore Resevoir

And yes, the stroller runs still continue too, although they have been modified just a tad. I sold the B.O.B. Duallie and just use the Single now while Silas rides his bike. Assess, adapt and run on! 🙂

posted by arr

My buddy John and I ticked off an AMAZING trail run yesterday that’s worthy of a webpost: Sabino Basin. Beginning at the Sabino Canyon visitor center we ran the classic Phoneline Trail up the canyon, continuing up to the West / East Fork junctions in Sabino Basin. Having run Phoneline a bunch (which is beautiful in and of itself), I can’t believe the scenery I was missing further up the canyon all those times. Incredible! Temps were cooler than usual Saturday so with a 6am start conditions couldn’t have been better. And with the trail cutting along the east side of the canyon we had shade for most of the journey. AND, at 13ish miles this was John’s longest trail run to-date! Excellent trail, excellent run. Wooo!

Cranking up the start of the Phoneline Trail

Approaching Sabino Basin

The Basin

A commanding view from the Basin up the West and East Forks

A babbling brook – how’s this for a reward at the turn-around point?!

Awesomely beautiful seed pod

John on the return down Phoneline Trail

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Wanted to share a few fun running photos we’ve snapped lately:

Linda and Paul looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the start of a Mt. Lemmon run

My summit pose (lame, I know)

John making construction-cone-orange look good in the mountains

Mountain wildflowers

A break on a stroller run to let a rattlesnake cross our path

A desert tortoise crossing Paul’s path

High desert wildflowers

A trail’s view of Tucson

The Catalina Mountains from the Douglas Springs trailhead

Storm blowing in over the Rincon Mountains

posted by arr

As Linda nears closer to her big 50k, our mileage increases steadily to keep up! This weekend Linda completed a run that Paul and I, and Linda too, have talked about wanting to do for years. Literally, years. The Tanque Verde Ridge run in the Rincon Mountains is a stone’s throw southeast from our home. This one-way 20 miler starts at the end of Speedway Blvd (at 2750 feet), runs all the way up my beloved Douglas Springs Trail past the Douglas Springs Campground (at 6.1 miles and 4800 feet) to Cowhead Saddle (at 8.5 miles and 6100 feet), up to Tanque Verde Peak (at 7049 feet) and then aaaaall the way down the ridge to the Tanque Verde Ridge Trailhead in Saquaro East National Park (back at city level). Oh, and if you want to turn it into a marathon you just tack on the Cactus Forest Trail and run it back to Speedway and make a loop of it. The real reason we’ve never done it is because the start/finish are at a low enough elevation to make it a better winter run than summer (and we all know what and where Paul and I are typically spending our energy on during the winter months…you got it, Hueco!). Linda got her chance though, lucky gal. Thanks to tropical storm Ivo Tucson got some clouds and cooler temps over the weekend. And Linda went for it! And succeeded! Wooo!

We were her support crew for the effort. I ran the first 6.1 miles with her to Douglas Springs Campground, carrying an extra 2 liters of water (in addition to my 2 liters!). Paul ran a couple miles up the end of the ridge to join her on the descent. And Silas and Ivan helped set up a quaint aid station at the Saguaro East parking lot, looking their darned cutest to greet her return. A stellar time was had by all!

Although I will admit – I was quite bummed on my solo 6.1 mile return to the car after seeing Linda off at the Douglas Springs Campground. I was bummed I wasn’t fit enough to join her up and over the ridge. At this rate though, I’ll be plenty fit come November. Just in time for the Hueco season to start! Ahhhh, the vicious yet lovely cycle. I love the desert. 🙂

Ready to rock

And there she goes

Me trying like hell to keep up

Fellow trail user

Low elevation beauty

Trees. Gaining elevation

Linda and I at my turn-around point, the Douglas Springs Campground – which is nothing more than a rundown outhouse, a couple old bear bins and a few posts in the ground designating the campsites.

Only 13.9 to go Linda!

Fuel up girl. I didn’t haul that extra 2 liters up her for nothin.’ 😉

A view of Tucson and the Catalina Mountains on my lonely descent

Silas and Ivan’s aid station. They kept wanting to eat all the pretzels!

A tortoise dropping by for a snack

No pretzels for you Mr. Tortoise. Enjoy a tasty leaf instead.

The finish! She made it…woo! Nice work girl.

posted by arr

Linda and I bagged Mt. Guthrie last weekend. A nice little run. Nothing big or epic, just a modest 6 miles roundtrip from the Lower Green Mountain Trailhead. Nothing at all compared to the 9 mountain miles my legs just ran this morning, the heinous 7 Butterfly Trail miles Paul’s legs ran, and the 17.8 miles Linda ran!!!!! Yes, you read that right. Linda is training for the Water is Life 50k. We’re not. But what’s convenient about this situation is that Paul and I can tag team Linda’s training runs and do kid trade-off! It’s a beautiful thing, really. We gotta get Linda to sign up for more of these ultra’s, hehe.

This morning’s run began with Linda and Paul running the Butterfly Trail one-way from Mt. Bigelow. From either end the trail plunges down, WAAAAY down in elevation. And then you have to climb back up, WAAAAY up. Each of us had dabbled a bit on both ends at one time or another, but only traveling a mile or two down-trail. None of us had ever tried to run the whole thing…probably just because of the logistics of it being a one-way endeavor.

Overgrown, hot, steep, hard and so-not-fun was their account this morning when the kids and I met them at the finish. Guess that wasn’t a good game plan after all. I suppose there’s a reason why you never hear of anyone running the Butterfly Trail, haha. (Note: On the drive back down the mountain however, Paul admitted that he actually kinda enjoyed it a little and would run it again. 🙂

From their finish at the Butterfly Trailhead it was kid and runner trade-off time. I handed the boys over to Paul, tied my shoes on and continued with Linda on our “Mt. Lemmon Classic” loop. This is a loop we’ve all done many times, thanks to our good buddy Courtney for taking us on it for the first time. We usually park at the Butterfly Trailhead (cause it has a better vibe, as Courtney says…and he’s right), then cross the road to the Sunset Trailhead and start there. Thanks to our genius plan we were already in position. Linda and I ran Sunset Trail down to Marshall’s Gulch, then on a whim decided to add some extra mileage and took Aspen Trail (we usually take Marshall’s Gulch Trail) up to the junction. From there we continued on Aspen up to the summit of Mt. Lemmon, then down the backside via the Aspen Draw trail, over to Summerhaven, through town and down the pavement back to Marshall’s Gulch. I met Paul and the kids at the Gulch and called it quits and Linda continued on, taking the Sunset Trail back to where her and I started (and her and Paul finished earlier that morning). Whew!

Meanwhile, Hueco training is underway. We did some work on our rings yesterday (pushups, tuck levers, L-sits, jackknifes, etc). I think every single muscle in my body is sore right now. Including my butt cheeks. What the?

Linda approaching the Guthrie Summit on last weekend’s run

Running buddies

Ok, so the Guthrie summit isn’t quite as amazing as I’m making it out to be. It’s more like a ridge, or a bump maybe, just one of the many in the Catalina Mountains

But the view is pretty sweet

We’ll soon be calling her our ultra-running buddy

Silas and Ivan at the top of the Butterfly Trail this morning anticipating dad & Linda’s sweaty arrival

Linda kicking my butt on the Aspen Trail (ahead in blue). Ok, so she kicked my butt on the whole run but I’m not training for a 50k so that’s my excuse. 😛

posted by arr