Adventure 324: Catalina State Park/Post F

Pre-hike grin

While practicing the form this morning, at least seven couples walked by- leashed dog in one hand, plastic puppy poop bag in the other. Try as I might I couldn't get my "Monkey Mind" off the idea of movement. It's an astonishing social truth that responsible dog owners all over the country now clean up after their pets. What's more astonishing is that they're harshly rebuked by others if they don't. I can't remember when this "movement" began, but it has clear benefits for the society in general. So, my question of the day is how do movements reach critical mass? I've lived through several movements. The Peace (Long haired hippies--an old bald guys' long gone lament) movement drew its energy from the Vietnam War. The recycling movement drew its energy from fear of scarcity, and a desire to preserve the planet for future generations. All of the equality movements from Women's rights, to LGBT rights, to voting rights, to justice for those oppressed draw their energy from a human need for decency. Donald Trump claims he's started a movement. It remains to be seen if it his has the power of progress, or whether it will just lay there in a stinky lump. Needless to say, my form practice stunk today. I was up to my ears in thoughts of movement, which naturally means I kept my "Zen" state at quite a distance. Better luck tomorrow. My agitation could have come from the movie we saw at "Senior Monday" yesterday ($5/head). We saw Manchester by the Sea, which stars Casey Afleck (He was sensational). The movie, a harsh dose of human reality, was far from a feel good fantasy. It wasn't even a good diversion in that sense because it forced me to confront my own very real humanness, both past and present. It was extremely powerful (and quite painful), and anyone who chooses to see it should first prepare him/herself to face the harsh weakness of being human. We'll see La La Land next, so we can float along in the blissful fantasyland of dreams realized. But head in the sand ostrich behavior is for another day. Today, we climbed up to the Romero Pools, which was a gain of about 1000 feet over six miles (round trip) harsh, uneven and rocky terrain. The scenery was magnificent and because of the two straight days of rain we had here earlier in the week, the seasonal streams were rushing. The pools glistened, and there was even a significant dusting of snow to be seen atop Mount Lemmon. We had to take off our boots to ford the stream. it was calf deep, and someone said it was thigh deep yesterday. Once across, we enjoy the beginnings of the blooms on the cactus. Sprigs of green are sprouting everywhere. I hope we're near a desert when the flowers bloom. It was a good six mile hike, and we feel no ill effects (Plan A is still working). And if I hadn't lost to the Wiley Cager again this morning, life would be good, especially today (Just joking; life is good regardless of my won/loss record).

 Check this toes!

 The first mile is an easy walk.

 It gets a little more rugged after that.

 They are calling this a trail.

 The view of the desert floor was worth it.

 This desert creature crawled up my leg during lunch.

 Fish eye shot of the day.

I just can't get enough of the Saguaros.

We saw no sheep today, but we did see FIVE foxes scampering through the desert.

Macro shot of the day; the first of the desert blooms.

Not so much as a whimper from my bunny, even though the water was quite cold.