Sweet Baby Jesus!

sirena · Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 93

I hiked a loop this week using the 50-Year, Baby Jesus, Sutherland, and Link trails. It went a lot better than my last attempt at this loop, which ended with me having to hike back to my car in the rain and in the dark. Read about it here: http://wp.me/pFUf6-F
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Sirena

Sirena's Wanderings
http://www.desertsirena.wordpress.com

Arizona Trail for Fibromyalgia
http://www.aztrail4fms.org

azbackpackr · Posted: 12/6/2009, 10:17 am Post subject:

Nice write-up! I haven't done that one myself!

Have to say, though, Sirena, please be careful what you say about hearing someone shooting. What you heard was almost certainly a shooter at the completely legal Pima Pistol Club, located just to the north of the Catalina State Park boundary. Naturally, someone doing target practice is going to shoot over and over and over. That it what you do if you are training for a match. It's a sport, people join clubs, they compete, just like bicycle racing or any other individual sport. There is nothing wrong with it. And there are so few good shooting ranges, (I think there should be more), so that people can shoot in a safe, controlled area. The one at Sabino Canyon was a really nice one, but people built houses in the area, knowing all along that the shooting range was there, and then complained later, and the Forest Service caved in and closed the range.

Deborah · Joined: 06 Oct 2008 Posts: 297 Location: Tucson

HI That's one of my favorite hikes too.... I like to do a Through hike from Golder Ranch road to Catalina State Park which requires a car shuttle but it cuts off alot of the Rocky road and return on road back to the cars doing the loop.
The glyphs are great out there too!
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Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. - Rachel Carson

sirena · Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 93

Shawn · Posted: 12/7/2009, 11:20 am Post subject:

Sometimes on the National Trail in So Mtn Park you can hear the Phoenix PD practice range, which is on the north boundary.
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The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see.

azbackpackr · Posted: 12/7/2009, 12:20 pm Post subject:

True, but at least if you know the gun range is there, you can pretty much figure they aren't shooting at or toward you!

I personally find the ughsome city views and traffic noise experienced from any of the Catalina Front Range trails a lot more disturbing than any shooting range noise. I started hiking the Front Range in the mid 80's, so not really that early on, compared to a lot of hikers I know. Last time I hiked Kimball, 2 years ago, and saw the view and heard the noise from below I was pretty appalled. And backpacking in the Front Range canyons you can always hear the traffic noise at night, echoing off the cliffs.

I doubt if I'll ever move back there. I hate what they did and are doing to the area. It reminds me of growing up in San Diego. Every time you went out of the city to go for a hike there was a new subdivision going up. It is literally painful for me to see it. And I've never been able to figure out where all those people in those subdivisions find places to work in Tucson? I lived there for 13 years and never could figure that one out.

Deborah · Joined: 06 Oct 2008 Posts: 297 Location: Tucson

yes, that's a drawback of hiking any of those trails out there you can end up in someone's backyard.
We have done several bushwhacks out there and one person got lost and did end up in someone's back yard. LOL...

As far as the shooting I won't be surprised if it was hunters or target practice. Lots of illegal shooting out in that area just like at Reddington Road.
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Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. - Rachel Carson

azbackpackr · Posted: 12/8/2009, 8:42 am Post subject:

No doubt that's true, but right about exactly where she described hearing it is where the Pima Pistol Club's range is. It is just north of the park boundary.

I'm pretty sure target practice in Reddington Pass is NOT illegal, however, unless the rules have changed. Setting up a target or cans for target shooting in the National Forest, as long as you meet certain requirements, such as being 1/4 mile or more from a building or habitation, and you are not shooting across a road, AND as long as the area has not been designated by the authorities as a no-shooting zone, etc., has never been illegal in Arizona.

Leaving litter behind, (rifle shells, beer cans, targets, washing machines, junked Gremlins, etc.) after you have been shooting is illegal, because littering in a NF is illegal.

azhiker96 · Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Posts: 1419

I also like quiet when I hike but I'm not surprised to find it broken. My top 5 annoyances have been:
5. Aircraft overhead
4. Any loud talking group of hikers
3. The guy who lit a pack of firecrackers when I was snowshoeing 30 yards away. It sounded like .22 rapid fire.
2. Rocks crashing down from Flat Iron while I was on Siphon Draw trail below.

and the most annoying for me.

1. A group of 5 with a boom box on South Kaibab trail blaring "We are Family" for all to hear. It was at Skeleton point and I had to take a 1/2 hour break to let those guys get out of earshot.
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It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. -- Carl Sagan

Deborah · Joined: 06 Oct 2008 Posts: 297 Location: Tucson

Leaving litter behind, (rifle shells, beer cans, targets, washing machines, junked Gremlins, etc.) after you have been shooting is illegal, because littering in a NF is illegal.[/quote]

That's what I am talking about..... Evil or Very Mad

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Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. - Rachel Carson

azbackpackr · Posted: 12/8/2009, 6:23 pm Post subject:

I can't hear "We Are Family" without thinking of Gene Hackman in drag...

I like airplanes. I agree that I don't like the other stuff mentioned in the lists. I don't like LOTS of airplanes, mind you--not in the numbers I heard at Tanner Beach one time, for example, all day long.

But an occasional little airplane evokes childhood memories of picnics, my dad, etc. Long story... Even a jet plane, very high and barely audible can bring on some of these memories. It's just one of those things...

wanderingsoul · Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 2285 Location: Gilbert AZ

azbackpackr · Posted: 12/9/2009, 5:04 am Post subject:

Oh, well, you do see that sort of thing out on State Land, Martin Ranch near Catalina, etc. At least used to be that way. We have a couple of "shooting hills" on state land near here. Seems people who don't know what else to do with the broken dryer decide it would make for good target practice... At least, they seem to keep it to those two places, so if we have a new handgun, or we just want to practice, we might go there to plink. It is relatively safe, usually. Shocked