Caving - Santa Catalina Mountains

We did a resurvey of this cave, because the original map was done in the 1960s, and current mapping standards have changed since then. The cave is located on the northeastern side of the Santa Catalina Mountains at 4,600 feet elevation. The area around this cave is presently the ecotone between the creosotebush desert scrub communities of the San Pedro Valley and the oak woodland above.

I spent Friday night sleeping in my mini van off of South Willow Springs Road, about 1 mile north of state route 77. Then, Saturday morning at 9:30 I met the others at the Peppersauce Cave parking area. Then I followed them to the parking area for the cave we were to survey.

Sunrise where I spent the night in my van.

Ray took my photo.

Monument Canyon - Superstition Mountains

My sister Debbie, had wanted to explore up Monument Canyon to look for the scattered wreckage from a World War II training aircraft that crashed in this canyon on April 10, 1948, at 6 am. So I joined her shortly after sunrise. Our hike was 4.8 miles round-trip, and it took us 5 hours and 37 minutes. Our ascent up the canyon was 1,047 feet. We did not find the wreckage, but it was a beautiful hike.

Temptation Peak - Goldfield Mountains

This was my second time to the 3,195-foot summit of Temptation Peak. This time I started from North Idaho Road and followed the ridgeline northwest. My round-trip hike was 4.7 miles, and it took me 4 hours and 9 minutes. The ascent was 1,129 feet.