Traveling with Tucson : Trip South - Tucson

We start the week with "Sunday Fun Day" Church, Breakfast out and then McDonald Park Dog Park.

Still want to stay clear of people, so a ride to Redington Pass

Redington Road winds up and over a pass for 26 miles between the Catalina and Rincon Mountains , an area of big cattle ranches and views. We drive Tanque Verde Road out of town it turns into Redington Rd.

At Mile 3 it becomes a dirt road

We leave the city behind

The hills are full of Saquaro Cacut. This one has seen better days but you can see the "skeleton" The majority of a saguaro is made up of water, an adult cactus can weigh 6 tons or more. This weight is supported by a circular skeleton of inter-connected, woody ribs. The round holes you see are made by Gila Woodpeckers for their nests cavities excavated with their long beak. The inside of a cactus provides a safe, cool place to raise their young.

It's a very rough road - mostly 5-10 mph

If you don't believe me, , ,

Tucson likes it

It goes up and up

and winds it's way through the mountain

We get passed by a dirt biker

and pass by some cowboys with a load of cattle

We stop for a break to stretch our legs

The sky gives an impression that there is a lake or ocean in the distance.

As we get higher up and away from the City, the Saguaros get bigger and have more arms. It can take 50-75 years for a Saguaro to grow it's first arm.. After 100 years, they usually have several arms. After 200 years they have many arms. Guess these guys have been around awhile.

around mile 11 we take a picnic lunch break

and enjoy the view

Our cattlemen pass by

We continue on 8 miles and start to wonder if we should keep going or turn around, when we arrive at A-7 Ranch

We look down the road and see our cattle guys so Gary drives in to get some direction. The young cowboy is very helpful and says we can continue on the Road but it is washed out just before Redington. He gives us directions through his Bosses property where we will continue on to Benson, AZ and then back to Tucson.

A7 was purchased by Pima County in 2004 to support the Sonoran Desert
Conservation Plan goal of conserving habitats that benefit wildlife, the environment and
for the preservation of a piece of Southern Arizona’s cattle ranching history. A7 Ranch contains pri-
vate and state ownership with 6,258 acres owned by Pima County, 40,000 acres managed under a state
grazing lease and 640 acres managed under other conservation easements.

So back on the road we go. It gets a bit better here

But still a roller coaster ride

We pass through his bosses ranch

and try not to run into some of his cattle

We eventually make it to the turn off for Benson, AZ. Wasn't expecting another 40 miles!

and paved road!

The views are still spectacular

All in all it took us 6-7 hours. A beautiful day for a ride, but if we were to do over, we probably would have turned around at the Bosses Ranch and drove back the way we went in. Would have taken the same amount of time but would have saved in mileage. Don't regret it at all though!

Treated ourselves to a DQ Blizzard when we got home.