Tucson Mountain Park and Gates Pass

Tucson Mountain Park is not far from where we are staying this winter so we decided to go there for a desert hike.

These are chain-fruit chollas (rhymes with goya). Believe it or not, there are 28 varieties of chollas.

This is a teddy bear cholla.

Just one of the many mountains in Tucson Mountain Park. This one is more rock than the others and is very colorful.

This is a prickly pear cactus. There are maybe a dozen varieties of them. Notice the heart shaped pad on the left.

This area has a lot of saguaro cacti too. That's pronounced sa-war-o.

Ok I saw a movement off to the side of the trail. Look closely right in the middle of this photo and you can see the tops of a jack rabbit's ears. He stayed still for quite a while.

I think these houses are actually in a part of Tucson. We had passed a sign telling us we were leaving Tucson but I think a part of it is still south of the road.

This is the skeleton of a cholla cactus.

There were a few large rocks around.

Then we headed north on Kinney Road. It had a lot of dips and curves. Fun on a motorcycle.

Then we headed east on Gates Pass Road. The bikers like this one even though it isn't very long.

There was a scenic stop right before the ascent over the pass and into Tucson.