Getting Ready for Alaska ... Shakedown Cruise to Tucson

We left balmy Monument on February 12 with the truck thermometer hovering at 9 degrees. By the miracle of two days and 850 miles later, it is 70 degrees in the Gilbert Ray Campground bordering on Saguaro National Park (western edge of Tucson).  We hiked with and without rangers from both sides of Saguaro NP, learned the names of many cacti, visited the world-class "Sonoran Desert Museum", explored a bit of Tucson, got together with friends also visiting from Monument and had dinner with Steve and Lorna Kautz now living in Tucson. 

We just loved the desert ... the Sonoran is a 'green' desert with a different point of view from any place we have been to and hiked in.  Every few feet on every trail was a new image.  Our ranger lead hike up the Bajada Wash in the NP at sunset was the highlight .... the desert was greening from the recent rains, the mountains glowed in the dusk and the 'sentinals' -- those unbelievable Saguaro Cactic -- were etched on the sky.

A few fun majestic Saguaro facts (amazing adaptation):

• life span = 250 years
• @ 50 - 60 years the first arm buds  may appear
• out of 20-40M seeds, one or two 'children' may reach maturity
• needs rain on 2 occasions, five days apart to germinate!
• most begin life under a 'nurse' tree for shade
• root system is a broad as cactus is tall and will immediate put out new rootlets when it rains
• only breathes at night
• may hold up to 800# of water when mature.

and that is the extent of our Saguaro cactus knowledge.

All operations are 'go ahead' with some minor tweaking and another short week-end away at the end of April.  Then, we will be ready to truly hit the road for our amazing exploration of Alaska.  The Alaskan Marine Highway ferry leaves Prince Rupert, BC on June 6, 2010 at 4:00 p.m.  We will post an Alaska pre-trip blog with as much of our itinerary as we know.  The rest will be TBA.