Family hiking.

Hiking in Tucson is full of surprises with unusual animals to see, critters to chase, pokey things to avoid, and plenty of cloud formations about which to create stories. Turner and I hike regularly, and when Andy is off work (and not afflicted with some sports injury), he joins us.

February 19, 2011, the family tackles Blacklett's Ridge in Sabino Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Trail is 6.2 miles in length with an elevation change of 1810 feet. The peak hits at 4410 feet. We didn't make it that far. About halfway up the mountain, Turner gets scared. The view was amazing, but the hike was steep. And, rain was coming in from the east, so we thought it best to head out before we got soaking wet.

View to the southwest. Beautiful skies.

But turn around and the clouds had a different story.

At the start of Blacklett's Ridge. We'd already hiked for an hour just to get here.

Storm rolling in. We just missed the rain as we started down the mountain.

Teddy Bear Cactus (if you get close, it reaches out and hugs you. Kilan was attacked by a Teddy Bear Cactus when we first moved here.)