Brown Mt. Trail, Tucson, AZ

Howdee all,

While camped at Gilbert  Ray we decided to hike the Brown Mountain Trail, which was just a short walk from our campsite to the trailhead.

We were just going to hike to the top of Brown mountain..but when we saw the sign ..Desert museum 2.9 miles…well..we just had to go there as a side trip…after all it is my favorite museum ever…

The hike starts off on flat land in the valley…lots of

Cholla Cactus…pronounced choy ya

. Another name for Cholla is Jumping Cactus, because becomes unjointed easily. If you touch a spine it is enough to detach a joint, then when you move more joints become lodged in your skin. To make matters worse, the spines are barbed and therefore difficult to remove.

  While taking a photo I backed into one…OUCH!

It was one of these…

  CHOLLA

We walked thru a forest of them..I stayed as far away as possible…

  While in the Valley we had nice Views..this is looking  west toward Kitt Peak

  Rocky..cactus lined pathways

  As we climb one of three small mountains we have distant views of the Desert Museum

Teddy bear cholla…

don't think you would want to take this one to bed..

check out the distant Saguaros on the Valley floor…

  Barrel Cactus growing out of the rock

  The trail from where we came…..

   Getting closer to the Desert Museum

and closer………

Views to the west…

And just as Jeff and I head to enter the Desert museum..

We see this fella headed out with three of his buddies..

Wow!..Cousin Mike ..visiting Tucson from Connecticut….

What a pleasant surprise.