Catalina State Park Hike

With rain appearing to hold off, I hiked up, down and around Brown Mountain and finished just before a smattering of rain moved through.  The sunsets on the partly cloudy days are awesome and this evening's produced a rainbow against the Catalinas.  I missed by a couple of minutes an even more brilliant image as I ran for my camera.

I've hiked both Brown and Wasson frequently because they are good fitness type hikes but don't put up the images here since it would be redundant.  Today, I drove the one mile to Catalina State Park where I was surprised to find this exhibition of.....

…..mostly scorpions and snakes.  This scorpion can be handled because it doesn't feel threatened so won't sting.  No way would I ever take that risk.  The handler admitted he had been stung a couple of times.  Apparently the larger the scorpion, the milder the sting.  Some of the small, other types, he won't handle.

Oh yeah, the obligatory rattlesnake in a box.  Nasty looking creature.  This is a Mojave but they had several other varieties on display.  Well, on to the hike as.....

….I led Amy on a 4.5 mile loop that had around 8 crossings of snow melt fed washes.  There were lots of people out hiking with their dogs, which are allowed in this park, on this beautiful day of sun and temps around 70 degrees.  The Park is a great resource but the trails are pretty tame other than the one going to Romero Pools.  There is a network of trails that do not appear on the Park's map for some reason yet.....

...some neat places such as this falls.  The water cascading down the rock originates from Romero Pools.  While the trail leading here is obvious, our next section had a very faint trail as it led past the Giant Green Boulder......

…..and more stream crossings. This being my 4th or 5th straight day of hiking, during which.....

….I really pushed myself on some climbs, my legs felt kind of fatigued so I am resting on Sunday because on Monday, I'll be doing a really epic hike deep into the Superstitions.  Should be at least 15 miles.  

Our final stream crossing demonstrated a better way of crossing.  Quite a few horses out today too.