Every morning is beautiful, so come on out for a complimentary hike or better yet book a guided hike or bike ride and get personalized attention as well as expert coaching and advice!
Archive for the ‘Wildilfe’ Category
Every morning is beautiful!
Sunday, May 19th, 2013Whats the weather like today?
Saturday, March 9th, 2013It looks like a mild damp day is upon us. But it just so happens these damp conditions make for a great ride out here in the Tucson Mountains. The moisture makes the sandy washes more dense and makes for faster easier riding! Come on out and let me show you!!
Animals in the Tucson Mountain Park
Thursday, November 29th, 2012Every day SW Trekking takes clients and guests through Tucson Mountain Park (TMP) located West of the city. Suprisingly enough, TMP is one of the best places to see wildlife so close to Tucson. We have seen Javelinas, Jackrabbits, Tarantulas, Coyotes, and a few other animals. The most frequent sighting of animals in TMP are Mule Deer.
TMD Mule Deer - Source: http://saguwildcams.shutterfly.com (FOS/NPS)
It has been proven that most wildlife are seen during the early hours of the morning. Mule Deer are no exception. Here in the Tucson Mountain Park, this species of deer have been especially cared for. A few decades ago, when a plan for the Central Arizona Project was being formulated, a proposal for wildlife water source was presented to allow TMP’s local wildlife to survive in the Tucson Moutains. Today, all types of animals both wild and domestic enjoy the wildlife water fountains throughout the TMP. Thanks to these fountains the increasingly rare Mule Deer are seen most frequently in the Tucson area during the morning hours around the JW Marriott property.
Night moves
Thursday, September 27th, 2012One of our guests at the illustrious JW enjoyed a beautiful night ride last night. Yes I am talking about mountain biking at night! If you have never done this give us a call and let us show you how! She exclaimed about the experience, and you will too! We’ve got the lights, the bikes and the know how, all we need is you to make the adventure complete. Bring your legs, your smile and a great attitude we’ll do the rest!
Mule deer frolic
Monday, September 24th, 2012There was a group of mule deer just off the Hidden Canyon loop this morning for the morning hike! Just after we passed them they began to run and bound. At first I thought I might finally get to see a mountain lion on the hunt, but after much observation it would seem they were just frolicking around! The zigzagged the hill bounding over large shrubs for almost ten minutes!! There was no predator in sight although it could have been a rattler that got them started. It was a beautiful sight to behold five deer bounding zigzagging apparently for sheer joy!
Morning Greeter
Thursday, September 20th, 2012
Our morning hike started out wonderfully today with this beautiful blonde tarantula greeting us right on the front drive. The guests were very excited to see this awesome creature!
Munchies in the Mountains
Thursday, September 13th, 2012On our complimentary morning hike at the JW Marriott Starr Pass, I enjoyed a selection of fresh wild berries! There were wolf berries, hack berries, and strawberry pincushion fruit!! What a great treat on a beautiful day! Never eat berries without positive identification. Don’t know how to identify? Take us with you we can teach you how and keep you from getting lost!!
Life springs up in the desert!
Friday, July 6th, 2012Well the rains have hit, and hopefully they will continue. Life is springing up all over, the desert moss is green and happy, ocotillo’s are sprouting leaves and the air is a buzz with insects!The tortoises should be emerging! Get out there and enjoy the signs of life that water brings. We can take you there!
Da Delicious Coconut Crab
Thursday, May 31st, 2012
Found this delicious snack in a coconut palm outside a friends house in Angaur, Palau. We were coming back from catching land crabs for dinner that night so the timing was perfect. We knew just what to do with him. Mmmm, delicious with a little garlic butter. In general, I tend to be a live and let live kind of guy. However this is different. life on the island connects you with your food. When you hunt and gather to sustain yourself it closes the gap that I feel is missing from a lot of American diets. We are led astray from what our food actually is. A Palauan man brought this point up to me. He asked, why do Americans call there food animals by a different name? Cow is beef, pig is pork, chicken is poultry, I have a hard time knowing what I’m ordering when I go out to eat.” What a brilliant insight. My feeling; which I attempted to explain to him as best I could with the language barrier, is that the relabeling is an attempt to disassociate animals and food. Call them by a different name and you take away the features of an animal. Now they have no faces, no family, no feelings, they are just slabs of ”beef” wrapped in plastic and nestled on a little styrofoam trey. It is convenient for bbq but not so much for the biosphere we call home. I like the island, you catch your food, you clean it, you cook it (sometimes). You see the entire process and come to respect it.
Reintroduced beavers doing well in AZ
Monday, May 21st, 2012The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is reporting a surge in beaver population for the San Pedro River just outside of Sierra Vista. The beaver were reintroduced in 1999 in hopes to help restore the natural state of AZ rivers after fur trappers decimated the populations native to the state.
Biologists believe that the beaver does the desert water shed a great service. It’s temporary dams allow the water to pool so that certain plants have time to root and establish themselves. The added root structures allow for the development of the riparian zone as well as allowing water to soak into the aquifers. The added storage allows rivers to release over a longer period of time, prolonging stream flows. Endangered plants such as the Huachucca Water Umbel has been spotted around some of the beaver’s dams.
This is a picture of the Huachucca Umbel. It is best seen in person. Perhaps you would like to see it in person along with the beavers. Southwest Trekking can manage that for you. Give us a call and we’ll hook you up with a trip you’ll never forget. 520-296-9661