The storms have come, and gone, and now their back again! Rain has fallen, snow has piled up, a washes have filled. What a relief to be getting some weather around here.
Last Saturday, myself and some friends (including my pup) attempted to see some snow in the Santa Catalina Mountain range. However, we were quickly shut down by the “man” with a road closure at the base of the Catalina Highway. So, we had to come up with a new plan. So instead of heading north, we went south to the SantaRita mountains. What a good decision it was. The Santa Rita mountain range is a little higher than the Santa Catalina’s, and its foothills start at a higher elevation as well. This all added up to more snow.
We drove in towards Madera Canyon (while driving there, we got to cross the Santa Cruz river twice, and it was raging), and encountered snow almost immediatly. Eventually the snow was too deep for a 4×4 Jeep, and we had to walk the rest of the way. By the time we got to the trail head, there was almost 12 inches of snow! And it just kept getting deeper and deeper the further we went. Kind of made us wonder how much snow was at the summit.
It’s a rare treat for us desert dwellers to play in snow. There was so much snow that we were able to make a nice snow shelter (snow fort), and have snow left over for a good ol’ fashioned snowball fight. It was also the first time my dog got to see snow, and I can safely say he is a huge fan.
This picture was taken on the road, just after we had to park the car.
Tags: Canyon, hiking, Madura Canyon, Mountains, Santa Cruz river, Santa Rita, Snow, Snow Fort, trails