Santa Catalina Mountains, Catalina State Park, Tucson, Arizona
It was a very nice warm day today, probably the warmest we’ve had with a temperature near 25 C. We drove from Tombstone this morning, and stopped to get gas about half way to Benson. While at the service station Enid asked where we could get some pecans, since they grow them in this area. The attendant said “look for the orange van parked on the side of the road.” We saw the orange van, but it wasn’t on the road. It was parked in an RV site, and there was no one visible, so we just continued on up the road to a nut and fruit stand we’d seen on the way in. We did get a big bag of pecans there for a pretty reasonable price.
We arrived in Tucson before noon, bought groceries, ate lunch and then headed out the few kilometres north to Catalina State Park. It is a very nice campsite, with lots of open space between sites, and even a few trees.
After setting up the trailer we went for a short bike ride. As we were leaving the campsite we heard sirens, and a fire truck roared by. We turned down the same road as it was on, and when we got to the trailhead parking area, saw five or six fire and rescue trucks and the sheriff’s vehicle. They had a mobile stretcher out, and shortly after that we saw one of the firemen with climbing gear and a helmet start walking up the path. A police helicopter circled overhead a couple of times, but then seemed to leave. We cycled back to our campsite, and soon after we arrived there saw another helicopter rise up from the area where the trucks had been. Tonight just before we cooked supper we heard the campsite host (who travels around in a golf cart) discussing the rescue, but couldn’t make out clearly what he was saying to a neighbouring site across the street.