Two hikes on the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail in two days

 I came back from Moab motivated to get a couple hikes in before my next trip. Yesterday (Friday, 4/24) a friend and I set out to hike the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail to the Tanque Verde Dome. I've hiked this trail numerous times, but because of time constraints never made it to the dome. I was finally going to get to do that. But my friend had some work commitments come up, so we decided we needed to turn around a little over halfway there. As I thought about it, I realized I had nothing on Saturday, so I got a different friend (who had to work on Friday) to join me. I am so grateful I finally got to do this hike. It's a great one. I love elevation gain (coming down, not as much. But with two poles I've learned how to protect my knees). Both days we hiked pretty rapidly. The views are amazing!

These were my setpes at the end of Friday. 

This is how far we made it on Friday

We saw this Collared Lizard sunning on a rock

Linette and me at one of the many good viewpoints. 

I saw this house and it looked pretty big, so I zoomed in for a picture. 

These were my steps after the hike (before lunch). As of typing this (3pm) I'm at 16,277. So I anticipate having a lot of steps today, since I'm going to a church function and that always means lots of steps. 

Here's our completed hike. It felt incredibly good to finally do the whole thing. It was also fun to do it quickly - we hiked faster than this shows, b/c I didn't pause it for our breaks. I do love a fast, climbing hike. It makes me feel alive!

My friend today, Jessica, pointed out this cute little cactus and said the fruit is very tasty, like a tart strawberry. She told me all cactus flowers and fruit are edible. I didn't know that. 

We saw another collared lizard today! This was was more brilliant in color (you can't really tell from the pictures. Yesterday's was more green, this one more blue. 

Jessica at one of the viewpoints. 

One of the views from the top of the dome. We had a clear 360 degree view of the valley and it was very cool. 

Jessica pointed out that we could see Picacho Peak! I had never seen it from Tucson. I zoomed in to get this picture. 

Jessica and me with the crested saguaro in the background. That crested saguaro is one of the reasons I wanted to complete this hike. It's at the saddle right next to the dome. 

I love these two pictures, and how the sky turned out. 

Bottom line, I'm very grateful that I live in Tucson, that I can hike, and that I had two days in a row to do these hikes. If all goes as planned, I'll get one more hike in next Friday with a different friend. We are planning to hike at Agua Caliente park. I've never been there. Should be fun...stay tuned.