Rise Up Rooted

Sycamore III

Sycamore in Black and White ©2012 Bo Mackison

. . . if we surrendered
to earth’s intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.

Instead we entangle ourselves
in knots of our own making
and struggle, lonely and confused.

So, like children, we begin again
to learn from the things,
because they are in God’s heart;
they have never left him.

This is what the things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before he can fly.

-Rainer Maria Rilke from Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

I traveled into the mountains this morning, and walked along the edge of Madera Creek. The creek was dry, or so I imagined, when I began my descent at 5,000 feet. But by the time I had walked a half mile, I noticed damp Sycamore leaves, recently shed from the overhanging trees and dropped into the creek bed.

Another hundred yards and the creek pooled in deeper crevices. Dark and bubbly, it followed a circuitous route as it descended the mountain.

I watched the water swirling around large piles of leaves. Single leaves danced along, bobbing on the water’s surface. I listened to the creek’s song, low and splashing, accompanied by an occasional bird’s song.

The sounds of life, the language of nature.

As Rilke wrote, “if we surrendered to earth’s intelligence, we could rise up rooted, like trees.”

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She continues to explore some of her favorite places and read some of her favorite poets.

Hiking Sabino Canyon

Yipes Stripes

Yipes Stripes © 2012 Bo Mackison

On a sunny, 80˚ day in March, Sherpa and I agreed it was a great day for a hike, especially a hike that had a bit of a cheat to it. We hiked the Phoneline Trail in Sabino Canyon, a gorgeous canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains bordering Tucson. Our cheat was this — we paid a few bucks each for a ride on the shuttle which comfortably took us from the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center to the top of the line, stop #9. We figured once we were up on the mountain, it would be an easy hike down.

I love this photo of Sherpa with the many variations of stripes. Stripe shadows, stripes from the ramada on Sherpa’s shirt, and he’s even wearing a shirt with horizontal stripes. “Yipes, stripes” is right. I was seeing stripes for most of the shuttle ride.

End of the Shuttle Run

End of the Shuttle Run © 2012 Bo Mackison

As the tram takes you deeper and deeper into the canyon, the world of natural beauty feels immense. Towering mountains, rocky ledges, saguaro reaching up. This is another sky island, once of several dozen in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Desert at the lowest levels, a juniper, pine, and rocky habitat at the top.

The Hike Begins

The Hike Begins © 2012 Bo Mackison

This trail starts at the end of the paved road. A half mile climb of ever-upward-reaching switchbacks takes us to the main Phoneline Trail. Once there, the trail follows the road, only several hundred feet higher. It isn’t a hard hike, but there are gentle ups and downs throughout the “descent” and several hundred boulders to help you climb up or climb down.

The Peak

The Peak © 2012 Bo Mackison

Once we climbed high enough, we could look to the north and see Mount Lemmon, the highest mountain peak in the Tucson area. If we had been really ambitious — and 30 years younger — perhaps we would have climbed up and over. But since neither the ambition or the age was happening, we took a lot of long looks from the trail we were on.

Eye Level with a 40 Foot Tall Saguaro

Eye Level with a 40 Foot Tall Saguaro © 2012 Bo Mackison

There is one tricky thing about hiking on a desert oasis on a mountain trail. The saguaro are conveniently within grabbing distance if one was to lose their balance. I started to reach out for a steadying cactus arm more than once before I realized what I was doing and quickly pulled away. This saguaro was a forty footer, but at my eye level on the trail I could see the upper third in great detail. Wow! Imagine what it will look like in another month, full of white cactus blooms.

Switchbacks on the Sabino Canyon Trail

Switchbacks on the Sabino Canyon Trail © 2012 Bo Mackison

We looked back and laughed when we saw the trail we had just hiked, snaking up and down, switch-backing a mere 200 feet in elevation in a half mile.

It Seems the Trail Always Climbs Uphill

It Seems the Trail Always Climbs Uphill © 2012 Bo Mackison

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Careful here to not trip and stumble, as the fall would be a long one. Since this area had a foot of snow earlier this week, the trail was bordered by lots of green — bushes, trees leafing out, wildflowers everywhere.

Wildflowers Along the Trail

Wildflowers Along the Trail © 2012 Bo Mackison

We both had had our exercise for the day when we reached the picnic area near the Visitor Center. And let me say — my peanut butter and strawberry jam on thick whole wheat never tasted better. And that cold bottle of water — perfect!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, is living in southern Arizona,  photographing and hiking the sky islands and giving thanks that she can see such sights.

 

To the Top of Mt. Lemmon

Beginning Ascent of Mt. Lemmon - Tucson in Background

City of Tucson in Background © 2011 Bo Mackison

Another one of my challenges was checked off the list yesterday–a drive to the top of Mt Lemmon in the heart of Tucson. At 9,157 feet high, it is the tallest mountain surrounding Tucson. It also offers a totally different climate experience compared to Tucson. Tuscon gets 15″ or less of precipitation annually; Mt. Lemmon gets 180″ of snow.

I began the ascent of the mountain in the Sonoran Desert habitat and as I climbed out of the foothills of Tucson, I passed habitats ranging from desert to aspen forest, an experience one duplicates by traveling from the US/Mexico border to the US/Canada border. And I did it driving on the Catalina Highway, ascending over 7ooo’ while driving about an hour.

Molina Canyon Vista - Mt. Lemmon

Molina Canyon Vista © 2011 Bo Mackison

The drive begins in the desert, then climbs into an area that has pinon and juniper trees, eventually reaching fir trees, and finally, at the top, there is an aspen forest. The road is now designated as the Sky Island Parkway, part of the US Scenic Highway system and is in the National Coronado Forest.

There are dozens of trails that criss-cross the mountain, many picnic areas, several campgrounds, even a lake for the fisherman in the group. If you are there when there is a good snow base, there is skiing at Ski Valley.

Hoodoos on Mt. Lemmon

Hoodoos on Mt. Lemmon © 2011 Bo Mackison

Mt Lemmon is one of the Sky Islands, regions of isolated, forested mountains surrounded by seas of grassland found mostly in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Sonora, Mexico. These series of mountains, 40 in total, are unparalleled for their biological diversity, as they combine four different geographic zones in each sky mountain area.

The Sonoran Desert’s most eastern range ends in these mountains; the Chihuahuan Deserts most western range does likewise. The Rocky Mountain geological zone extends this far to the south; The Sierra Madran zone extends this far to the North. Four geographic zones intersect in the land of sky mountains.

84˚ in Tucson, 52˚ on Mt. Lemmon

84˚ in Tucson, 52˚ on Mt. Lemmon © 2011 Bo Mackison

I left the  city of Tucson and it was 84˚ and sunny. An hour later, I reached the town of Summerhaven near the summit of Mt Lemmon and it was 52˚F and cloudy. After driving another hour,  descending the mountain, it was 86˚ F and mostly sunny.

Bear Crossing

Bear Crossing © 2011 Bo Mackison

Oh, there were warning signs for bear crossings, but I didn’t see any bear. There were lots of humans hiking the trails, a few deer watching from the forest, some folks I spoke to as we photographed the scenery from a pullout swore they saw a bobcat or an ocelot, but their eyes must have been younger than mine for I saw nothing.

It was a lovely drive, I successfully fulfilled my mountain drive challenge, and I discovered another sky island–this one in the middle of a city.

I love sky islands — I have hiked several including Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona, Patagonia in southern Arizona,  and Madera Canyon south of Tucson.

They are magical places, a chance to see many habitats, and the plants and creatures that live in those habitats, in a day’s vertical drive. Places worth protecting.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”  And I discovered that I love sky islands.