Trying to find a bit of sun, so off we go to Catalina State Park. This park was recommended to us by a couple of other campers we met, so we thought we would give it a try.
The park is located a bit north of Tucson, and when I say a “bit” it really means that the park is in the suburbs of Tucson. When you drive out of the park their is a mall just across from the park entrance, where, you guessed it, a Walmart beckons!
There was also a pet store, so we dropped in and got the kids nails trimmed and picked up new dog tags – the previous tags had our old Bell phone number, which is now dead and gone (we hope – a whole other story).
It was a good thing we didn’t come to Catalina a day earlier as the access road had flooded and the park was inaccessible. The farmer couple from Iowa, that we met in Roper Lake, were supposed to have arrived a day before us, but had to find last minute accommodations as they couldn’t get into the campground.
The campground has amazing views of nearby mountains, and you can’t even tell that you are in the suburbs of Tucson (other than for the occasional wailing siren in the distance). In the evenings you hear the coyotes howling in the hills.
The back-in campsites on the outer edge of the campground are the nicest. We lucked out that one was available for a couple of nights. We had to move to an inner campsite, which is a little less private, but still nice.
Very clean washrooms and hot showers (cheers all round).
Suburban is still suffering from an electrical issue (power drain when not running), so off to see the local Chevrolet dealer for some “authentic” GM service. The dealership service area is huge! Forty service bays! The suburban was taken in at the scheduled time and I went up to a very nice customer waiting area. And waited. And waited. And waited. After about 5 hours the service rep I was dealing with said “can’t locate the problem, can you leave it with us for 3 days”. Can two people and 2 large dogs camp out in your waiting area while we wait? Nope. So, no fix for the Suburban. So much for the vaunted authentic GM service.
Not wanting to be stuck in the middle of nowhere when hiking in the hinterlands, I bought a battery booster (a Noco GB50) in case the battery dies while we are out and about.
There are a lot of hiking trails starting right in the campground. Horses are allowed on many of the trails, and we could see them from our campsite. We didn’t encounter any during our hikes, which is probably a good thing as Lump and SweetPea have never seen horses up close before and may be a little too enthusiastic in their greetings.
Just over 30 minutes away, by car, is Saguaro (pronounced “Sa-wah-roh”) National Park, home to the largest cacti in the USA, the Saguaro cactus.
These cacti only grow about 1-1.5 inches during the first 8 years of their lives, but they live up to 175 years and grow to 12 metres in height.
The park has lots of trails, only a few are open to dogs. We took a hike on an old gravel road that is no longer in use.
Trip Summary:
Depart from: Roper Lake State Park, AZ
Depart time: 12:30 pm (Jan 4)
Odometer: 130170 miles
Arrive time: 4:00 pm Catalina State Park, AZ
Odometer: 130314 miles
Gas Summary (fill-ups):
none