Heading South before we head east, we are spending the next few days in Catalina State Park in Tucson, Arizona. This campground is a real jewel. Only $20/night (including the stalls for the horses), water is available, but no electricity. There is a vault toilet available as well as a small picnic area with barbeques. The horses have good sized stalls with no covers. There is a dump station close to the park entrance and you can dump your black and gray tanks for free if you are a paid camper.
Sunset in the park
When we first arrived, we parked next to another LQ. They had a loud barking dog, but we figured the dog would settle down once his owners were around. Then, they returned, but hauled out a noisy gas generator. That was that. We moved our LQ to the other end of the lot.
They left the next day, but we decided to stay put where we had moved.
There are a good number of corrals for the horses. Four of the premium corrals have covers and mangers. It is first come, first served and we are not quick enough to grab one of the coveted spaces for our horses.
It is a good-sized parking area with plenty of room to turn around.
Getting our horses ready to take them out on the trails.
We decided to try to ride a loop - starting with the 50-Year Trail to the Link Trail to the Bridle Trail.
The 50-Year Trail is a climb of about 1,000 feet, but the horses managed with no problems and the views were outstanding.
Our problems started when we got to the Link Trail. This trail was more rocky and less well marked. We got to a section of the trail where you go down a steep incline and it is really rocky. The only way to do it is to dismount and walk down. But, I have a broken bone in my foot and we were concerned that if I did that, I had a high likelihood of twisting my ankle and getting another injury. So, we backtracked looking for another way to access the Bridle Trail.
We went down the same dead end two times - using two different trails. There was a constant trying different trails, only to hit dead ends or looping back to where we had started. The 50 Year Trail was starting to earn it's name.
We finally got down to the Ringtail Loop campground. Once there, the campers were able to point us to the entrance of the Bridle Trail and we were able to get back to camp. We had started our ride at 1:30 and arrived back at camp a little past 5 pm. We were both cranky and tired, but we survived it and no injuries.
There is a Walmart across the street from the park, a Safeway a couple of miles away, lots of restaurants in the area. Major streets to get in and out. Great location. We are really happy at this campground.
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