four weeks in... already!

Wow, I'm about to start my fifth week!  It's been hectic, apparently only a little more than is normal for this facility.  I feel like I'm barely hanging on keeping up from patient to patient, day to day.  I've been working with three patients who've suffered severe strokes, and it's been pretty exciting to see them improve noticeably on a daily basis.  One patient has gone from being able to barely whisper the word "yes" with effort and only tiny bits of movement in his right side to speaking 4-5 word phrases, standing up straight, and reaching for things with his right arm.  Another patient progressed from being completely slumped to her left requiring a lot of help to sit at the edge of her bed to the point where she has walked a short distance with only minimal steadying on each side of her.

Two Saturdays ago I took one of Jamie's recommended hikes, the Pontatoc Trail starting at Finger Rock Trailhead.  This is another hike up a canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains.  It's more of the same, but not boring in the slightest.  Beautiful saguaro forest, blooming prickly pear, cholla, ocotillo, and hedgehog cacti, some wildflowers, and more great views.  I started started off on the Pontatoc Trail, but when given the option, I turned right onto the Pontatoc Ridge Trail.  I followed one obvious side trail and found a geocache - signed the log but didn't exchange an item.

view near the start - i reached the pointy peak furthest right in the photo

towering saguaros

found a geocache by accident

About a mile after the Pontatoc Ridge Trail began, there was another split with no sign.  I chose to go right and up, suspecting it was not the "real" trail.  It was pretty grueling, scrambling at times using hands as well as feet, but not all that much harder than the previous trail.  I ended up hiking along the spine of the ridge up to the highest point (over 5000 ft.), a pretty hefty climb from a 3000 ft starting point.  I enjoyed my lunch along the ridge, and was awed by bird fly-bys that reminded me of Maverick and Goose buzzing the tower in the movie Top Gun.  I still haven't figured out what kind of bird they are, but they're super fast and you hear them whizzing by - it almost seems like you can feel them as they zoom past.  When I hiked back down to the trail split, I took the other fork and found that I was correct, the "real" trail was the lower one that stayed in the shadow of the ridge.  There was a sign at the end of it explaining that dogs were prohibited past the sign, which is odd because as far as I understood signs at the beginning, dogs were prohibited on all the trails there.  A couple hundred yards past the sign and steeply up the hill were some caves in the hillside that were at least partly manmade, leftovers of 100+ year old mining operations for silver, gold, and copper.

lunch with a view

old mining cave

looking back up at a few of the caves

Sunday morning I visited Tucson Chinese Baptist Church (TCBC) - it's just across the street from the Presbyterian church I attended the previous two weeks, so it's still less than a quarter mile walk.  I felt very welcomed by friendly people, and found out there are a lot of connections to my old place of worship - Chinese Independent Baptist Church in Oakland.  This past Monday I ran (jogged) for Meet Me at Maynard's - I ran into Jamie (my landlady) when I parked my car and joined her and her friend to jog the route.  I have now attended 4 times - halfway to a free t-shirt!  Friday evening I went to the Bible study group at TCBC and met more friendly people.

Yesterday I took another hike at Saguaro National Park - West.  I started out parked along Picture Rocks Road, hiked north into a small box canyon just a bit because I was told it was pretty (it was) before turning back, crossing the road, and hiking south into a small maze of trails.  More beautiful saguaro forest, this time with a couple blooms - on previous hikes I had only seen some buds.  I made a clockwise loop as shown in the map below.

the solid black line is picture rocks road

box canyon

Cactus Canyon was particularly beautiful and very densely populated with saguaros - I did not regret my on-the-spot decision to take the shorter loop option.  Some interesting things I encountered on this hike include abandoned mines, a bee cave, the first snake I've seen since I got here, and some petroglyphs (appropriately in Picture Rocks Wash, more on that in a bit) that I had not seen on any map or encountered in any online descriptions or guides.

saguaro bloom

"DANGER Extremely Hazardous Abandoned Mine"

dense saguaro forest in cactus canyon

imagine the volume of the buzzing as hundreds of bees zoom in and out of this tiny cave!

After I got back to my car, I headed back toward town.  I stopped at a dirt pullout and walked about a quarter mile to a wall of petroglyphs in another part of Picture Rocks Wash - I guess it earned its name.  It was pretty impressive, but kind of depressing to see where people had chipped off chunks of the wall, trying to take some of the petroglyphs with them.  I actually forgot to take a photo of the whole wall.  It's located on private property - the Redemptorist Renewal Retreat Center or something like that, but the public is allowed to walk in.

the spiral is a common theme in the hohokam petroglyphs

there's a lot going on in this set of glyphs

This morning (Sunday) I again went to TCBC.  It's refreshing to have people remember your name...  I think I'll stay there!

note to self: do at least one cool thing per week!

My second week was a whirlwind of different experiences.  Tuesday I spent the morning at Hanger Orthotics & Prosthetics, observing orthotists and prosthetists.  The afternoon was spent at the Disability Resource Center on the University of Arizona campus, learning from the PT on staff there about the wheelchair sports, gym for people with disabilities, and adaptations made throughout the university to accommodate all people - from dorm rooms, classrooms, and public access buildings to class curricula, testing methods, and event planning.  The university apparently has some of the nation's best wheelchair athletes.  Most of the teams are not collegiate teams, but community teams based at the university.  I got to observe the wheelchair basketball team practicing with new recruits.  It's a pretty amazing sport to watch, with specialized basketball wheelchairs crashing into each other, players locking wheels with each other to block and screen, fast breaks, three-pointers, free throws, and the occasional player falling to the floor.

Wednesday I worked at HealthSouth again, and Thursday I spent all day at a different office of Hanger Orthotics & Prosthetics, this time spending the whole day with a prosthetist/orthotist as he built a couple different prosthetic legs and worked with several patients in various stages of getting prostheses.  Friday I was back at HealthSouth, but spent the morning observing of Speech-Language Pathologists (Speech Therapists) at work and the afternoon with an Occupational Therapist.  It was an interesting week learning about different facets of rehabilitation.  In the afternoons, I either went for a walk in the neighborhood or for a bike ride.  Friday after work I hopped on my bike and sought out "Tahoe Park" since I'd spotted it on a map.

cottontail in the front yard when i got back from a walk

cooper's hawk i happened to spot on a power line in the neighborhood

tahoe park!!

That Saturday's adventure was in Saguaro National Park - West.  This national park is in two parts flanking the city of Tucson to the east and the west.  I drove to the northwest corner and parked on the road.  From there I crossed the street to the Cactus Wren trailhead.  I could've even parked on the other side of the street and not even had to cross it.  I hiked the Cactus Wren trail to the Signal Hill picnic area where there are petroglyphs carved into the rocks by the Hohokam, a prehistoric tribe.

walking in the desert is surreal for a non-southwesterner

can you get a sense of the density of a saguaro forest?

petroglyphs up on signal hill

I stopped in a stone shelter at the picnic area for lunch - it was amazing how cool it was inside the shelter despite the 80+ degree temperature outside.  I proceeded on from Signal Hill to the Wild Dog trail, and from there to the Valley View trail.

saguaros are not little things

valley view

After checking out the Valley View, I doubled back and got onto the Bajada Wash trail.  I walked along, a little nervous that I was going to miss the trail when it left the wash.  I was pretty relieved when the trail left the wash and stayed above it for a while, but it then went back down into the wash itself.  My fears played out when I got to a point at which I knew I should've already joined another trail but couldn't find one anywhere.  After searching fruitlessly for a little while longer, I pulled out my smartphone and used the satellite view on the Google Maps app to help me bushwhack my way back to the trail on which I had started, staying along the washes to minimize contact with cacti!  I figure I hiked 7-8 miles with at least a mile and a half of finding my own way through the desert.  It was beautiful and totally worth it - hedgehog cacti, ocotillo, and a few cholla were blooming.

hedgehog cacti in bloom

cholla on its way to full bloom

Sunday I went back to the Presbyterian church and also attended their newcomer's luncheon.  I ended up deciding I didn't really fit in, so probably won't be going back there after all.  Sunday afternoon I participated in Cyclovia Tucson, where several streets downtown were closed to all motorized vehicles.  It was nice to see a different side of town as the route made its way down to South Tucson.

one of the activity areas along the cyclovia route

the route was pretty well-marked

kinda nice having the streets closed to cars

starting off clinical #2

I arrived on Sunday evening and started at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Southern Arizona at 7:30 on Monday morning.  Thankfully, it's less than a 20 minute drive from where I'm staying.  My clinical instructor McHaley is friendly, funny, and enthusiastic - I think we're going to have a good time.

front entrance of the hospital

After I got back to the house, my landlady Jamie suggested I check out Meet Me at Maynards, an "urban fitness phenomenon."  Every Monday, a couple hundred people (smallest number: 48, largest number: 1012) gather at Hotel Congress across the street from Maynard's Market & Kitchen in downtown Tucson and walk/ jog/ run a designated route with two, three, and four mile options.  Registration is free, and they award a t-shirt for participating 8 times, a hat at 15, a pin at 50, and a "century club" tee at 100 times.  Not having any other grand plans for the evening, I decided to try it out.  I drove down town and registered, including putting my name on a raffle ticket and getting a hand stamp to qualify for the myriad discounts offered in the area for participants.  They don't have a map of the course, but instead have a little half sheet of written directions.  I strolled off, directions in hand, and enjoyed the uniqueness that is downtown Tucson.  After about 2.5 miles, I wasn't sure I was on course any more, so I approached a friendly-looking woman walking solo.  Thus I met Marty (Marti?), and was introduced to the finish of the 3 mile route.  I did NOT win anything in the raffle.  Oh well.

the pink courthouse

colorful house details

this is a bus stop...

Wednesday evening I headed north about a mile and a half to Rio Vista Natural Resource Park.  There is a pretty good view of the Santa Catalina Mountains from there, and access to "The Loop," 55 miles of car-free paths being developed around Tucson.  At this particular point, it runs along the the Rillito River, a broad, dry wash which I'm sure can be a raging river after a heavy rain.  I ran a couple miles, admiring the mountain and sunset views.

santa catalinas from the park

sunset from the multi-use path

At some point during the week, I mentioned to McHaley that I was thinking of renting a bike for my time here in Tucson.  On Friday morning, she told me she had a couple possibilities for borrowing a bike, and by early afternoon, there was a bike waiting for me in the office of one of the outpatient therapists!  After work, I removed the front wheel to put the bike in my car - and suddenly noticed that the axle was lying separate from the wheel and was missing a piece or two.  I immediately headed off to BICAS (Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage), for which I had several recommendations as the best place for bike rentals/ purchase/ repair.  For $25, I bought the three missing pieces for the axle and a Kryptonite U-Lock.  One of the missing pieces turned out to be in the car after all, so I walked straight back in and donated it back to them.  Once I got back to the house, I hopped on the bike and took a three and a half mile test ride.

bicas entrance

Saturday morning I drove out to hike Ventana Canyon, up into the Santa Catalina Mountains.  Photos cannot do justice to the landscape.  The first mile is on a 15 foot wide easement between private properties, and the trail then proceeds into the canyon itself.  The lower areas are saguaro forest, while up high the vegetation includes scrubby little ponderosa pines and manzanita.  It was a challenging trail, steep and rocky.  I hiked up about 2500 feet in elevation over probably 4 miles, deciding to turn around when I met a couple other hikers on their way down.  They told me I was about to tackle the toughest portion of the trail, and I had already been contemplating turning around since I was experiencing symptoms of altitude sickness - nausea, headache, and poor balance and coordination.  I took my time on the way down, but still caught up to those same hikers lower down.  The adult, Don, was teaching the teen, Tee, about plants, animals, and the archaeology of the canyon.  They invited me to hike down the rest of the way with them as long as their speed and mine didn't differ too much.  Thanks to their company, I learned quite a bit about the different cacti and plants, as well as stopping and going a bit off trail to see a couple of rock shelters previously used by the local American Indian tribes.  My ailments certainly seemed altitude-related since all symptoms decreased with loss of elevation.  I felt fine (just tired) by the time I got back to my car, and definitely felt I earned my good night's sleep.

saguaro forest, tucson in the distance

two oblivious hikers almost walked straight into this hummingbird, not even wondering why i'd stopped

higher up, the ponderosa pines (on the left)

rock shelter used in the past by local native american tribes

Easter Sunday I walked a quarter mile down the street to Northminster Presbyterian Church.  It seems like a friendly place, chances are good I'll just go there for the duration of my stay in Tucson.  Monday evening I again did the Meet Me at Maynard's walk, followed by picking up my flight attendant friend Emmy (from mountainboarding) at her hotel since she had a one night layover in Tucson.  Our otherwise delightful evening of dinner and wandering downtown Tucson was marred by the loss of my purse which contained my brand new camera (my Christmas present to myself), my iPod Nano, a couple credit cards, my debit card, and driver's license.  We checked with the front desk at Hotel Congress, the location where I had last accessed it, and were told that it had not been turned in.

emmy and me in front of rattlesnake bridge

Thankfully, the next night when I called Hotel Congress to check one last time before filing a police report, the purse HAD been turned in the night before and they had it, all contents intact.