Mount Lemmon
Sabino Canyon – A Great Tucson Retreat
May 12, 2008 by Tucson Realtor - Michael Krotchie · 2 Comments
Being in Tucson and missing out on Sabino Canyon is a tragedy. Sabino Canyon is a natural desert oasis located in the Coronado National forest and is home to numerous eco habitats, rare species of trees, animals and birds. It’s a perfect place for a family picnic or maybe you can quench your thirst of nature photography with the sun playing hide and seek behind overgrown pear cacti. The Canyon also offers the pleasure of walking through miles and miles of wilderness that is teeming with wildlife.
Located in southern foothills of the Catalina Mountain Range, Sabino Canyon is easily accessible by taking Sunrise Drive east until you run into Sabino Canyon Drive. Sabino Canyon is a very popular hiking destination and offers several trails of varying skill levels.
Blackett’s Ridge Trail
An adventurer’s prescription of the day will be the Blackett’s Ridge Trail. It is called the classic hike of Sabino Canyon and you can wander through the thick vegetation and over the ridge that lies between the Sabino Canyon and Bear Canyon. It begins where the phoneline trail ends and is an upward climb through a forest of ocotillo and saguaro but once you reach Blackett’s Ridge you will find spectacular views of Tucson and Mt. Lemmon.
Facts
Length of the trail: 1.7 miles
Highest elevation change in the trail: 4410 feet
Best Season: Anytime
Mount Lemmon
Tips to Beat the Arizona Heat
June 30, 2007 by Tucson Realtor - Michael Krotchie · Leave a Comment
Now that summer is in full swing and ninety degree weather would be welcomed with open arms (compared to what we’ve been getting) I thought it would be a good idea to talk about some ways to deal with the heat. Most of this is probably common knowledge to those of us living here but for visitors and potential Tucsonans it might be useful information.
Use sunshades in your car and crack your windows. With temperatures reaching more than one hundred degrees regularly the interior or your car can easily reach upwards of one hundred sixty degrees! Put up some sunshades to keep the heat down a little bit and leave a window slightly cracked to allow your air to breathe a bit. Unfortunately some people fail to understand just how dangerous that kind of heat can be and go and do something dumb like leave their animals in the car while shopping at the supermarket. Worse yet are the stories we hear every year about children being left in a hot, parked cars. Jay over at his PhoenixRealEstateGuy blog just wrote about 3-month old Amberlee Elizabeth Brown whose father left her in a car for nearly two hours; her core temp was 109 degrees when paramedics arrived and unfortunately she passed away Friday morning. Sad stuff.
Exercise early or late. The city is alive with with running, power-walking, child-strolling Tucsonans in the summertime between 5-7am; after that it starts it starts to heat up pretty quick and exercising outside isn’t exactly pleasant. The exercising brigade starts up again in the evening hours as the sun is starting to go down because of the cooling weather. As someone who carries a gym membership (I’m guilty of rarely using it) I can tell you that gyms tend to fill up pretty quickly before work, at lunchtime, and just after work.
I've lived in the Old Pueblo for more than a decade and have an intimate knowledge of Tucson as well as the surrounding areas. I go hiking and traveling whenever I have a break from real estate (which isn't often enough!) and enjoy taking in an Arizona sunset while relaxing in my backyard. 
