Catalina State Park

We arrived at Catalina state park in late afternoon and tooled around the park a bit on our bikes, marveling at the mountains and all the prairie dogs. Actually, the informative camp host corrected us, those were ground squirrels. Most camps have such a camp host, people who live there and provide helpful info, like, “oh, you’re in Camp B? Lotta snakes over there,” and “those aren’t prairie dogs, they’re ground squirrels.”

We biked till sunset, which came early for us now we were on Pacific time. The sun dropped below the mountains at 6:50, and it got dark quick. That was when we really noticed the big 5th wheel parked in the spot next to us. A 5th wheel is a trailer towed behind a truck, and they can be any size, from tiny, cute, vintage pods, to ones like our neighbor, which must have been 50 feet long and seemed taller than our 12’ tall motorhome. The owner had  run a strip of LED lights to outline the undercarriage of the trailer. I guess he wanted to be able to be seen from space at night. In a state park. 

Somehow we were able to get a good night’s sleep, despite the landing strip lights next door, and we rose early to explore more of the park. We biked to a nearby trailhead that normally goes up into Romero Canyon, but that part of the trail was closed due to the Bighorn Fire that burned last June for about a month. Instead, we hiked down into a smaller canyon that was lovely. The landscape was similar to what we’d encountered the day before at Saguaro National Park, and we saw plenty of lizards, birds, and bugs. We were able to identify a lot of the flora and fauna from what we’d learned at the Sonoran Desert Museum, like the twisted barrel, prickly pear, and hedgehog cacti. We also learned, much to Jess’ pleasure, that the park is an IBA, an Important Bird Area

Our watches said 10 AM, but the temps were already climbing, and we were hot and thirsty on our hike through the desert. We decided to head back to Franklin the Funseeker, which is the name for our RV that we settled on after much deliberation and help from friends and strangers. Our rig is a 25’ Forest River Sunseeker, and our dear friend Katie came up with Funseeker. The name Franklin came to Jess, and it just seemed to fit the personality of our ride. We got tons of great name suggestions, and among our favorites we hope to use for a future rig is Harvey the RV. 

On the bike trail, the boys were just a bit ahead of the parents. They like the freedom and independence, and the parents do too. We were just around the corner from reentering our campground, when Jess stopped short. Good old hawk-eye Haines had spotted something in the shadow of a mesquite tree. Something slithering across our path. Just 10 feet in front of our bikes. Yes, it was indeed our first rattlesnake sighting. We think the snake had just eaten, because it looked a little chubby and was taking its time crossing the road. Thanks for the heads up, Catalina State Park camp host!

Back at camp, we were a little relieved to hear the boys had missed the snake. They, however, were disappointed. We packed up Franklin and heard on out towards our next stop – Sedona.