Every Friday, I lead a group of hikers on the 7 P.M. Tucson Hiking Meetup Group Sabino Canyon stroll. I’ve been doing this for over 15 years. Everyone walks at their own pace. We leave at 7 P.M. We walk a bit over 2 miles, then we return. Our walk starts in the daylight this time of year. The light from the Sun is with us longer each day, as the Spring turns into Summer. The walk takes about 90 minutes–give or take. There is no requirement to keep the group together so everyone can walk at their own pace. It’s a very informal walk that’s why we call it a stroll and not a hike. Many of the hikes sponsored by the Tucson Hiking Meetup Group are limited by the trail. In Sabino Canyon, there is no such limitation. We’ve had as many as 50 people show up for the Friday Night Stroll. It’s okay that dot everyone registers. There is plenty of room on the tram road for everyone. If someone needs to stay longer at work or miss for some other reason, it is okay to not show up if you did sign up.
I guess the only potential negative is that there is a parking fee. However, daily, weekly, and annual park passes are available.
Types of Passes Available
- Day Pass: $8 per vehicle, valid for one day.
- Weekly Pass: $10 per vehicle, valid for seven days.
- Annual Pass: $40 per vehicle, valid for one year.
These passes can be purchased at the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center, online via Recreation.gov, or at a kiosk near the entrance. 2
Also: The Coronado National Forest honors the eight types of passes.
Seven of the passes are honored nationwide at all Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and US Fish & Wildlife Service sites charging entrance or standard amenity fees. The eighth pass is honored only within the Coronado National Forest.
All types of passes admit the pass holder and any accompanying passengers in a private, non-commercial vehicle. The Coronado National Forest does not charge any per-person fee for visitors walking or bicycling into a site.
More information can be found here: Coronado National Forest | Recreation | Forest Service
Winter Solstice is right around the corner. In fact, it is one week from today on a Sunday this year. What that means is that I can have the annual winter solstice celebration start a bit earlier. I can light the celebratory fire a little closer to the actual sundown. The solar lights I planted in the ground last year didn’t survive. I needed to replace them all and there are 40 of them. This year, I’m putting in some waterproof light pucks although; I won’t bury them so that they’re at ground level this year. I’ll put them on the ground protected by some 3D printed PETG cups. Did I mention that there were 40 of them? For a maker, doing a thing once is kinda fun. Doing something 40 times becomes work! However, putting in the extra effort and doing something right usually works out in the end.
hardy plants that do well in our Sonoran Desert. I’ll post another entry as I get closer to the actual event. Should be a great one this year!
Yesterday, I put up a couple of posts about our personality robots. I’ve always loved the idea of having robots. I remember asking Santa for a 
Also, during the pandemic, I fulfilled another dream of mine. That was the desire to have a 3D printer for my workshop. COVID 19 restrictions gave me the luxury of being able to spend time learning about how to take rolls of plastic filament and turn 
them into useful and not so useful things around 
the workshop 
and the house.
is beauty in having the machine, material, and experience to make your life a little bit better. Often, I’m up late at night on the computer and I need to put on a headset so I can hear the YouTube videos without disturbing Nancy. I always kept it in a drawer. I needed a way to avoid getting the set out a drawer, untangling the cord, and plugging it in to the USB port on the front of the tower. I decided to make a custom device that would attach to the tower.
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