Biosphere 2 and Pima Air & Space Museum

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/24/2025	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	92.8 miles

Our third day in Tucson. I wasn't feeling like hiking due to the heat. So, we had a change of plans. About an hour north of Tucson is Biosphere 2. I remember learning about it in the 90's. I was very excited to hear that it was so close, so we decided to visit. If you aren't familiar with it, you can read about it here: Home | Biosphere 2 and Biosphere 2 - Wikipedia. There were 2 experiments there, where people were locked inside and supported all of their needs within the buildings. The buildings contain different ecosystems and were an experiment to see if we could live in outer space in a closed building. It's just fascinating! There is a recent documentary on the experiments there called Spaceship Earth. Nowadays, it's not a closed system, but they still use it to study things like climate change. You can take a self- guided tour of the facilities there.

In the afternoon, we returned to Tucson and visited the Pima Air & Space Museum. This place is huge - they have 353 aircraft! Museum Aircraft - Pima Air & Space I have no interest in military history, but I have to say seeing all of those planes was very cool. I could spend a week sketching the planes there. There are 5 hangars as well as many planes outside. We checked it out but struggled to stay outside long. It was 93 degrees, and we were walking on hot pavement. Some of the planes they have include an SR-71 Blackbird, B-52's, and Airforce One presidential planes.

We saw many road runners on this trip. Frequently crossing roads :)

A room of one of the mission participants. 
This person practiced sketching!

Fruit trees

Lungs for the main building

Ocean ecosystem which used to have a coral reef

Lunch outside a grocery store

Saguaro National Park (West side)

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/23/2025	4.3 miles	1 hour 58 minutes	178'	2.2	92.4 miles

Parking: 

• Signal Hill Trailhead

Map:

• Gai GPS

Directions:

• Take the trail from the trailhead and then turn right onto the Signal Hill Trail. Turn left to climb up Signal Hill and go to the summit. Turn around and descend Signal Hill, turning left onto the Cactus Wren Trail. Take a sharp left onto the Manville Trail. Turn right onto the spur trail to get back to the parking lot.

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/22/2025	0.4 miles	17 minutes	25'	1.4	92.8 miles

Parking: 

• Discovery Trailhead

Map:

• Gai GPS

Directions:

• Follow the Desert Discovery Nature Trail in a loop.

Our second day in Tucson, we hiked on the west side of Saguaro National Park. We saw a coyote on the trail. I carried 3 liters of water - it was 83 degrees with no shade, so again another hot day. I chose to do the first hike, because it has petroglyphs. But this site pales in comparison to some of the petroglyph sites I saw in New Mexico last year. Two of the animals found in Saguaro are the desert tortoise and the gila monster, but we didn't run into either. We loved the Saguaros - it can take 100 years for them to grow their first arm, so they are old! We also encountered dead Saguaros - it was interesting to see their woody spines. After our first hike, we ate lunch at the trailhead under a shaded awning. Then we did the nature trail loop. In the afternoon, we went to a couple of ranger talks. The first one was outdoors - on plants in the desert. I really enjoyed learning about them. Then an indoor talk on cats in the desert. On our way out, we saw fighter jets flying in formation again. 

Climbing up Signal Hill

Petroglyph art on the rocks

Ocotillo and a saguaro

Ocotillo flower buds

Jumping cholla

We saw lots of animal holes, but it was too hot to see animals.

So many Saguaros!