Snowbirds

Snowbirds

What does it look and sound like when more than 20,000 Sandhill Cranes soar into the air? Team Gritty found out on one of its latest adventures, this time to Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona…. The alarm clock buzzed at 4:15 a.m. Outside temperature:...
Catalina Redux

Catalina Redux

A week or so ago, Team Gritty pulled up stakes at the Lost Dutchman State Park and headed south to Catalina State Park, located on the eastern edge of Tucson, Arizona. We last visited CSP in late November 2013, and had hoped to return and explore more of the trails....
Adventures in the Superstitions

Adventures in the Superstitions

From shootouts to mountainside scrambles to enjoying some dang tasty campfire food, Team Gritty had a fistful of adventures in the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction, Arizona, during the past couple of weeks. Under the nearly full moon at the Lost Dutchman...
15,000 Pounds of Rattlesnake!

15,000 Pounds of Rattlesnake!

What? A 15,000-pound Western Diamondback rattlesnake at McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona? Yep, you heard right! There’s a newly birthed, seven-and-a-half-ton rattlesnake—slide, that is—complete with a rattle tail spinner, in the...
Catching Up and Looking Ahead

Catching Up and Looking Ahead

A couple of days before the New Year began, Team Gritty bid adíos to the intimate wilds of Cave Creek Regional Park and rolled into McDowell Mountain Regional Park and its vast 21,099 acres of preserved Sonoran desert. Before leaving CCRP, one Team Gritty member...