National Meeting FAQs!

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Dress Code

Tucson folks prefer casual and comfortable dress.  No suits, ties, etc. required!  For meetings and dress at nicer restaurants, business casual is perfect!  Although warm (can be in the 90s or higher in late September), the hotel meeting rooms, restaurants, etc. are all air conditioned, so bring a light jacket or sweater.

Discounted Hotel Rates for Golf, Tennis and Spa!

Attendees who identify themselves as members of the NASA Space Grant group will get the following special rates:

Tennis: Both hard and clay courts will be available on Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat at $15 per court per hour

  • Gootter Event is on Thu, 10/1 in the afternoon – tickets available at gootter.org
  • Sun, 10/4 there is limited courts due to another event

Golf: Discounted rate of $99 per 18 holes

Spa: 15% discount off of treatments / products

Hiking Tucson

Tucson is desert.  Temperatures even at the end of September can be in the upper 90’s and above.  With low humidity dehydration is a risk.  Do not hike without a hat.  Do not hike without water.  Lots of water.  Loose fitting long sleeved shirts and hiking pants are recommended.

You will need a car to get to any hiking trail from La Paloma.  You could walk to the Finger Rock Trailhead if you really wanted to, but it is nearly two miles even if you cut through the gated subdivision across Sunrise from the hotel entrance, and they don’t like it. 

Finger Rock Trailhead is at the end of North Alvernon Way north of Skyline.  Go west (left) from the hotel on Sunrise and turn right on Skyline go back east on Skyline to North Alvernon Way and take it to the end.  There are two trails from this trailhead.  Pontatoc Ridge Trail to along the front ridge for about 5 miles (round trip) is a moderate trail.  Finger Rock Trail, up the canyon behind the ridge is a difficult trail of about 10 miles.  The trails are well marked and you can turn around at any time. There was a significant fire on Pontatoc Ridge in August which might make the scenery a bit bleak on either trail.

Since you need a car anyway you might as well go to Sabino Canyon.  Go out of the hotel, turn right and go East on Sunrise until it ends (about 5 or 6 miles) and there you are.  This is a paid use area and very popular.  There is a Forest Service visitor center and lots of parking but the lot fills up in the early morning on weekends.  There are a great number of hiking options from the visitor center parking lot ranging from beginner to difficult.

(See Sabino Canyon after rains: Green, wet and wild! (PDF))

A nice option if you are not familiar with the area and not a purist is lower Sabino Canyon.  This is a walk rather than a hike since it is a paved road of a little over 7 miles round trip.  Most of the people you meet at the parking lot will be on this walk.  Buses take people on the road at more or less twenty-minute intervals most of the day.  One advantage of the road walk is that the buses stop at many points along the way and if you get tired or too hot you can get on- although they charge full fare which I think is $5.00.  Another advantage of the road walk is toilets every so often.

Purists might prefer the Phone Line trail that goes up the same canyon to the same point but is a dirt trail that follows the canyon wall below the escarpment, hundreds of feet above the roadway.  This is about 11 miles round trip or a little over nine if you take the road back to the visitor’s center.  

Blackett’s Ridge is a shorter but much steeper route that starts at the visitor’s center and ascends to the top of the ridge that separates Sabino Canyon from Bear Canyon.  It is less than 5 miles round trip with about 1700 feet in elevation gain.  It should not be attempted in hot weather by people who are not in good condition.  There are some very nice views.  Although the trail is safe, there are places where the ridge narrows; people with pronounced fear of heights should avoid this trail.

Another option from the Sabino Canyon visitor’s center is Seven Falls which goes up the bottom of Bear Canyon about 9.5 miles round trip.  This is less popular than Sabino Canyon and only about the first mile or so is on a road.  If it has been raining much there will likely be water in the canyon and the trail crisscrosses the stream which can be fun or annoying depending on how much water there is and how you feel about walking in wet shoes.

If you have most of the day and you are in good shape the loop trail is a good hike.  You can go either way, but I would recommend going up Bear Canyon past Seven Falls to the top of the canyon and then down into upper Sabino Canyon and then Lower Sabino Canyon.  The trail is very well marked, but between Seven Falls and the bottom of Upper Sabino Canyon (about ½ the trip) you may meet few other hikers.  The total distance is nearly 17 miles, but you can always take the bus for the last 3.5 (remember $5.00).  Late September is a little early for this hike because of the heat.  You will need at least three liters of water per person and should take four.

Mountain hikes are better this time of year, but they are farther away. 

Madeira Canyon (also a paid use area) in the Santa Rita Mountains East of Green Valley/Continental is about an hours drive.  It offers several trails up Mount Wrightson.  The trails are well marked and usually in good condition.  You can take a 2.5 miles hike up Old Baldy Trail into the pines at Josephine Saddle.  You can then take a more strenuous trek of another two plus miles to Baldy Saddle.  It is a little over a mile from Baldy Saddle to the top of the mountain if you feel the need and have the energy.  There is another trail called the Super Trail which also goes from Madeira Canyon to Baldy Saddle by way of Josephine Saddle.  The Super Trail is nearly twice as long as the Old Baldy and thus about half as steep.  Pick your poison. A good compromise is to take the Old Baldy Trail to Josephine Saddle and the Super Trail the rest of the way.  This avoids the steepest part of the Old Baldy Trail.  It also has the advantage of looking down onto the telescopes at neighboring Mt. Hopkins and unobstructed views of the mountain ranges of Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora (Mexico).  Since the hike starts at over 5,000 feet heat is less likely to be a problem, but plenty of water is still required- 2.5-3 liters per person depending on the route and how far you go.  Close encounters with deer and wild turkey are common.

Mount Lemmon is a lot closer and offers some nice hikes of its own.

One of the nicest is the Butterfly Trail, which starts at the Palisades Visitors Area on the Catalina Highway and ends about 4 miles up the highway at the Soldiers Camp Access Road.  This is an easy 5.5 miles hike but it requires two cars, one at each end.  Otherwise it is a not so easy 11 miles hike, or 9.5 if you want to hike down the highway.  The proximity to Tucson means heavy use on this trail, including trail bikes, but it is a nice look at a Sky Island.   This hike is better taken on a weekday to avoid much of the crowd.

These are just a few of the many trails in the mountains and foothills around Tucson.  The visitor’s center at Sabino Canyon has maps and books about them.

Enjoy!

--Lindsay Brew,

Arizona/NASA Space Grant Voluntary Hiking Consultant

Running

A 5 miles (or so) running trail is available at and around La Paloma.  Ask for a trail map at the hotel’s Front Desk.

Purchasing Indian Arts and Jewelry in Tucson

A top place to purchase American Indian jewelry etc. that is highly reputable and owned by a friend/supporter of Space Grant, is Bahti Indian Arts in St. Phillips Plaza, at the SE corner of the Campbell-River Road Intersection.  (A couple restaurants on our recommended list are also located in St. Phillips).  It’s a wonderful place to visit.  Mark Bahti has generously provided a memento card with a 10% shop discount for members of the Space Grant Community that you'll find in your registration bags! Visit Bahti Indian Arts.

Bahti Indian Arts
4330 N. Campbell, #73
Tucson, Arizona 85719

Best Tortillas Factory

We Tucsonans have lots of varying opinions about where the best tortillas are produced locally, but top on the AZSGC Manager’s list (and top or high on the lists of many others) for great, fresh tortillas is a little hole in the wall, Anita Street Market, in Barrio Anita.  They also have really good tamales, etc. etc.  People call many days ahead of holidays to put in orders for tortillas and fresh tamales.  The little place rocks!  See Anita Street Market on Yelp.  Their address is:

849 N Anita Ave
Tucson, AZ 85705

Outside of Tucson

Explore Sedona:  Overall, I am not sure how much time you have, but I provided ideas, and estimated times to do each one. It is hard for me to pick each thing that would be good to visit, but I am sure all of these would be incredible to visit, even if just one. 

  • Hike Bell Rock, should take about 1 hour, just to do the simple hike, some people enjoy going to the top of the mountain, but this would take more like 3 hours to complete so I don’t recommend it, not to mention it can be a little dangerous.
  • Go to Tlaquepaque, an interesting shopping area.  This is a really cool place to visit.  It should take about an hour to walk around here. When you go here, I would recommend asking some of the people who work there how to walk down by the creek behind the hotel.  This is extremely pretty.  They even have a mini golf course here which can be pretty fun.
  • Walk around Uptown Sedona, this is one of the most popular parts of Sedona, there are tons of shops here and many places to eat and it will really give you a nice taste of the metaphysical, mystic, touristy parts of Sedona. This will most likely take a couple of hours depending on how in depth you are with your shopping and viewing in each store.
  • One of my favorite parts of Sedona, is Oak Creek Canyon.  You can drive north through uptown Sedona and just keep going, go up a ways and you will see Indian Gardens which is an amazing sandwich place and market for the people who live in the canyon, Dairy Queen, and there are many places to stop along the way for some amazing pictures.  I would probably turn around and head back once you hit Don Holes shop on the right side of the road as you will end up in Flagstaff if you go much farther.  Turn around and head back to Uptown Sedona, the same way you came. This will take about an hour if the traffic is slow going out of uptown toward the canyon, DO NOT KEEP GOING, you will get stuck in the canyon with almost no place to turn around. Haha.
  • Go west of Uptown Sedona to airport road.  Here you can go to one of the most popular parts of Sedona, the top of Airport Mesa, Sedona’s airport and from there you can look out over the whole city.  Here is the address and their phone number in case you have trouble finding it.  Go out to the scenic overlook.  I would guess this will take about 30 minutes.  See the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority website, 235 Air Terminal Dr, Sedona, AZ 86336, (928) 282-4487.
  • Many people like to go for the Pink Jeep Ride which is a very famous Sedona attraction, and is really cool!  The rides take somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 hours and cost about $150 for 2 people to ride I think, they do offer deals though, too. It is a great place to get a history lesson, and to see and experience the geology and nature of Sedona.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me and ask! Or to even just let me know how your trip goes!  I highly recommend visiting Sedona!  I promise it will be one of the most memorable experiences in your life. If you want to let me know how much time you want to spend in the area, I will provide a more detailed set of travel ideas for you!

Sincerely and enjoy,

Jack Johnson, FY2015 UA/NASA Space Grant Intern (who grew up in Sedona, AZ)

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