Traveling to…Catalina State Park {Romero Canyon Pools}

Ever since moving to Arizona, the state known for the Grand Canyon and breathtaking sunsets, I’ve wanted to take advantage of my surroundings as much as possible. I’ve never done a serious hike before, but have always been eager and motivated to get into the wild. I heard about Romero Canyon Pools months ago, excited to challenge myself and accomplish another first in my life, plus I was missing some sort of body of water other than a swimming pool. Naturally, Catalina State Park Romero Canyon Pools became one of the top things I wanted to take on, all I needed was someone to go with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the kind of person that won’t do things unless someone is with them, but a 7 mile unfamiliar hike, in the dessert can be, well quite lonely and dangerous, especially for someone as clumsy as me. One of my friend’s outdoor loving sister was in town and so I found the partner to go on this journey with. There’s a reason people in Tucson seem to disappear during the summer months, you either enjoy nature before noon or when the sun is setting. Yes, the heat was an obstacle, but our golden cheeks and legs thanked us the next day. The inconsistent turns made this hike even more challenging, especially as I pushed myself over boulders half my size. I realized that I wasn’t as in shape as I thought, especially not to tackle on mother nature. Which is why going on a hike, is more rewarding with someone else. I know that if I was alone, I would’ve stopped a lot sooner, but having company motivated and pushed me to go faster. Aside from getting in an amazing workout, I was surrounded and overlooking beautiful mountains, while sharing this rewarding new experience.  We reached a point, we thought we’d never find the pools, but we weren’t going to just settle so we just kept going even when we felt like we had gone too far. Which we did! When you’ve been told how native Tucsonians enjoy swimming in these pools, you’d understand why we went right past these little ponds. Oh well, we were underwhelmed but accomplished what we had set out to do, and I was happy to finally cross Romero Pools off my list. But honestly, can you beat spending an entire morning surrounded by nature and enjoying the sunshine? The real challenge was taking the long tiring hike back, but we felt a gratifying energy that invigorated us the whole way back. Looking back at these pictures now, I’ve got the itch to take on another hike through the Arizona mountains.