Rain. Huh. Guess I brought the rain with me from WA. I explored the nearby University of Arizona campus. I had brought my telephoto birding lens, so I took a photo of a Gila Woodpecker outside Julie's home.

Pitch 1 of The Peacemaker on The Sheepshead, West Stronghold. Julie and I bailed due to ice and meltwater on the route from the previous day's storm. We drove back to Tucson and climbed for a bit at the local climbing gym. We returned two days later to climb The Peacemaker under much warmer and dryer conditions.

Cragging at Sun Spot Crag at Mt. Lemmon with Eric Rhicard. (Julie had work-related meetings, and we ran into her friend Eric at the climbing gym the previous evening, and before I knew it I was climbing at Mt. Lemmon with the Mt. Lemmon guidebook author himself!) This south-facing crag is one of the warmest crags at Mt. Lemmon—T-shirts in December! Eric and I climbed most of the 5.9-5.11 routes at the crag:

1. Sunny Side Up (5.10, sport, Eric led, I TR'ed)
2. Hard Boiled (5.9, TR'ed off Sunny Side Up anchors)
3. Solar E Clips (5.11, sport, Eric led, I TR'ed)
4. English Breakfast Crack (5.9-/10, I led the 5.9- trad fingercrack to the first set of chains, Eric led the short 5.10 sport continuation which I TR'ed)
5. Crack of Dawn (5.10, trad, Eric led, I cleaned)
6. Hash Browns (5.10+, sport, Eric led, I TR'ed)

Climb The Peacemaker on The Sheepshead, West Stronghold (5.10-, 6 pitches) with Julie. Much warmer and dryer than it was two days previous! This route features good rock and sustained face climbing all the way to the top of The Sheepshead, the main formation of the West Stronghold. By Cochise standards, the route is pretty tightly bolted, although we did appreciate our small supplementary rack of cams. Since I am more comfortable on cracks and had never climbed at Cochise Stronghold before, I found the climbing on this route to be mentally challenging and unfamiliar, so I was happy to let Julie lead it all (thanks Julie, you are amazing!). I really enjoyed the opportunity to climb at a new area, and the sweeping views and warm Arizona sun made it all the better. 

Birding at Sweetwater Wetlands & Coachline Gravel Pit in northwest Tucson with Leona Mukai (Julie's friend). We saw 40+ species within a few hours. Here is Leona's bird list for Sweetwater Wetlands: 1 American Wigeon, 5 Mallard, 2 Cinnamon Teal, 10 Northern Shoveler, 2 Ring-necked Duck, 1 Bufflehead, 5 Ruddy Duck, 5 Pied-billed Grebe, 1 Great Egret, 2 Snowy Egret, 2 Green Heron, 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Virginia Rail, 1 Sora, 1 Common Gallinule, 15 American Coot, 1 Killdeer, 1 Mourning Dove, 1 Hummingbird sp., 1 Belted Kingfisher, 2 Gila Woodpecker, 1 Ladder-backed Woodpecker, 1 Black Phoebe, 1 Say's Phoebe, 1 Vermillion Flycatcher, 1 Ash-throated Flycatcher, 5 Verdin, 1 Marsh Wren, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 1 Curve-billed Thrasher, 3 Orange-crowned Warbler, 3 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 5 White-crowned Sparrow, 1 Song Sparrow, 3 Abert's Towhee, 3 Red-winged Blackbird, 3 Yellow-headed Blackbird, 2 Great-tailed Grackle, 5 House Finch, 2 Lesser Goldfinch. At Coachline Gravel Pit we saw a Rock Wren, some Western Sandpipers, several House Finch, and a couple more Vermillion Flycatchers. Many of these birds I don't get to see in the Pacific Northwest, so it was a real treat. I also saw my first Bobcat.

Climb What's My Line? on Cochise Dome, East Stronghold (5.6 A0 R, 3 pitches) with Julie. This appropriately-named route weaves its way through the huge sea of chickenheads that pepper the south face of Cochise Dome. While the climbing itself is easy, the combination of exposure, runout, involved approach, pendulum to access the sea of chickenheads, and the serpentine nature of the route line make What's My Line? a great adventure. This is one of the most unique routes I've climbed. Highly recommended.

Cragging in the sun at Zappa Dome in the East Stronghold with Julie. As a crack-seeking trad climber, I had been struggling with leading the steep bolted face climbing so characteristic of the Stronghold, Julie encouraged me into leading all of the 5.7-5.9 routes at the crag (there are about 6-7 such routes). In retrospect, we really should have done this day of lead cragging at the onset of the trip, to better set us up to swing leads on the bigger multipitch objectives and stick to a more rigorous climbing schedule.

Birding in Florida Canyon & Madera Canyon (about 40 miles south of Tucson) with Leona Mukai. We saw nearly 40 species over the course of the day. Here is Leona's bird list for the day (both canyons combined): 1 Accipiter sp., 5 Acorn Woodpecker, 1 American Kestrel, 2 Black-capped Gnatcatcher, 1 Black-chinned Sparrow, 2 Black-throated Sparrow, 1 Bridled Titmouse, 1 Brown Creeper, 10 Bushtit, 1 Cactus Wren, 2 Canyon Wren, 1 Chipping Sparrow, 1 Common Raven, 5 Dark-eyed Junco, 1 Empidonax sp., 2 Hepatic Tanager, 1 Hermit Thrush, 1 House Wren, 1 Hutton's Vireo, 1 Ladder-backed Woodpecker, 10 Lesser Goldfinch, 10 Meadowlark sp., 15 Mexican Jay, 3 Montezuma Quail, 3 Mourning Dove, 1 Northern Flicker, 1 Northern Mockingbird, 1 Painted Redstart, 1 Phainopepla, 5 Red-tailed Hawk, 7 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 1 Rufous-crowned Sparrow, 2 Say's Phoebe, 1 Spotted Towhee, 2 Verdin, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch, 5 White-crowned Sparrow, 15 Wild Turkey , and 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler. A few more new species to add to my life bird sighting list!