Honeybee Canyon
Saturday 11 October
7:30 am to 10:30 am
Meet : Honeybee Park parking lot, 13880 N Rancho Vistoso Blvd
Directions : Turn off Oracle Road and drive NW on 1st Ave in Oro Valley. Continue through the Tangerine light where the road becomes Rancho Vistoso Blvd. Past the Vistoso Highlands light the road curves and descends to Honeybee Canyon. Slow down as you cross the bridge as the parking lot entrance is right after the bridge. Best to use a GPS.
Limit: 15 participants
RSVP to tucsonaznpstrips@gmail.com
After an historically dry July and August, Honeybee Canyon received regular rains in the month of September resulting in a surge of plant growth. We will walk one mile up Honeybee wash with granitic shelves on either side that provide natural trellises for desert grasses, flowering plants, and cacti. The sandy canyon floor has vegetative islands of seep willow, burrobrush, and Gooding willow. We will see various desert vine species including wild snapdragon, twinevine, and pipevine. As we slowly gain elevation we will see Justicia longii, Coursetia bushes and a Escobaria cactus. Near the top of the canyon we will see the beautiful Owl petroglyph panel. Several plants will be in bloom at the time of this field trip.
Over the past year AZNPS has joined with the Vistoso Hiker Club in an effort to “rewild Honeybee Canyon”. Volunteers have made a sustained effort to manually and chemically take out buffel/fountaingrass, African lovegrasses and bermudagrass from the areas we will visit. Already native plants are emerging in the controlled areas.
