For weeks, John had been asking me to introduce him to my brothers. He had already met my father, my mother, and my grandmother, but he had not yet met my two brothers, Clyde and Wayne. I decided to invite one of them on a hike with us to rectify the situation. It was Wayne who took us up on the offer. We picked him up at my mother's apartment in Tucson that morning at 8:00 am...but he wasn't there! It turned out that he had gone to Circle K for a morning soda. We were about to leave without him by the time he returned.

Wayne followed us in his car to the Romero Pass Trailhead, which is in the Catalina State Park, just north of Oro Valley on SR 77, also known as Oracle Road. (Catalina State Park is just minutes north of Clyde's apartment; if time allowed, we would go there to meet Clyde after the hike.) We had to pay a fee to enter the park; from the point where we paid the fee, it was another mile or so on paved road to the trailhead.

The Romero Pass Trail is an interesting 6.6-mile long trail that begins in low desert in the Pusch Wilderness, winds through a riparian area surrounding a creek, and finally ends in Ponderosa pines. The one thing I wanted to see are the Romero Pools, which are found about two miles into the trail. They are natural pools of water in the rocks of Romero Canyon. During the summer months, they make wonderful swimming holes for those brave enough to hike that long through the burning desert sun. When we went, it was early October, but it was still a very hot day. Upon reaching the pools, John jumped right in and took a swim to cool off while I splashed the cool water on my face and in my hair.

During the hike, John took some time to get to know my brother, and he ended up giving him tips on hair dyes. It is a commonly known fact that John bleaches his hair. His natural color is brown, but he dyes it blond for fun - and it looks good on him. Wayne had been dying his hair for the past two years; his natural color is reddish brown, and he had done just about every color except platinum, which was going to be his next choice. John explained to him exactly what he needed to do to attain that color. (When we saw Wayne during Thanksgiving, he had dyed his hair platinum, and everyone loved it.)

Since we had gotten a late start on the trail, we decided to hike until 1:00 p.m., which took us within a half a mile of Romero Pass. It was around that time that we entered into the forest of Ponderosa pines, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. The air cooled down considerably, and it was shaded and very pretty. We took a break on a boulder in the middle of the creek, where we snacked on Power Bars and trail mix and took pictures of the scenery.

Though John wanted to see the pass, he knew that it was time to go so that we could be back at the car by 4:00. Fortunately, it was all downhill from there, so we knew it wouldn't take us as long to return to the trailhead.

Upon leaving the forest and returning to the high desert, John stopped to remove something sharp from his boot. He told me and Wayne to keep hiking and that he would catch up to us. Though I kept looking back to make sure John was all right, Wayne keep walking; and we eventually lost him. We were very worried about him. John and I were becoming experienced hikers, meaning that we knew how to look for cairns to guide us. However, Wayne didn't hike very often and didn't know how to follow cairns. We hiked on for nearly two hours without finding him. Occasionally, we stopped to ask other hikers if they had seen him. Upon returning to the Romero Pools, we found another couple to ask, but when we realized that they were naked, we decided not to disturb them.

It was fortunate for Wayne that we, too, got lost on the trail, having taken a wrong turn when we missed a cairn. He had taken the same wrong turn and was looking for the trail. Happy to see that he was alive, we continued onwards, finally reaching the trailhead at 4:00 p.m. At that time, Wayne told us goodbye and went home, and John and I drove back to Phoenix.

The Romero Pass Trail was a good one. Though it can be strenuous depending on the time of year, I really enjoyed seeing the pools and watching the foliage change as we hiked into the higher elevations. On the way home, John and I talked about backpacking into that area; maybe next time we'll make it all the way to Romero Pass...

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