HIKE OF THE MONTH

of the month SITTING ON A ROCK Tops Off a Perfect SANTA CATALINA Mountains Trek

GENERALLY SPEAKING, THE world does not admire those who like to sit around on rocks doing nothing. I don't know why that is, because it's a far more benign practice than sitting around causing trouble.

Yesterday, toward the end of my hike on the Box Camp Trail, I sat on an oval gray rock about the size of my car. To the west rolled pine tree-covered hills and ridges with outcroppings of more gray rocks. Immediately to my left was a patch of red flowers, covered by half the silky black butterflies known to the free world. It might be as a good place to fulfill that ambition. The trail begins at 8,050 feet, and an energetic high-achiever can turn it into a long walk of 7 miles from the pine forests of the Catalinas down to the Sonoran Desert in Sabino Canyon. An even higher achiever can walk it uphill from Sabino to the top of the Catalinas, a strenuous hike of more than have been some sort of group wedding, for all I knew.

A remarkable scene, but I immediately thought that by making note of it I had sacrificed my native laziness and was actually doing something. And on my day to walk a trail in Tucson's Santa Catalina Mountains and do nothing.

Walt Whitman wrote, "I lean and loaf and invite the soul," and that pretty much summed up my agenda for the day. If you are careful and conscientious, the Box Camp Trail serves 20 miles. But most hikers do as I did: drive up the paved Catalina Highway to the Box Camp trailhead, a quartermile beyond Milepost 21, and walk the first 1.8 miles of the trail to the point where it joins the spur that leads to Box Spring.

That 1.8-mile stretch should not be sniffed at. A shady downhill walk under the pines, it crisscrosses small fields of ferns. In the dappled light of morning, it's a beautiful sight. The terrain is downhill and drops just 500 feet, but you will be walking up that same distance on the return trip. If your lungs aren't adjusted to the thinner air at 8,000 feet, you'll find yourself huffing and puffing.

Which is why some of us end the day sitting on a rock gazing into space or watching butterflies light on our immobilized legs. As I waited for my pulse to return to normal, I flipped open The Trail Guide to the Santa Catalina Mountains, by Eber Glendening and Pete Cowgill, and read that "Box Camp was named by early trail users who nailed boxes to trees for temporary storage of food and other goods on trips into the high country."

In other words, a trail named in honor of the lunch box. How can you beat it? AH LOCATION: About 145 miles south of Phoenix. GETTING THERE: From Tucson, take the Catalina Highway north from Tanque Verde Road to just past Milepost 21. Watch for trailhead parking on the left side of the road. FEE: The Forest Service charges a $5 recreational user fee on the Catalina Highway. WARNING: Carry plenty of water; there is none available along the trail. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Coronado National Forest, Santa Catalina Ranger District, (520) 749-8700.