10:49 AM MST on Tuesday, May 23, 2006

By Doug Kreutz / Arizona Daily Star

Oh, no — not again.

But let's hope for the best.

Those were the sentiments of many hikers and national forest officers as a wind-whipped wildfire threatened popular trails north of Tucson on Monday.

The lightning-sparked Romero Fire burned in the area of Romero and Montrose canyons — A-list destinations for generations of hikers.

The sites, near Catalina State Park, are prized for their geologic splendor, diverse desert vegetation, wildlife and pools of cooling water.

For outdoors enthusiasts, the blaze brought on a flaming case of déja vu. The 2002 Bullock Fire and 2003 Aspen Fire scorched vast expanses of precious trekking terrain elsewhere in the Catalina Mountains.

"Here it is again, another fire, but after so many fires, you just have to let nature take its course," said Deborah Moyer, a guide with the Southern Arizona Hiking Club.

"You never know what the fire will hit or miss, what the winds will do," Moyer said.

Alice Olson, another hiking club guide, said she was especially worried about the fate of Montrose Canyon.

"It would be very sad if it burned through Montrose," Olson said. "It's really green over there. The hillsides along Montrose Canyon have a lot of saguaros and other stuff."

Especially dispiriting for many hikers is the fact that Romero Pools — a watery haven along the Romero Canyon Trail — were just recovering from damage caused by the Aspen Fire when the new blaze struck. The pools had been filled in with runoff debris from the Aspen Fire but had lately re-formed into some of their former splendor.

"Everybody was devastated when the pools were flooded," said Marylee Peterson, a spokeswoman for the Coronado National Forest. "Now fire is hitting this very popular hiking destination again. … It's going to have an impact on hiking out there. We just don't know the extent of it yet."

Jack McCabe, assistant manager of Catalina State Park, estimated that 5,000 or more hikers trek the Romero Canyon Trail each year. The trail, which begins at the park, extends 2.8 miles to Romero Pools and continues beyond the pools to connections with other trails.

McCabe said pools in Montrose Canyon could suffer a fate similar to that of Romero Pools if the fire burns in the canyon and points above it.

"Once you lose the vegetation and then get summer rains, it could wash things back down and silt in the pools," he said.

For more Arizona news, visit www.azstarnet.com or www.azfamily.com.

©The Arizona Daily Star, 2006