Great Old Broads for Wilderness member Dave DeGroot will be sharing his stories from years of hiking the Santa Rita Mountains in “Secrets of the Santa Rita Mountains” at three libraries in the Tucson area on August 13, 15, and 22nd.

Dave is a certified Arizona Master Naturalist and a docent for both Friends of Madera Canyon and the Town of Marana (Tortolita Mountains). As a teacher he organized field trips into the Santa Ritas for his classes, during which students hiked, studied wildlife, and even panned for gold.

“When I was teaching in Sahuarita I used to head for the mountains every Friday afternoon as soon as I was off the clock,” Dave says. “Depending on the time of the year, I could usually count on four or five hours of hiking on low trails, high trails, game trails, etc. The mountains were a place where I would recharge my batteries.”

Dave also took a lot of pictures along the way with his iPhone, a camera with a telephoto lens, and a trail camera.

“Close encounters with big animals were always exciting,” Dave says. “Bears, Coues whitetail deer, coatis, and ringtails were always memorable, but even kangaroo rats have stories to tell. Once I rescued a kangaroo rat who was stuck painfully inside a jacket of cholla spines. And then there are the four kinds of big cats that haunt the northern part of the Santa Ritas – three of which showed up on various trail camera pictures.”

These special events are free and open to the public! Each event will last approximately 45 minutes and will be open to the public in the library’s community room.

• Tues., Aug. 13: Sahuarita Public Library, 670 Sahuarita Rd. (near Sahuarita Town Hall) 4:30 pm.

• Thurs., Aug. 15: Wheeler Taft-Abbett Library, 7800 N. Schisler (Silverbell & N. Cortaro) 5:30 pm.

• Thurs., Aug. 22: Dusenberry-River Library, 5605 E. River (River and Craycroft) 5:30 pm.

For more information, email Dave here!