More Hiking

We've been on two hikes in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday we took the Pass Mountain Trail at Usery Mountain Regional Park. That is a 7.4 mile hike--imagine that! I don't know how long it has been since we hiked that far. But we made it, and in less that 4 hours!

The hike took us through a beautiful section of the Sonora Desert, filled with Saguaro cacti.



I love these magnificent plants. This one has just about the most arms I have ever seen on a Saguaro.



John thought this one looked like a dancer twirling around.



The Saguaro skeletons are also very interesting.



Further along the trail, we encountered an entire hillside covered with Manzanita. It must grow best on north-facing slopes.



Isn't this a great landscape?



We often see ornamental grasses planted in gardens. I was surprised to see it growing at Usery Mountain. Do you suppose it is a native Arizona plant?



Last week we did a less ambitious hike at Lost Dutchman State Park. The park must be at a different altitude than Usery Mountain because there are very few Saguaro but a lot of Teddy Bear Cholla.



We started out on the Siphon Draw Trail, then turned on Jacob's Crosscut Trail. At some point, perhaps at this cairn, we made a wrong turn, and what was supposed to be a 3 mile hike ended up being 5 miles long.