Hiking Near the Peak

Yesterday we went for a desert hike on the Sunset Trail at Picacho Peak State Park.
No, that is not the same trail we hiked last year. After we made it back to our car then, I said, "Never again!"

It was pretty hazy out yesterday, but this is a view of the mountain we were going to hike around. That high point on the left was our goal last year.



This is what the landscape looks like near the beginning of the trail.



After a little while, we were hiking in a real forest of Saguaro Cacti. Isn't this impressive?



In addition to all the growing Saguaro, there were quite a few skeletons of dead ones. You can click on the photo to get a better view. To the right of the skeletons there are ocotillo. Since we have had rain recently and it is warming up, they should be blooming soon.



Most of the time, I take photos of the scenery and John likes to take pictures of me taking pictures. Here is one example of his efforts yesterday.



As we headed back to the trail head, we kept hearing ravens crying out. Finally we saw them. We think there was some competition going on between two males for who got which female. I managed to get a photo of one pair as they flew overhead.



As we headed back to Coolidge, I snapped a picture of this field full of sheep. They were grazing on whatever was growing in the field.



But they laid down to rest in rows along the irrigation canals in the field. I guess they didn't want to sleep on their food.