Talking Saguaros

Last week we hiked in Usury Mountain Regional Park, where I looked to see what the saguaro cacti were saying (or showing) us. These two lovebirds were holding hands.



Please call on me!



Turn left.



Look up.



"Praise the Lord" or "I give up"



Have you seen the Native American storyteller figure? That's what I saw here.



This cactus had to use a cane to stand up straight.



Most saguaros grow arms somewhere in the middle, like this.



This one was unusual.



When a saguaro dies, its skeleton remains. They are very interesting.



We saw this curved bill thrasher.



We were serenaded by the cactus wrens all during our hike. Here is one of them.

My Favorite Things

Today, we saw a few of my favorite things. We went on our first hike of the winter season--to Wind Cave. The trail is accessed in Usery Mountain Regional Park and goes into the Tonto National Forest. There we saw saguaro cactus





palo verde trees



cholla cactus



and lichen that is somewhere between lime green and fluorescent green.



When we first visited southern Arizona and hiked in the Sonoran Desert, I found it pretty dull and ordinary--maybe even ugly. I don't feel that way anymore. I love this landscape and the many different shades and types of green plants. They come in so many unusual shapes.

This is wind cave. It doesn't look like a traditional cave. It was carved out by the desert winds, I believe.



The trail is short--1.5 miles one way--but is rated difficult. It is rocky and fairly steep. It is also very popular. We see more people on this trail than on any other in the Phoenix vicinity. Today we saw something different.



This fellow was carrying a bunch of balloons up the trail. We asked a man hiking up with him and learned they were going to release the balloons in honor of their nephew's birthday. I didn't learn anything more than that.



When they reached the cave, they unwrapped the balloons and released them into the sky. I was able to take a picture of the uncovered balloons, but I didn't get them ascending into the sky.



If you aren't familiar with Usery Park or Usery Pass Road, you still might know where it is. This sign is right across the road and is visible to many who fly in and out of Sky Harbor Airport.

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.

First Hike of the Season

Friday we went on our first hike this fall in the Arizona desert. We chose the Wind Cave trail at Usery Mountain Regional Park; a hike we had done last year, as well. It is three miles, round trip, which isn't very long, but it is a pretty steep hike. The cave is above the light-colored layer of rock you see in this photo.



Since Usery Mountain is near Mesa, this short hike is very popular. We passed hikers and runners going in both directions all during the hike.

I don't know what this plant is, but there certainly is something growing on the leaves.



John was a little ahead of me on the trail, so he made it to the cave before I did. To me, the "cave" looks more like a shelf or overhang. Oh well.



My snack when we reached the top was a granola bar. The view of the city below is pretty nice, even if a little hazy.



From the trail and from other locations near Mesa, this sign pointing to Phoenix is visible. I have really wondered what the story of it was, so we stopped at the Usery Mountain Nature Center on our way out, to see if they could tell us. They are obviously asked that question often. They pulled out a photocopied sheet from August 13, 1956, The members of Boy Scout Air Explorer Squadron #13 spent five and one-half years putting up this huge marker. They carried cement, lime and dynamite up the mountain and dug mounds of rocks to create the sign. As long as the Empire State Building, the sign was described as the world's largest air marker.



It has been some time since we last hiked in the desert. In Colorado, I got used to using rocks and trees to stabilize myself during a hike. Friday I several times found myself reaching out to this plant. I quickly resisted leaning on it!



Somehow, one of the barrel cacti still had a flower on the top. It's a little late in the season for that.



The large arms of the saguaro cactus start out very small.



I wish I knew what kind of a flower this is.



I believe this dove was either very young or confused. It didn't try to fly away when we stopped to watch it.



This view of cholla and saguaro is one of the things we really enjoy about coming to the Arizona desert for the winter.