Hiking in the Wilderness

Yesterday, we went hiking in the Superstition Wilderness, just a few miles east of Mesa.



We took the Hieroglyphic Trail, a short, easy hike to see some ancient petroglyphs.











They were made by the Hohokam inhabitants of the area, probably between AD 700 and AD 1100. There is debate whether they depict hunting scenes or were used by shamans to depict the origins of life. Unfortunately, there are also recent graffiti and early Christian petroglyphs of crosses in among the ancient drawings.



In addition to the rock art, we saw some birds and animals:

A Cactus Wren



A Warbling Vireo (I think)



A Curved Bill Thrasher



A very small chipmunk, maybe a Lease Chipmunk



This Saguaro looks like someone wearing a knight in armor costume for Halloween. Is he waving at us?



A dead Saguaro had fallen over. Note the hollow base, the fresh green arm and the liquid that has drained out of the base.



It was a very popular day for hiking. When we passed Silly Mountain, a hiking spot between Valle del Oro and where we hiked, there were 14 cars parked. When we arrived at the trail head for the Hieroglyphic Trail, we were the 14th car in the lot. When we returned to the trail head, there were still 14 cars. Since a number of people came down the trail after we did, we know more than 14 car loads had been there. If you click on the photo below, you will see at least 10 people in the area where we found the petroglyphs.

Waiting for Christmas

We only have three more days till Christmas. Since we mailed all our cards and gifts days to weeks ago, what are we doing? One evening we walked around our resort to look at the decorations. On some streets, most of the park models have lights decorating the trees and front yards.





One place, we saw these two strings of colored figures. I think they may be solar powered, rather than plugged into the grid. On the left they are the moon and stars, on the right hummingbirds.



Some RVs also have lights.



During the day, the citrus trees almost look like they are decorated for Christmas with yellow or orange balls.



Here in southern Arizona, we don't have snow and cold, so a desert hike is a good activity while waiting for Christmas. Friday we made the short 3-mile round trip hike on the Hieroglyphic Trail. We have had quite a bit of rain in the past week or so, and the desert has lots of green.





There were several pools among the rocks in the canyon.



This bird stayed around, looking for a handout from our lunch, I think. I believe it is a Bendire's Thrasher.



Eric and Liz have been sending our mail regularly, so we have been received lots of Christmas cards already. It is so fun to catch up on the lives of our friends and family.

Boy, Is it Hot Out There!

As I write this blog, the temperature in Mesa is 95 degrees. That is way too hot for us! I guess our neighbors knew something we didn't. For the past six months, all these sites on the east or front door side of our RV have been full. Now, everyone is gone. Was it something we did?



We learned that 100 RVs left on April 1. Two days ago, I was told 21 were leaving that day. And many of the park models are empty for the summer, as well. It's beginning to look like a ghost town around here.



It's beginning to look like a ghost town around here. If it weren't so hot, we would enjoy walking on the nearly empty streets. Actually, we do enjoy it, but early in the day or after it starts to cool down in the evening.

Last week, before it turned so hot, we went for a hike on the hieroglyphic trail. We passed through some green areas, cool with all the vegetation.



There was one small pool of water in the rocks near all the petroglyphs.



If you want to see all the writing on the stone walls, check out my blog from November 2011.

Because of the early heat wave, we are seeing lots of blooming cactus. Look at the flowers and the many buds on this plant.



This is what the blooms look like up close.

A Good First Hike

Each day we try to walk 10,000 steps.  Thursday we wanted a change in scenery from what we see walking around our resort.  The trailhead for the hieroglyphic trail isn't very far from our home and we have hiked this trail a number of times so we knew it would be a good place to start this winter.

At the end of the trail there are a number of hieroglyphics or petroglyphs on the stone wall.

Phoenix is really dry after the past summer.  This pond usually has water higher than the white lichen on these rocks.  Most of the lichen in the Superstition Mountains is usually fluorescent green so I was surprised to see this white growth.

The weather in southern Arizona has been spectacular for the past couple of weeks so we didn't leave for the hike until about 8 am.  We didn't have to get out earlier to avoid the heat but we could still wear shorts.

If you click this photo John took of me to enlarge it, you will see that there were a bunch of people sitting around on the hill.  In fact, I counted 14 people I could see from where we were sitting.  We learned they were from a college science class.  We must be hiking too early in the season or on the wrong day or something.  This trail is popular but we have never seen this many people in one place.

The flora on this trail includes prickly pear cactus, ocotillo, and cholla cactus.

We even found a bush with pink/magenta and orange bougainvillea flowers.

We enjoyed the hike, which is about 2 miles each way (8,000 steps or so total). We intend to try hiking once every week this winter. We went on very few hikes last year.

Family Comes to Visit

Our son Eric, his wife Liz and grandson John visited us during their Spring vacation in March. We packed a lot into their visit. As soon as they arrived, we went hiking on the Hieroglyphic Trail in the Superstitions. Somehow, the only photos I took were of the beautiful desert landscape.

After the hike, we had a good lunch at the Cactus Grill here in our resort.

The next day, Eric, John, Papa (John) and I went to the shooting range at Usury Mountain. Eric and grandson John shot their pistol, we all shot our pistol, and Eric, grandson John and Papa John shot Eric's shotgun. We had a good time but I sure need more practice. While we were shooting, Liz visited a friend and had lunch with her brother and sister.

The next day  we were off to hike to Wind Cave in Usury Mountain Park.  Again, the desert was beautiful and we had a good time.

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It is always good when we can get together with our family. We are so glad we had some time together. We did miss our granddaughter Kylie but she was busy at college in Houston.

Hiking with Friends

Tuesday we met blogger friends Jim and Gayle for a hike on the Hieroglyphic Trail in the Superstition Mountains. We have been on the trail several times, but they had never hiked in that area. It is a beautiful part of the Sonoran Desert.

As we hiked up the trail, a woman was coming back toward us, carrying a very small puppy. What a friendly, and really cute, animal. Jim and Gayle spent some time saying hello.

We had some rain in the past week or two, so there were pools below the heiroglyphics.

The hieroglypics are on the rocks on the other side of the pools. Both John and I were using our camera phones and didn't get very good photos of them.

When we hiked this trail in 2011, I got some really good pictures of them. You can see them here.

After our hike, Jim and Gayle followed us back to our new house. We showed them around, the went across the street to Rosati's Pizza for a good lunch and more good conversation. It was a great day.