Tag: Arizona (page 50 of 74)

Friday’s hike started at the Wagner Trailhead.  We hiked a bit over seven miles total.

A view of Four Peaks from the Wagner Trail.

We came across a rattlesnake, but it moved quickly – I didn’t get a very good photo of it.

A couple of rock formations that we saw along the way…

Janet, Linda, Allen, and Bob hiking Stoneman Wash:

Bob, Linda, Michael, and JoAnne hiked the North and Verde Trails on June 6.  Bob tells me that they hiked somewhat over five miles that day.

Michael Mandracchia took all of the photos below. (Michael’s captions can be viewed by hovering the mouse cursor over each photo. I don’t know if these captions will show up for tablet users.)

Linda, Marilyn (from Canada), Michael, Joanne, and I met at the Horse Staging Area where we hiked the Escondido Trail.  We threw in Lousley Hill and a the hilly portion of the Scenic Trail to make it even more of a fitness hike.  Total distance was 9.34 miles.

A view of Four Peaks from the Escondido Trail:

A group of four saguaros on the Escondido Trail: More saguaros in Lousley Wash.  (This might not be the official name of that wash.) Marilyn suggested these two shots looking up a saguaro (or perhaps a pair of saguaros) along the Escondido Trail.

She also suggested this shot where the sun was hidden behind one of the saguaro’s arms.

As we made our way over to the Scenic Trail, we saw this hawk sitting atop a saguaro.

A view of Red Mountain from the Scenic Trail.

Blooms on a barrel cactus near the end of our hike.

Friday’s hike started from the Trailhead Staging Area.  We hiked out on the Pemberton and took Stoneman wash to one of its feeders, where we hiked up that wash back to Pemberton.  From there we hiked through a small and twisty canyon.  We returned via the Tonto Tank Trail and the Pemberton.  Total distance was only six miles.

Bob and Sarge descend a small hill towards Stoneman Wash.

This section of Stoneman Wash is amazingly firm, probably due to the hardened clay beneath a thin layer of sand and stone. We took this photo by a large dead tree in the Stoneman feeder wash.  From left to right are Nancy, Michael, Joanne, Linda, Kim, Jim, Bob, Sarge, Venie, Carrie, and Hailey.  (I’ve probably misspelled some names.) Joanne spotted this antler in the wash.

A view of the clay pit from the Pemberton.  It’s my understanding that this was the site of a test dig for a clay mine at one point in the past.

A view from another wash accessed from the Pemberton.

The terrain became more interesting as we went.

Bob and Sarge passing an undercut section of the wall.

The wash narrowed as we went.  We eventually got to a point where we has to push the branches of a small palo verde tree aside to get through.

Michael, who is much taller than I am, took this photo of the top of a blooming saguaro while I pulled down the branch of palo verde tree blocking the view.

Four Peaks:

Another view of Four Peaks:

Red Mountain:

The remains of an uprooted saguaro:

Weaver’s Needle is visible in the distance in this photo.  The Flat Iron, which is also in the Superstitions, can also be seen at the far right.  (It’s so far right, that it’s almost out of the picture.)

Friday’s Hike was fairly short.  We hiked the loop on Lousley Hill and then hiked part of the Escondido to Pemberton.  Bob, Nancy, and I continued on to hike part of the Scenic Trail, while Michael, Joanne, and Wiley returned via the Escondido Trail.

Friday was Ranger Amy’s last day as ranger at McDowell Mountain Park.  We will miss her, but wish her well at her new job with Arizona Fish and Game.

Michael had brought along a small tripod which we used for this shot.  From left to right are Kevin, Bob, Amy, Wiley, Nancy, Joanne, and Michael.

Hiking down Lousley Hill… We saw a young rattlesnake, approximately 15″ long, on the Escondido Trail, near the intersection with the Lousley Hill Trail.  Amy decided against picking this snake up.

This is the large, many-armed saguaro on the Escondido Trail.

A blooming Palo Verde:

Another saguaro on the Lousley Hill Trail.

Friday’s hike started at the Wagner Trailhead.  We hiked Wagner to Delsie, where I realized perhaps three quarters of a mile later that we had inadvertently turned onto the Delsie Trail instead of staying on the Granite Trail as was our intent.  But that was okay, because we had a nice hike back to the Granite via Stoneman Wash.  Once we got back to the Granite, we hiked a short ways further until we reached the wash which parallels the Bluff Trail.  Some of us hiked up the wash, while the rest continued on with Amy to finish the hike via the Bluff, Granite, and Wagner trails.  Those of us who hiked the wash, hiked all the way up to the Pemberton, and returned via the Bluff, Granite, and Wagner Trails.

Amy held the brush aside so that I could get a photo of this kangaroo rat:

From left to right are Ernie, Michael, Venie, Nancy, Wiley, Amy, Joanne, and Jonathon.

There aren’t many good looking wildflowers left, but we did see some Sandwash Groundsel:

A large rock with a small cardinal on top:

Soap Tree Yucca:

Amy identified this flower for me.  She says that it’s White Ratany. Ernie is in the background.

A view from the Bluff Trail.  It’s not obviously visible in the photo, but the wash we had been hiking is amid the rocks in this photo.

A very healthy saguaro on the Bluff Trail.

A hedgehog cactus next to a small barrel cactus.  Four Peaks is in the background.

Amy sent me this photo of the Gila Monster that the other group saw on their way back: