Amy, Janet, Mike, and I hiked 6.7 miles on Friday. We hiked to the pond and then explored some of the arroyos on the other side of the Pemberton Trail.
View from the Pemberton just prior to dropping into Stoneman Wash
Janet, Amy, and Mike
Amy, beneath a crumbly wall
We saw the barn owl several times on our hike.
Amy and Mike
Banks of Stoneman Wash
An old Chevy in Stoneman Wash
Note the small bird, a phainopepla, on the gnarly tree.
Janet and Mike examine the remains of what might have been a truck.
Two saguaros on the way into a box canyon.
Leaving the box canyon.
A deep channel in the wash.
Linda says:
That bird is a phainopepla but don’t ask me to pronounce it!!! lol Wonderful picture of the owl too……..those washes are so interesting. Sorry I wasn’t able to join you this week.
October 22, 2016 — 7:08 am
Kevin says:
Thanks for the bird identification. Amy (and Mike too, I think) both knew what it was, but I had no idea how it was spelled!
(I’ve updated the caption accordingly.)
October 22, 2016 — 9:14 am
Susan Davis says:
Yah, desert mistletoe and the phainopepla have a real synergistic relationship (see a note from the AZ Desert Museum site). Your pics bring out the “real” topography of the desert, for sure! Thanks, as always!
October 22, 2016 — 11:36 am
jon leverenz says:
Where is the pond? Jon
October 22, 2016 — 3:45 pm
Kevin says:
Hi Jon,
Starting from the Trailhead Staging Area, you can get to the pond by following the Pemberton Trail SSW for nearly 1.5 miles. The pond is located to the east of the Pemberton. It’s my understanding that this was the site of the ranch house (which no longer remains.) A fallen windmill can be seen nearby. It appears on the map as “Pemberton Pond”.
On our hike, we didn’t actually go to the Pond (which is a short ways east of the trail), but hiked slightly past it prior to turning west into a wash to begin our explorations.
Kevin
October 24, 2016 — 11:57 am