Linda, Bill, Bob, and I hiked a little over 12 miles at White Tank Mountain Regional Park. We did a loop consisting of the Waddell Trail, up Ford Canyon, continuing on the Ford Canyon Trail, and then returning on the Mesquite Canyon and Waddell trails. We missed our turn out of the canyon while hiking up Ford Canyon; we backtracked and found the turn, but it added a bit over a mile to our hike.
This is a view of the morning sun from the Ford Canyon Trail:
The first part of the Ford Canyon Trail is easy. Hiking gets somewhat harder after these signs:
Other hikers enjoying views (of the city?) from some large boulders just off the trail:
This is where Ford Canyon starts to get fun!
Linda, Bob, and Bill:
Looking back the way we came. Notice that the city is barely visible at this point.
Small cacti (mammillaria) nestled in the granite:
We encountered small pools of water along the way…
Linda, Bill, and Bob:
I took this shot from the same vantage point as the previous photo, but zoomed in on this one:
More canyon views…
Approaching a small dam:
The bright orange plant is tamarisk – it’s a non-native plant which consumes large amounts of water and frequently kills off the native vegetation.
We’ve (long) exited the canyon at this point. I think this is a view from the Mesquite Canyon Trail:
Mesquite Canyon:
