Arizona – Valerie's Voice

A Hike in the Desert

When we travel, we like to find area trails to hike and get out in nature. The friend we visited in Arizona likes to hike too, and had a trail in mind for when we came to visit.

The beginning of the trail…we hiked away from this formation.

Due to limited luggage space we didn’t pack our hiking poles or hiking shoes. We took along our good walking shoes, our sun hats, and sunscreen. We knew our friends would provide water bottles for us.

Cacti growing on the slopes, in place of trees.

We set our alarm to get up and get on the trail early one day, before it got too hot to enjoy the hike. (It was hotter than normal when we flew out to Arizona in early April, highs were in the 90’s, but it cooled down significantly at night). We drove to the trailhead (past long-horn cattle roaming) to the Superstition Wilderness in the Superstition Mountain area.

It was a lovely morning for a hike…clear, blue skies and a nice, cool temperature. We stopped to take photos of the unique and open desert scenery…so different and fun to see. My friend likes to take pictures so it was no problem stopping whenever we wanted to capture a moment…she understands.

On the drive to the trailhead our friend was telling us about her hiking club she joined when she moved to Arizona a year and a half ago. In addition to plenty of water (a staple for hiking anywhere) she learned to carry a fine-tooth comb with her on desert hikes…just in case you have a run in with a cactus.

Well, of course, that happened to me. We were well into our hike, taking pictures of the cacti in bloom, and I got excited about this beautiful, blooming cactus and started taking photos. I could get a better angle if I moved around a bit and, sure enough, I brushed up to a very prickly cactus and a clump stuck to my ankle, through my sock, as I jumped away. It’s called the Teddy-Bear Cholla and I had admired it previous to our hike. The Teddy-bear Cholla looks so cuddly…but it’s not! Thankfully my friend had followed the advice from her fellow hikers and put a comb in her backpack.

My only photo of the Teddy-Bear Cholla. There are others that look more cuddly than this one. This is not the one I bumped against.

It worked slick! Many prickly needles came out easily with the comb. There were a few strays that I took out with Duct Tape when we got back to her place. It was quite comical that we would need a comb after her telling us about it on our way to the trail.

The hike in the desert was unique and strikingly beautiful. We enjoyed it…and learned something too.

Animal Sightings in Arizona

On our recent visit to AZ, not only did we see the desert in bloom, but we saw several kinds of birds and animals.

There were cardinals in the trees, and lots of hummingbirds too. There were mourning doves and lots of quail drinking from a large, ceramic basin of water our friends strategically placed outside their family room window. I enjoyed seeing the quail and their pretty little head plumes. I tried several times to get a photo of the quail but it just didn’t happen. We spotted a roadrunner racing on the ground several times.

The Great Horned owl tucked between the arms of a saguaro cactus. She’s protecting two owlets. There is one in the photo.

But the prize bird sighting was a Great-horned owl, and her two owlets. Their nest was in-between the arms of a tall, saguaro cactus. Ouch. Those cactus needles are prickly! We stopped to see the nest on our way to our friend’s house directly from the airport. We saw mama, and her two young ones the first time. Two days later we stopped by to check on the owlets and they had grown. My friend got an up-close photo of one of them with her special camera.

Photo of an owlet through a zoom lens. photo by tw

There were jack rabbits all over town; in the yards, on the golf courses, in the open spaces, at the watering bowl. I didn’t have my camera ready at the right moments so I didn’t get any photos of the cute bunnies with long ears.

We saw long-horn cattle roaming in the open, alongside the road to the trailhead for our desert hike.

But the prize animal sighting was bighorn sheep. On the drive through the mountains to Canyon Lake (where we had scheduled a boat ride in a beautiful reservoir) we spotted bighorn sheep.

Canyon Lake…I called these rock formations “desert fjords”. photo by tw

Four of the 8 big horn sheep we watched. photo by tw

Big horn sheep climbing the rocky terrain. photo by tw

We stopped to take photos and watch the beautiful creatures maneuver the rocky terrain. We counted 8. My friend had a camera with a stronger zoom so I let her take the photos.

And lastly…the night before we left, in the rocky side yard we spotted a Gila Monster (pronounced heel-la monster), a poisonous lizard and apparently a rare sighting.

The lizard moves slow so we could get a good look at it and take photos. According to Wikipedia, it is the only venomous lizard native to the United States.

Each flower, each bird, each animal is a gift. I marvel at nature’s beauty and God’s amazing creativity. And I am grateful.

Colors of an Arizona Desert

We recently spent a few days visiting friends in Arizona and were pleasantly surprise to see the desert in bloom. I can’t name all the plants but I enjoyed seeing the beauty and uniqueness of each one. Such diversity, and oh-so-different from our Minnesota landscapes!

The entry to Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

For some reason this saguaro cactus arm was horizontal, not vertical, but so much better for us to see the bloom.

We saw this super tall bloom in someone’s yard (along with the Easter bunny!)

Stunning, colorful mountains at dusk.

Memorable Hikes – Tucson, Arizona 2003

Continuing my Friday series on memorable hikes…

In 2003 we went to visit friends who spend their winters in Arizona, away from the Minnesota cold, snow and ice. They bought a lovely town home in Tucson and we enjoy visiting them, over a long weekends, in February, when it works.

There is a lot to do and see in the area where they live: Tuscan Botanical Garden, Saguaro National Park, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, DeGrazia Gallery, Old Tuscon Studios, Mt. Lemon and the Santa Catalina mountains, good restaurants and several places for hiking. Sabino Canyon is one of those places.

Sabino Canyon is a desert oasis in the Coronado National Forest. When you arrive at the park you can take a tram up the canyon and walk back down if you desire. That’s a great way to hike! But there are several trail options available to hike back down. We have hiked in this canyon on several different trips. On this day in Sabino Canyon we were casually hiking down along the canyon in the beautiful, warm, sunshine. There was water in the canyon; water pools in the canyon during winter months and being near water while hiking is a always a treat. As we were walking we caught up with a couple in front of us that had stopped on the trail. They pointed to a rattlesnake coiled up in the sun on a rock along side the trial. We tiptoed past it and kept on going. That’s the first time, and hopefully the last time, I see one of those snakes!

Other than the snakes, the desert landscapes in this park are beautiful and it’s especially nice when one can enjoy warmth and sunshine knowing it’s cold and icy back in Minnesota.