Dana Stabenow:
View from the trail.
Dana Stabenow:
Red rocks.
Dana Stabenow:
Look at all that desert marigold climbing up to the very top of that mountain. Last time we were here, overhead we saw a pair of raptors teaching their fledging to fly.
Dana Stabenow:
Purple flowers, saguaro, teddy bear chollo, rocky ridge.
Dana Stabenow:
The valleys were carpeted in these purple flowers.
Dana Stabenow:
Ready for their close-up.
Dana Stabenow:
Purple whatevers, teddy bear cholla, saguaro, ridge I'm going to hike next trip.
Dana Stabenow:
Amazing to me that in a city the size of Phoenix there is this much open space, and that it is so accessible to the residents. And visitors.
Dana Stabenow:
Ocotillo on the left.
Dana Stabenow:
Photo is all blurry but it's the only one I took where you can (barely) see that single saguaro about two-thirds of the way up that little valley. It's like an exterior decorator placed it there for effect.
Dana Stabenow:
I had the zoom up as high as it would go on my iPhone, but you're just going to have to take my word for it that that upright stick is the wooden skeleton of a saguaro. Really cool.
Dana Stabenow:
See those orange flags on the very tips of the ocotillo? They're in bloom.
Dana Stabenow:
Rocky ridges.
Dana Stabenow:
On the trail.
Dana Stabenow:
We hiked from around the corner of that mountain on the upper right.
Dana Stabenow:
Look hard. You can see some of Phoenix in the background.
Dana Stabenow:
Looking up from the trail.
Dana Stabenow:
Dunno what these rocks are, but gorgeous. There is everything along these trails, red iron, green copper, white granite.