A Walk in the Arizona Desert

April 2

Often the early bird, I woke before Alyssa and Dwight.  I put on a pot of coffee and raided his cupboards for breakfast.  We had agreed the night before that we would do dry cereal this morning so we could get an earlier start on our day.  I scored and found an unopened box of peanut butter Cheerios.  I left at least half of the box for the late risers.

Before leaving Dwight's very nice town home, we filled our water bottles to the brim, ready to brave another hot-to-a-northwester day.

We drove up into the White Tank Mountains and parked at the entrance to Waterfall Trail. Along the easy one-mile ascent we spotted many interesting cacti. Dwight identified them for me but I forgot some of the names so I looked them up.  If I've gotten some of them wrong, I hope he'll feel free to correct me.

Sunset blooms of a Staghorn Cholla

Dwight inspects a bloom

Hedgehog Cactus

A closer look at the bloom of a Hedgehog cactus

Every baby is adorable...even a baby cactus!

Giant saguaro

Open staghorn blooms

Dwarfed by a giant saguaro cactus

The deceptively soft-looking Teddybear Cholla

A little off-trail excursion

There was also an abundance of beautiful, but unfamiliar blooming trees and wildflowers. One particular, very fragrant tree that seems to be everywhere was the palo verde, Arizona's state tree. I'm not sure how, but I didn't get a picture of it. Clothed in clouds of tiny yellow blossoms, the tree is drought resistant but drops its leaves during long dry spells.  At first glance, other trees mimicked the palo verde, such as the creosote tree below.

Creosote tree

You've probably figured out by now that I love flowers!  Much of our trip was in cold, wintry areas so I was craving the sight of blossoms.

Another interest on our walk were the petroglyphs, left by the Hohokam Indians hundreds of years ago. Somewhere on a nearby trail is supposed to be the remnant of a Hohokam village but we didn't walk that trail.

Hohokam petroglyphs

At the top of the trail we were surprised to find that the seasonal waterfall hadn't quite dried up for the summer. A family was enjoying the couple-feet-deep pool. Embarrassingly, the males were in their underwear. The mom ignorantly encouraged her sons to jump in so that she could video them fracturing their knees as they cannon-balled into the shallow water. I cut them out of my picture.

On the trip down we enjoyed beautiful views of the city, far away on the hazy horizon.

White Tank Mountains are so named because of the minerals in the water that leave a white film on the rocks. When it rains heavily, water pools, leaving white “tanks”.

The white "tanks" of White Tank Mountains

On our return to the car we refilled our water bottles at a drinking fountain and headed for a nearby private zoo called Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.