Wed. Dec. 3. Ah, to be away from the city, traffic, and noise, and out under early morning skies just as the sun had come up. Being out in the desert mountain scenery is always a refreshing lift to the spirit. We had a group of about 20 that headed out from the Sweetwater Preserve trailhead. It was an unusually warm morning so we didn’t even need jackets. Love the view of Mt. Lemmon in the background.
All set to go! Water? Got it! Snacks? Got it! Hiking boots? Yep! Hiking stick? Yep! Most important of all, camera!? You bet!
It was a 2.5 mile hike and not too strenuous but gave us nice views of the surrounding landscape. Of course, I am the one that goes “hike, camera shot”, “hike, camera shot”, “hike, camera shot”. This is the slower group of the 2 hiking clubs, so several of us enjoy the slower pace and the opportunity to take lots of pictures. Naturally I have to take a picture of one of the desert’s sentinels. The one in the 3rd picture must be pretty old since it takes 75 years for a cactus to start growing arms. Break time! Got to replenish our energy! So what a nice place to do just that.
We reached a fork in the trail and took the return path to the parking lot on the Lost Arrow Trail. Yes, the trail is called that because of an actual Indian arrow shot through a tall cactus. Nobody knows how it actually got there or how long ago it was. Would you climb that prickly cactus to pull it out!? I think not! So it is fun to speculate and have people try to find the arrow as they hike that trail. Fun to try and be the first to spot it.
The hike was almost over and one area had cactus as thick as a forest. What a nice good hike to add to the start of the hiking groups winter season.
What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.
How can anyone not love the desert?
ReplyDeleteI know Jan, it amazes me every time I hike in it.
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