A view of Saguaro Lake

Last weekend, when I was looking at Saguaro Lake in the distance, I was thinking that I should go to the top of the cliffs that overlook the lake again. So that's what I did yesterday.

A picture from last Sunday, showing the cliffs looming over the lake.

The last time I was up there, I went to a spot that looked like it would be easy to get to. This time, I decided I would try to get to the highest spot on the cliffs, no matter how far I had to walk or how many pointless ups and downs I had to traverse. It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. With all the flowers along the way, the hum of honey bees was almost a roar.

I saw a few Mexican gold poppies along the way.

A buckhorn cholla with lots of flowers.

Almost to the final climb. Looks like solid rock for part of the way.

It is solid rock.

There's a very nice view of the lake from up there. There weren't any loud boats displaying their rooster tails, which seemed strange. There was one very fast boat but all the rest just seemed to be run-of-the-mill family boats. It was quiet for such a busy lake.

Saguaro Lake, with the Goldfield Mountains in the background.

Looking southeast.

A fishing pier 340 feet below. I couldn't get closer than 6 feet from the edge. Too scary.

I got out there early enough that I didn't have to race sunset back to the truck. I sat and enjoyed the view for a while. When I was about to leave, a red tailed hawk flew by. I had the same problem getting pictures of it as I do with Richard's planes. With the lens zoomed in, the depth of field is very narrow. Between focusing and taking the picture, the subject moves out of focus. I only got one picture of the hawk that's in focus, when it was going directly overhead. I'm glad the sky was clear so the exposure turned out OK.

A red tailed hawk.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2010_04_24