White Canyon Wilderness

I've been making Gary climb to the top of this or the top of that for years now. He suggested that we go someplace that wasn't vertical or miles and miles of hiking. I thought the hike up the canyon in White Canyon Wilderness might be perfect. It isn't vertical (well, the sides are, but you don't climb those) and you can't go very far before it gets too difficult (at least for me) to go any further. With a 4wd truck, I could park at the start of the trail, too, instead of a mile or so back. On top of all that, it's very scenic.

I signed in at the register and there were notes there about cairns and purple dots. When I had been there before, cairns were next to nonexistent and there were no purple dots. Anyway, we followed the purple dots and it turned out to be my easiest hike up that canyon. I don't think we saw quite as much in the way of pools of water or small waterfalls, but somebody from Houston probably isn't as obsessive about pools of water as somebody that has lived in the desert during a drought for 10 years.

The trail went through places like this, to the side of the main channel, where walking is easy and doesn't involve climbing over boulders or hoping over water.

We were there early in the day, which is good if you don't want half of a picture in darkness and half extremely bright.

Gary by a small waterfall and extremely white rock. I didn't know he was also taking a picture at the time.

There were flowers all over the place. The water was flowing but was underground at least half of the time. The pools were wonderfully cool.

One of many pools of cool, cool water. There were waterbugs and I hear that they bite, so I didn't want to go wading.

Here's a large stone "paddle" that looks like it's smiling. I don't think it would be easy to get into a position where you could photograph it with a blue background.

I like the way this picture turned out.

It was pretty easy following the purple dots up the canyon. I had more trouble on the way back and wandered from the trail several times. I think that if I had been going where I thought I should go instead of looking for purple dots, I might not have overshot the truck by several hundred feet. If you look closely at the pictures, I think I got the purple dots in a couple of them.

2013_04_05

The trail off FR80

It isn't an official trail, but it's well-worn now. It was hard to follow when I first found it 7 or 8 years ago. Gary is in town for his annual visit and I wanted to show him some nice scenery that a lot of people don't get to see. We started the hike at about 10 a.m., which seemed really strange to me. I'm not used to seeing that area with the sun at that angle.

I don't think I've ever seen this scene in this light before.

Gary found a cross-shaped cholla. Well, it was Easter Sunday.

You can see the shadow of that arch at this time of day.

We took a break when we got to the plateau near the end of the trail. The trail splits there. After enjoying the view for a while and wandering around a little, we decided it was time to head back.

I don't know if the light made it easier to recognize stuff or if I've just become more familiar with the area. For example, I know that Tortilla Flat is on the other side of that mesa in the middle of this picture. I don't think I had realized that before.

We saw a Desert Mariposa. This is only the second one I've ever seen. (The other one was on the Boulder Canyon trail.) They are beautiful flowers.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2013_03_31

Near Canyon Lake

Gary is in town for his annual visit to the valley. We went for a short hike to the top of a ridge with a view of Canyon Lake. It's off-trail, so it was kind of steep and rocky. I should quit doing that to Gary.

View of Canyon Lake, with the Dolly Steamboat.

It's a short climb, though, to a very nice view. There are places with a view of the lake that are easier to get to (like pulling into a parking spot), but I don't think they're quite as pretty.

The hedgehog cacti have been blooming. In fact, I think they are about done blooming. I was going to try to get more flower pictures this year, but it hasn't worked out that way yet. The saguaros and cholla have yet to bloom, though. Maybe I'll get some pictures of those.

Hedgehog cactus flowers.

Gary has trimmed down.

On our next hike, I'm going to stick to trails. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2012_03_21

Gary visits Bulldog Canyon

I must not have pushed Gary too far on our last hike. He went to Bulldog Canyon with me on Tuesday. We didn't see a lot of people out there; one Hummer load of tourists and an empty pickup. Well, the pickup meant there were people around somewhere. Anyway, it was a typically quiet day in Bulldog Canyon. We hiked to the top of a low ridge and watched the sunset on our way back down.

A view from the top of the ridge.

We came across something I haven't seen up on that ridge before. Mosquitoes. They were only mildly pesky. Not at all like Houston mosquitoes (that seem like ravenous vampires to me). I didn't get bit, and I only swatted at them once or twice. Arizona mosquitoes are wimps, thank goodness.

Another view.

It rained all Tuesday morning and was very cloudy after lunch. It finally started to clear a little when we headed for Bulldog Canyon. The ground was soft in places, but our shoes didn't get caked with mud.

It was clear to the west by sunset.

I thought it might be dark by the time we got back to the truck, but we had plenty of light. The moon was half full, but that might not have been enough light with all the grassy and weedy stuff on the ground. I think it was a little too cool for rattlers after sunset, fortunately.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

BC_2010_03_23

Not Four Peaks Brewing Company

I worked with Gary for a few years in Houston. Every March he comes out to the valley for about a week. We usually meet one evening at Four Peaks Brewing Company and catch up over good beer and good food. I've always told him he should go for a hike with me some time. This year he finally did.

I was originally planning to go off-trail in Bulldog Canyon. Then I got to thinking about how rough and steep it would be and how it would be difficult to see where it was safe to put your feet with all the spring growth hiding rocks and snakes, so I had about decided that we should probably stick to a well-traveled trail. What cinched it was when Gary got out of his truck wearing shorts. He would never leave the pavement again if his legs got full of cholla and prickly pear spines or if cat claw acacia ripped them up.

I decided to head out to the Boulder Canyon trail by Canyon Lake. It's wide, not too steep, and there are great views all around. Also, the drive out there along Apache Trail is very nice.

It was a beautiful day. It was also the warmest day of the year so far. There was a nice breeze, though.

Gary taking pictures from a precarious perch. Actually, it's not as bad as it looks.

I took several pictures as these people came down the trail. This guy asked if I was going to send the pictures to them. I told him to Google my blog and he asked me to tell his wife what to search for. If they find this, I hope they leave a comment to let me know they did.

There are getting to be a lot of flowers. I got a few pictures of them.

I've seen lots of bird nests in cholla. This one had a couple of birds in it.

On the way back down to the Marina, we took the side trail towards La Barge Canyon. We didn't go all the way down to the stream (which is still flowing, BTW). Gary got a little taste of what it might be like off trail, though, because it's a little steep and the plants crowd the trail.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2010_03_18