Wind Cave Hike

Yesterday we went on our third hike, this time Wind Cave Trail in Usery Mountain Regional Park.

 This is at the start of the trail and you can see the Usery Mountain in the background.  It was sunny with temperatures in the low 70s, perfect for a hike.

 The trail crossing a dry streambed with the mountain in the background.

 A large Ocotillo Plant on the skyline.

We saw lots of pretty Sugaro Cactus and Barrel Cactus and Jumping Cholla Cactus, all visible in this picture.  Did you know the Sugaro Cactus don't start getting branches until they are 70 years old.

 Boulders and rocks strewn all about.

 A panoramic view from part way up the mountain at the end of the trail.

And this is wind cave.  Not very deep but very pretty.

Silly Mountain Hike

We went on our second hike the other day. 

 Silly Mountain Trail.  It was sunny and nice out and we enjoyed being outside in the desert.  We bought some new hiking shoes and plan to do a lot of hiking.  The trails are typically rocky and often have some mild climbing so we needed some sturdier shoes.  Also to protect from snakes and scorpions, but we haven't seen any of those yet.  We did see a lizard on today's trail.

 Silly Mountain is close to Apache Junction and has a good view of the much larger Superstition Mountains on one side.  The trail went around Silly Mountain and wound in and out of some crags and small hills.

At the beginning of the trail is an interesting botanical garden.  Arizona sure is different from Washington.