Coon Bluff trail

We've really been enjoying our hiking.  It's one of our favorite things to do here in Arizona.

 This is a baby Saguaro Cactus, the type that grow really tall and has the cool arms.  They start out in some type of helper bush where the soil is broken up.  They only grow here in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico.  It's the largest cactus in the United States.  They can live to be 200 years old and grow 60 foot tall and have up to 25 arms and weigh 5,000 lbs.  The roots only grow half a foot deep, but spread out sideways as far as the cactus is tall.  They're very slow growing, the one here is probably 10 years old.  It's covered in needle type spikes and makes a home for different types of birds.

 This is the hiking club group starting out.  More and more people each time we go.

 This hike was a little different in that it was totally flat.  We were following different washes and gullys.

 We were totally surprised when we ran across some wild horses.  Who would of thought to find wild horses in this dessert climate. 

 There was a young horse with the group.

 They were beautiful and kind of shaggy looking.

 We saw two, maybe three other groups during the hike.  Our guide said they flourish in that area and the wildlife rangers have to take measures to keep the population down or they would overrun things.

It was amazing to see wild horses, and up close too.  Still can't believe it.

Broadway Cave trail

We went on another hike with the Hiking Club and this time had more people.

 This is at the start of the trail, at the base of Superstition Mountains.

 Cactus and the Superstition Mountains.  The cave we hiked to is in the shadows somewhere in the middle.

 This is called the Jumping Cholla cactus.  You don't want to get close.

 Making our way up the trail.  It was flat at first.

 Then we started going up hill towards that cave in the middle of the picture.  Our guide actually lost the trail, if you can believe it, and could not find it.  But we could see the cave up the hill.  So we ended up working our way through the prickly desert vegitation as we climbed this hill to the cave.

 Beautiful bluffs.

 There was an actual cave at the top this time, not just an indentation in the rocks.  It was cool.

Looked like some prospectors at some time in the past may have mined into the cave.  There was no sign they found any gold or silver.