Another Hike

You're probably getting tired of reading about hikes through the desert, but here we go again. The good news is we'll be leaving Mesa next week and 'on the road again.'

We started near the confluence of the Verdi and Salt Rivers. Since this was last week after a day of rain, the water was pretty high.


But not as high as it must have been to bury this picnic table. Yes, this is a picnic table. I scraped away some sand to uncover one of the benches.


And we were pretty impressed with this many-armed saguaro.


However we moved the car to a parking area back the road a bit to hike some more interesting hills. I didn't take a picture of the ascent, but once on top the trail wandered along the ridge.


Most of the cacti weren't blooming yet, but this one was pretty colorful. I'm not sure if these are blooms or buds.


We had nice views of the surrounding desert, including Red Mountain seen here.


There were some wildflowers along the way including poppies . . .


And lupine.


I was thinking this was some kind of paintbrush, but maybe not. I'm just so happy when the camera focuses where I want it to focus.