It was a 75 mile drive from McDowell Mountain to White Tank Mountain Regional Park on the west side of Phoenix via the low traffic northern route. It’s a bit longer but much less stressful than going through the city on I-10. It felt good to be moving again after four months.
We decided to stop here after finding out that John and Pam (Oh, the Places They Go!) would be staying there for a few days after leaving Tucson. We’ve been following each others blogs for years, and have just missed each other a few other times, so this seemed like a good chance to finally meet. The campground was full for the weekend but I kept checking for cancellations and finally got one for Friday and Saturday. It just happened to be across from John and Pam’s site, and they arrived about an hour after we got there. We got a pretty decent site, although it wasn’t very level.
Unfortunately John was fighting a cold and didn’t feel up to hiking, plus it was warming into the upper 80s, so Pam and Jim and I got an early start (9:30, which is good for us) on Saturday morning for a hike from the campground. Ended up doing about 7.5 miles on a several different trails, eventually hiking over a mile up the beautiful Mesquite Canyon trail. The desert was full of colorful blooms.
We finally came to a high point where we decided to take a snack break, then turn around. We had good views of the trail we had just come up, but couldn’t see the campground.
Before we knew it Jim was bushwacking his way to the next high point for a better view.
Although hot and tired, Pam and I decided to follow him.
And there was the campground, with the sprawl of Phoenix in the background.
It was a good hike and we would have liked to have gone farther up the canyon, but the heat was getting to us. And although she was looking the entire time, Pam did not spot a single crested saguaro. Hope she had better luck after we left.
That evening John was feeling better so we went over to their place for happy hour. It was a pleasure getting to know them and we hope our paths will cross again one of these days.
On Sunday we moved on to Yuma, not exactly the best direction to avoid the heat, but I’ll save that for the next post.
Glad 'all got to meet up and spend the day together. The desert floor looks gorgeous. Enjoy Yuma.
ReplyDeleteSo great you got to meet up with Pam and John. We've had some fun hiking adventures with them! You've certainly found gorgeous spots to spend the winter. Love seeing the desert in bloom through your beautiful photos.
ReplyDeleteWith all the rain in the desert area the colors have been gorgeous!! Such lovely flowers!! Great hike!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to meet up with friends!!
Yay, it's great to see my hiking buddies meet up!
ReplyDeleteAren't the flowers wonderful? It's just as bloomy here at Cave Creek!
Thank you so much for making a stop at White Tank so we could finally meet in person:) It was great to get the opportunity to hit the trail together. Boy, we sure picked a beautiful route!! The flowers were amazing! I can't believe we didn't get a lunch with a view photo (even though we just had a snack)!! Suzanne mentioned it. Darn! It must have been the heat frying my brain. Now we really must get together soon to take a lunch with a view photo!! We both look forward to meeting up again real soon. We really enjoyed our short visit.
ReplyDeleteLove your flower photos! We are already missing the desert and the warmth...it's been into the 20's this week. Currently in Montgomery, AL...on our way home.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful pictures of the flowers. Really wish we were there in the desert for what is obviously a gorgeous super bloom.
ReplyDeleteSo glad the four of you finally got to meet, and hike too. Especially among all the gorgeous colors. Thankfully temps are dropping a bit so I'm going to brave Mojave.
ReplyDeleteGlad you finally got to meet John and Pam, two of our very favorites we have met on the road.
ReplyDeleteI figured the flowers would be amazing after we left :-( The view from the top is wonderful. As much as we love that park, I'm afraid we may never see it from up there! Glad you got the chance to meet up with J&P :-))))
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