Phoenix, Arizona - Jan- Feb, 2015

Phoenix is Arizona's state capital. When people refer to Phoenix, they are often referring to the Greater Phoenix area, which includes more than 25 cities and towns. Over the past two decades Phoenix has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The 2013 population was 1.51 million and is the sixth largest city in the United States.



The saguaro is found only in the Sonoran Desert, which includes about 120,000 square miles of California and Arizona. Most of Baja California and half of the state of Sonora, Mexico is also included. You won't find saguaros above an elevation of about 3,500 feet since they can't handle much frost. A saguaro's arms usually begin to grow only after it is about 15 feet tall and around 75 years old and they can have many arms. Saguaros can grow to over 50 feet tall, the tallest saguaros are about 200 years old and have more than 50 arms.
This photo is of a saguaro cactus at Bartlett Lake in Arizona. That lake is actually the closest lake to the Greater Phoenix area. It's about 22 miles east of Carefree. The photo was taken by a professional landscape photographer, from Cottonwood, Arizona. It was taken on April 5, 2013.   This saguaro has forty-four arms visible in the image and has well over fifty as the back side was not counted. 

 

The saguaro flowers once every year, typically in May and June. Not all the saguaro cactus flowers bloom at the same time; several per day will bloom over the period of a few weeks. Saguaro blooms open at night and last through the next midday.

The sunsets in the desert are spectacular.

 

 

Staying in the eastern part of Phoenix, we are in Apache Junction, has it's appeal because this is the last small city and then the landscape changes into rural desert. We are 5 minutes from the desert and 10 minutes from the base of the Superstition Mountains, where you can enjoy beautiful scenery, tranquility and great hiking.  

 

 

 

This is the view from the parking lot of the hike we went on to the Wind Cave.

 

  

This is the view once we hiked the 860 ft elevation climb up the mountain to the cave. You get to enjoy a panoramic view of the Phoenix valley. In the distance, to the left you can see the skyline of Phoenix.

There are fruit pickers (volunteers) from our park that go out every Thursday and pick fruit in the Phoenix valley. They donate half of their fruit pickings to the food bank and the remaining  fruit is brought back to the park for everyone to enjoy. All you have to do is fill up a bag and make a small donation for their gas costs.  The citrus is so delicious, and so sweet.

 

 

 

A big pool and hot tub in our park, the pool temperature is kept at kept at 85 - 88 degrees. The weather has been very nice, with daily average temperatures of 80 -82 degrees.

 

 We met a very nice gentleman who kindly took us pecan picking in Queen Creek,  just 10 miles from our park. He knows people who have some land with pecan trees on them and they let us come and pick the pecan. Lots of pecans were on the ground and lots were still on the trees. We used a 15-20 ft pole and swatted the trees and the pecans fell to the ground. We filled up a 5 gallon bucket full of pecans. Now comes the fun part, shelling these delicate nuts. Hopefully, we will get at least 50%  - 60%  pecans out of the bunch. They taste delicious.


Today we hiked the Peralta Trail, in the Gold Canyon area.  It is a very scenic 2.4 mile hike up a valley with an elevation climb of 1380 ft where you arrive at the saddle and view the valley. You start with a slow climb out of the dirt lot but quickly are  climbing over rock and through stream beds cut from the runoff of the hill. Trail twists and drops into foliage then out up onto pure rock faces. The rock face provides the vantage to look back and over your climb. The last switchbacks set you into the saddle which views your climb but the best is the back side which honors Weavers Needle providing a commanding view over the entire valley into the horizon.