Favorite Trails
Even during summer, I do A LOT of hiking in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve (starting before sunrise). Several new trails opened this year giving us access into some really interesting places. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve now encompasses over 27,000 acres and more land is set to be preserved. The north area of the Preserve is my favorite not only because the area is very close to home but because of the amazing terrain and rock formations! Following are some photos from my favorite trails. Read more
I’m back in Flagstaff but I’m not going to post anything from here until I catch up! So I will divide the rest of September into 3 posts starting with the wonderful rains we received early this month. Lots of rain is needed for Fungi to pop up in the Desert and we received both! 
Butterflies only come out on sunny days so I didn’t see many. Wildflowers were also spotty but I did manage to get some photos of both. I’ll start with the butterflies and bugs and follow up with Wildflowers. 
Rain every day (and a few overnights) meant there was plenty of fungi this trip! It also meant conditions were pretty much the same as July making photography challenging again. All but a few of my images were taken with either my Smartphone or my Canon compacts. They all got fairly wet at times but survived! 
This last week, we experienced the hottest temperatures since living here and, in fact, some areas set new records! Before you feel sorry for us, though, know that although we would prefer it not get this hot, we all know how to deal with the heat. We all have air conditioned homes and cars and businesses are air conditioned so it is easy to escape. Also, because it is so dry here, even the smallest amount of shade can offer a little relief. You can tell who are locals because they are the ones standing in the shade of ANYTHING. 
