Hiked over 700 ft elevation gain to Inspiration Point in the Preserve today. Windy up there!
Encountering a group of Equestrians was a real treat. The trail is really narrow so they were brave.
Tag Archives: mcdowell sonoran preserve
mark your calenders!
Come one come all to the grand opening of the Bajada Nature Trail located at the Gateway trailhead of the
McDowell Sonaran Preserve. This 1/2 mile interpretive trail is accessible to everyone including wheel chairs.
So mark your calendars for Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 and invite all your family and friends to attend!
Especially your friends who may be wheelchair bound. Click image below to download the invitation:
Following are photos showing one of the early previews for feedback regarding the trail.
For all the photographers who follow my blog….this trail has spectacular views of the McDowell
Mountains and includes excellent specimens of desert cacti and flora. You won’t be disappointed!
The trail is 6 feet wide which allows plenty of room for people to pass you while you’re shooting.
red brome
Getting rid of an invasive grass, like Red Brome, is a losing battle but I figure even a little removal is better than no removal at all (fire fuel). So with that in mind, I have a little ritual of removing Red Brome every time I stop for a photo op in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. I mention this because that’s how this photo came about. I had stopped to take a photo and then started removing grass when I spotted the Silver Puff. Beautiful scene, don’t you think? Always anthropomorphizing, I think the Red Brome is hanging out with the pretty stuff so we won’t remove it 🙂
roaming free
Here’s what we saw as we exited our vehicle at the North Tom’s Thumb trailhead yesterday. This little guy is part of a small herd that’s been allowed to roam free in North Scottsdale and vicinity for all their lives. Since so much of the land they call home is now Preserve, I think the city is trying to work something out with the owner so we all can continue to enjoy them!
Rock Live-forever
Rock Live-forever is the common name of the plant below. What?! Makes you wonder who’s in charge of naming. The latin name, on the other hand, is Dudleya collomiae so I’m going to call it Dudley 🙂 . Anyway, I once again have Steve Jones to thank for identifying this plant we saw yesterday at The Lookout in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.
Speaking of the brand new “The Lookout” spot, here’s a shot of the sign and the view in that direction. The haze makes it difficult to see but the fountain in Fountain Hills was on at the time.
The photo below shows the view in another direction where you can see the Windgate Trail, Inspiration Viewpoint and the Gateway. All in all, we dubbed The Lookout as the most spectacular viewpoint in the Preserve. Can’t wait to go back to capture it in better light.
Finally…here’s a shot of one of the new Tom’s Thumb trail signs.
elevated flora
Chris and I spent all yesterday afternoon exploring Tom’s Thumb which is the latest trail to open in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Exhausting but very exciting for me because the elevation and rocky terrain meant seeing plants I’ve only seen on the North State Trust Land. Besides all the common wildflowers seen on the lower trails, we also saw the following: Miner’s Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata), Wild Cucumber (Gila manroot), Desert Anemone (Anemone tuberosa), White Tidy Tips (Layia glandulosa), Lemmon’s ragwort (Senecio lemmonii), and one, as yet, unidentified yellow flower which I hope to know by the end of the day. Also seen were two types of ferns. There are probably others but two were most noticeable. One was Spiny Cliffbrake (Pellaea trucata) and, because of its texture, I’m guessing that the other is Lindheimer’s Lip Fern (Cheilanthes lindheimeri)
Anemone tuberosa and other discoveries!
Thanks to Allan Willey for an awesome hike this morning! Not only did I photograph a flower I had never seen (Anemone tuberosa aka Desert Anemone) but our group had the privilege of seeing Petroglyphs that were off the beaten track. (Because these are sensitive archeological sites, I have removed the photos from this post).
rock knob
Another shot from the Rock Knob area of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. It’s especially lush here and there is promise of a good show of Lupine and Poppies!
wildflowers
During our hike to Inspiration Viewpoint this morning, MANY wildflowers were spotted. The majority were seen about one and a half miles up but there were plenty of species in the first mile. All in all, I was very surprised at the number. Here’s a list: Fiddleneck, Filaree, Comb Seed, Lacepod, Chuparosa, Golden Eye, Cryptantha, Popcorn Flower, Blue Dick, Gilia (lots), Chicory, Phacelia, Blue Fiesta Flower (lots), California Suncup (1), Poppies (lots), Lupine, Fairy Duster and finally….a single Silverpuff at the ViewPoint!
The above photo was from last year on the same trail. Although I had my camera with me this morning, the hike was fast paced and if I was going to make the 7 miles round trip, I had to keep going!
tres amigos
I’ve been hearing about Tres Amigos ever since I first starting hiking with the MSC so I was excited to finally have a chance to photograph them. What makes them unusual is not that there are three standing so close together but that they are in perfect alignment….as if they had been planted. The general consensus is that it’s a fluke but maybe someone planted them about 200 years ago? Either way, they make a wonderful photo op. We’ve been having stormy weather for a few days so I thought these three friends would look great with a kind of antique look.