We drove the snowy roads of Flagstaff and the northern part of Arizona and as the elevation dropped the temperatures rose. We found ourselves surrounded by Saguaros in Lost Dutchman State Park outside Phoenix. We camped among the cacti and hiked the Superstitious Mountains.
From Phoenix we continued south and stopped at Picacho Peak State Park, toured through Saguaro National Park and visited Catalina State Park outside of Tucson. We learned about the habitat of the desert and about all of the animals that use these cacti as homes- some saguaros have so many woodpecker holes in them they become bird hotels. Fun fact about saguaros – they don’t grow “arms” until they are approx 50 years old and the life span of these cactus are around 200 years.
We headed along along the south boarder of Arizona back in to California where we got a first hand view of the barrier along the boarder between Mexico and the US, the immigration check points and circling patrol helicopters. We stopped in the Anza-Borrego Desert in California. In the evening black-tailed jackrabbits with very large ears were camouflaged in the bushes and were soon followed by a coyote out hunting them.
The next morning we headed out for an early morning hike into Palm Canyon. The hike was hot and dry, but we were rewarded at the end when we got to the Palm Oasis. It was like stepping into another world when we got to the Oasis, a small stream of fresh water ran through the California Palm trees- the perfect spot to cool off.
The Travelling Herrons 