This was taken along the road over Usery Pass. The "yellow" season is fading and the "red" season is coming on. As the Palo Verde trees drop their flowers, the Mexican Bird of Paradise and other red blooms take over. I really should find out what this plant is - they dot the side of the road with color throughout this area.
The Salt River cut through these mountains to make a very impressive set of cliffs. For us it makes a very pretty drive, too. In a couple weeks, people will start doing "tubing" from just below the dam on down the river for several miles. Tubing, for the uninitiated, is apparently the sport of floating along in a large inner tube, with friends doing the same, while consuming alcoholic beverages, watching the scenery pass and getting a nice red glow on your skin. 
We took a ride on the "Desert Belle" at Saguaro Lake. The Great Blue Herons are nesting near the upper end of the lake. (Arizona only has one real lake, up by Flagstaff; the rest are reservoirs.)
This is about 700 feet up the side of Pass Mountain, or about 2 1/2 miles from the trailhead. (guessing on the distance - I don't have a GPS.) The trail runs along the bottom of the "scar" on the mountain at this point.
Still a bit of snow at 11,485' on the mountain, but none at the 5,185' of Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park.
