Mesa dust storm

This was taken about 3:20 PM yesterday near our house. Storm rolled through with a lot of wind and dust, but very little rain. A bit of thunder for spice, too.

Treasure Loop, Lost Dutchman State Park

I hiked part of the Treasure Loop at Lost Dutchman State Park. The trail actually starts out in the park and then crosses into federal land. The lower part of the trail is fairly flat, wide and easy, but as it approaches the mountain it gets pretty steep. The loop has a 500' elevation gain and the full loop is 2.4 miles around and has a moderate rating.



Near the start of the loop...



Looking down the trail toward the Goldfield range.



Southwest across Apache Junction toward the Santans. There's a balloon in the distance.



Approaching the Green Boulder...

Before and After

The house in Wichita, Feb., 2005 and the house today. The darker stone along the front of the house is just wet...

The Four Peaks

The mountain framed by the canyon of Saguaro Lake.

Wind Cave Trail

The trail is visible below the cliff. In the distance is Fountain Hills. When the Fountain Hills fountain is spraying, you can see it from here.

Wildflowers on the way home

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.

Goldfield Mountains

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.

Herons nesting

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.)

Wind Cave trail, Usery park

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.

Bad hair, good hair

We love this pair of ocotillos. The one in front is all scraggly and wild and the one on the other side is straight all the way up.

Palo Verde blossoms

Why I love Mesa

I really love this time of year. Everything blooms, and a lot of the blooms are just plain weird. And it's in stages. Right now, we're mostly in the yellow phase. Later in the summer the reds will take over...

Palm Springs wind farm

A huge number of these windmills line both sides of the pass.

Avelon harbor

Beautiful place.

Natty Cormorant

The tour guide says those white feathers only show up during mating season.

Glass-bottomed fish

Arrival at Catalina

Sucker gets up and moves, and pretty smooth.

Newport Beach sunset

No problem seeing the forest for these trees

Cool trees...

A Joshua Tree and San Gorgonio Mountain

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.