Making Good Use of My Newly Emancipated Weekends

I joined a couple meetup groups here in Phoenix, thinking that finally I'd be able to get out and meet people. Whaddya know?? It works! Went on a really beautiful hike this morning with a bunch of total strangers and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Here is some cholla. It's evil. Don't ever ever ever touch this plant. It will bite and then cling forever to you.
Not that I know from experience or anything. . .












These little guys are apparently Barrel Cactus --NOT BABY SAGUARO. There was a sign that stated as much, but it had exclamation points and everything. They are kinda cute tho, what with the squattiness and the growing out of any nook or cranny. Plus, they're red. Within a sea of brown and more brown, with some brownish green accents, red is a nice lil punch of colour.










This was probably about the halfway point of the hike (which we were told was going to be about 4 miles, but I'm pretty sure was longer; next time I'm hookin the Forerunner up to my camelbak). See the two highest peaks? Just below them is a bit of a ridgeline. We hiked up and over there, and in the next shot you'll see the view looking down to the spot from which this photo was taken.














So. Right about in the center of the photo you can kind of sort of see a bare flat spot? Can't you? That's where the previous photo was taken, and here we are looking down. It's hard to believe that there is all this "wild" land in the middle of Phoenix, but it is. Off to the left of the photo you can see the rows and rows and streets and streets of homes. It's much the same to the south of this preserve as well. But it is nice that so much undisturbed land has been set aside. I hope it remains so.



So it was a lovely lovely morning, and I'm so glad I went. The downside of treks like these is that at this point they completely wear me out. I was home by 1pm, but spent most of the rest of the day crashed out--lounging with the puppies, or sitting right here at the computer. That just means I need to get up and out more and work on that endurance! We'll see about that!