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| Hiking | 2.33 Miles |
305 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.33 Miles | | | |
| 305 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | | After seeing Jody's poppy photos from the Great Horned Owl Trail, I wanted to check things out for myself out at the Sonoran Desert Preserve. On the drive to the trailhead, I could see a long hillside covered in gold, so by then I knew it was going to be special. The initial jaunt up the Hawk's Nest Trail started off with a bang, with slopes covered in scorpionweed and lupines popping up here and there. The first patches of Mexican Gold Poppies were sighted at the junction between Hawk's Nest and Desert Tortoise. I stopped for cliche poppy against the sky photos and then hung a right onto Desert Tortoise, being magically drawn to the golden hillside in the distance. The fields of Scorpionweed got more intense as I continued on Desert Tortoise, and I started seeing more and more poppies, as well as a couple blooming Brittlebrush sightings. As I neared the golden hillside, I could start to see that it was indeed covered in Mexican Gold Poppies like a carpet. I continued on Desert Tortoise up to the saddle, at which point I could see Peak 2383 and its own carpet of poppies below. At this point, I headed south into the northern reaches of the brilliant golden hillside, and proceeded to have my mind blown by poppy-overload for a good hour or so. Once I got my fill of the poppy fields, I headed down across the larger drainage below and back up to Desert Tortoise. Got back into the fields of scorpionweed, and an interesting place where the poppy fields and the scorpionweed fields mingle. The sun was starting to get lower to the horizon, so I headed back toward the trailhead and caught the sunset about when I hit the Hawk's Nest Trail again. Took some last photos of the scorpionweed as the the sun was down and then headed back to the car, my mind thoroughly blown by the impressive wildflower display. |
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Wildflowers Observation Extreme
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Route Editor
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