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| Hiking | 6.57 Miles |
1,202 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.57 Miles | 3 Hrs 51 Mns | | 2.28 mph |
| 1,202 ft AEG | 58 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Had not hiked the Bobcat and to make it longer than the 2-mile roundtrip, I started on the south side of the Preserve at Desert Vista TH, walking more than 3 mi N to the end at a large housing development at Sonoran Desert Dr near Paloma Pkwy. The Bobcat was of course the last mile on the N. It is a pleasant trail, clean and clear and flat and would probably be a wildflower heaven most years. Just not this one which has been disappointing on the trails I've covered.
Saw the nest of a Great Horned owl with Mama and 3 kiddos snuggled in the cradle of a Saguaro. A park ranger told me this was the 5th year Fish & Game has tracked the Mama owl to the same spot, and she has had 2-3 babies each year. A jogger, seeing me bent over a camera shooting a blooming Teddy Bear Cholla, stopped to tell me about the owl. He said it had two babies last year and three the year before.
The Teddy Bear blooms were the first I've ever photographed. Cactus flowers are all but gone on the S up to the end of the Hawk's Nest Tr. But once in the middle of the Preserve, there are plenty of Buckhorn blooms, ditto the Compass Barrel. But blooms of the dominant tree, the Palo Verde, have peaked and losing glow fast.
Enjoyable hike though a bit windy and cool once out of the protection of the mountains. Glad I did the Bobcat but unless I'm going out to Circle Tank or adventuring on some of the faint jeep roads, I likely won't be back there for a while. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Route Editor
Route Scout
