It's been a good weekend, but a busy one. I had Thursday and Friday off for Veteran's Day, so decided to go on a camping trip. The original plan was to stay at Usery Mountain Regional Park on Thursday night, then go on to Lost Dutchman State Park on Friday. As it happens, I headed home on Friday instead. I'll save the trip to Lost Dutchman for next time. For now, I had a lot of fun and took a lot of photos. The whole album is here.
I left at around 11:30 Thursday morning, and arrived at around 1 PM. So... about 90 minutes for a 30-mile trip. One minor blip on the way there... I stopped at an intersection in Mesa or Tempe, I forget which... took some photos of a pair of mountains on either side of the road. I was in a public place-- there was a bus stop about 20 feet away, and IMO you can't get much more public than that-- but little did I know, there is a small Army National Guard base there (Papago Park Military Reservation). A military police officer came out, questioned me, and ultimately asked me to delete the pics I'd taken (there were two.) At least the guy was really nice about it.
On Thursday, after arriving at Usery Mountain Park, I set up my campsite and went off to do a little hiking. I did the Merkle Trail, which is a pretty easy hike-- flat and very well-marked. But beautiful scenery. Then I did the Vista Trail, which intersects with the Merkle but heads up the mountain. Got some more really nice views.
After that I rode around the park for a while, and just before sunset headed back to the tent. It was pretty cold that night! Temps in southern AZ this time of year are mid-70s, during the day, mid-40s at night. The desert is really bad at retaining heat.
Next day, in the morning I hiked the Buckhorn Campground Nature Trail and the Wind Cave Trail, before stopping at the Nature Center (think "gift shop") and heading home. I think, with temps being what they currently are, I'll stick to camping out one night at a time. Besides, I have to save some things for future trips. I also picked up a book about cool day hikes in southern Arizona, so will be doing some of the stuff from that book.
Thanks; have fun!
What a neat trip! Sounds like a chilly night, though. I can't even imagine trying to camp here right now. Brrr. Your pictures are beautiful and I cannot get over how adorable your scooter is.
ReplyDeleteA boy and his scooter, it's a beautiful thing. :)