Superstitious Desert

~*~Superstitious Desert~*~

Imagine the most beautiful painting...one by mother nature. Colors unattainable by humans. Watching  the sun paint the sky and land as it awakes colliding with the stars of the dark night, painting your surroundings in hues of orange and pink. Colors so pure and alive that it instantly energizes your soul. The sun continues to pour onto the earth and you sit in awe of the vast openness of the desert of the southwest. Mountains and rocks sprawl on forever hiding the small valley of civilization known as Phoenix. 

Phoenix is the place to be in the winter time. I got the chance to spend a winter there  and to live like a local  while exploring the surrounding desert and all, well a little, of what it has to offer. 

Arizona is a state that has several different elevations and it is amazing to watch the change of the scenery. Digging deep in my brain to find the elementary   education from long ago on the different types of biomes that you get to experience while heading from I40 down to Phoenix via I17... to see the changes from  tundra to deciduous to  grasslands then finally desert is an amazing adventure . The way nature interweaves these together with such subtlety is   so  flawless.  The colors are vibrant and unrealistic as you try to take the scenery in but also keep your eyes on the curvy, wheel gripping road that descends into the hidden valley of civilization.

I was lucky to stay with a cousin that is an outdoor, 4x4 type of guy that loves the adventure of exploring. Most weekends were filled with going to different trails and riding over rocks winding our way up to the greenery from the dusty ground of the city. This view is from a ride up to Crown King looking south over Lake Pleasant in the far distance. 

A great hike to take to see the change of the land is to drive (four wheel drive) to one of the trailheads at Four Peaks that sits to the east of the city. There are several options on trails around the area and all are easily marked. The one my cousin dragged me up (kicking and screaming with Kentucky low level elevation lungs) was several miles and took about 3-4 hrs round trip through dirt, brush, trees and snow to finally crawl to a great lookout as shown above. Looking at the haze covering the city in the distance and some of the surrounding lakes proved there was a lot of land out there for one to explore!

Along the grasslands that sit to the north of the city, before you make your final decent into the valley is a secret past world. Hidden in the walls of these cliffs, built buy their own rocks are many old Indian forts. The areas are full of pottery shards, arrowheads and petroglyphs that narrate the past.

 Something else that you will find in these hills are tons of old mines.  Ruins of small make-shift communities that housed miners and saloons full of cowboys during the gold rush and establishment of the route from Prescott to Tucson. Many of the off road trails are old horse and buggy trails used long ago! Some of the mines are privately owned, some are still being mined and some are open to the passing public to explore cautiously. There are a few dedicated internet sites that have old maps of the mining communities and pictures of what they used to look like. Very interesting to see how the wild west cowboys lived and traveled guiding their way through the vast land. 

The desert is unlike any other place I have been. Every turn I would see something else that would stop me in my tracks to take the opportunity to soak in the smell and feel of this new world. You can't help but become an outdoor adventurer in the winter time in Phoenix. The weather stays in the low to mid 70's with sunshine and blue skies. 

One of the great ways to freely explore and enjoy the terrain is to hike one of the million trails on a nearby "mountain". The city is spotted with trails of different difficulty among the many scattered rocky boulders jutting up from the earth. The best part about the winter is it is "too cold" to run into a snake! Pack water and maybe even a snack and head to the nearest trail to perch and watch the traffic and sunsets below.

During the  holidays  people will hike to the top and decorate the shrubs for Christmas.

Thunderbird Park is one of the more popular hiking areas to the northwest of town. It connects a few hilly options so you have the opportunity to make your trail as difficult/long as you wish. The top always offers a great place to rest but also a little note of congrats for making it!

A perfect place to sip some water and let the sweat dry. You are on the edge of the world up there. It was so much fun to just drive and see a mountain with a trail and say....I am going to the top of that today. 

If you get tired of getting dust in your shoes and want a bit of green on your walk, Phoenix offers a great alternative. Throughout the city runs what is called the Greenbelt. It is a paved path that connects the city through parks, lakes, golf courses and communities. Meandering this path puts you literally in the backyard of some of the most gorgeous houses the city has to offer, along with great parks and lakes that are good for a rest stop. The one thing about the Greenbelt is, you are never alone! There are alway people out running, biking, skating, walking or whatever their choice of exercise. The possibilities are endless!

Probably the most famous thing you will see in southern Arizona are the cacti! The Saguaros are everywhere around town and are even "protected" by the city as to not being able to cut them down...you have to replace or move or...build around them! 

 The cotton candy sky never gets old as the sun sets to the west.

The moon and stars take their place in the skies illuminating the heavens with their magic glow. Away from civilization, deep in the desert is the best place to watch the transition.