It's trail time. I'm leaving the city behind.
The sky is forever
The contrast of shadow and light
Alternating cool and hot-white
Play on fractured rocks as old as time.
Too fast for my camera:Ground squirrels and song birds
And bold little hummingbirds
Unknown things that rustle the undergrowthas we pass by.
The beautiful dayis the early Sonoran Spring
too soon for wildflowers
but bursting with lifeand beauty
too subtle for some to appreciate.
They look at the open landscapeand say,
"It's just desert..."
It is. It really is.
And we'll be back.
8 comments:
man those were all great pictures! (christian says hi to ellie)
Oh, how I miss the desert - one of my favorite trails, 32nd & Lincoln. Amazing beauty all around - the air smells better up there.
I agree - great pictures, and the air does smell better up there. I am mourning the day not too far away that the hot temperatures will keep me out of those hills.
Thank you for the fun hike! I have never been to a desert trail. It looks beautiful and natural. What a terrific time to be outdoors!
On trails around here we have something we call "shade."*# Tall, fluffy, leafy trees do that. You should try it sometime - I'll bet you like it too! It adds a whole new dimension to a hike!
* SHADE /shayd/ - noun - comparative darkness and coolness caused by shelter from direct sunlight...
# You sometimes run into shady characters on the trails too. When that happens it adds a whole new dimension to a hike, not a very subtle one, unlike your new spring plants. I think I would prefer the subtlety of the tender spring undergrowth!
ha ha yaj - I'm a California girl and I know what shade is. I do miss trees of 'substance'. They are here, too, of course, but selectively placed. I am amused that after 40 + years of NOT climbing trees, I can't help but size them up for climbing potential even if we are just passing by in a car. I notice the trunk, how far before the first branches, if they are horizontally inclined and thick enough, etc.
As for shady characters; we've got 'em. The thing is the trail is so darn treacherous they can't afford to take their eyes off the ground for long so we can steer clear of them. Especially if you have a shady-man-eating doggie like Ellie leading the way. She will kill on command. Look at that face - pure mayhem...
As a young boy, there were not many trees in our neighborhood I did not know intimately. A specially favorite one was near the alley behind our house, and it hung over a garage. It was a mulberry tree. My friends and I would climb it, get onto the garage and lay on the garage roof, picking mulberries and eating them until our fingers were purple. We sometimes had to blow the ants off of them, but that was a small price for such deliciousness.
I used to think as a kid that the Olympics should have a tree-climbing category. I would have been right in there!
Oh, I know the state of Calizone has tall trees... I learned a couple of years ago that the state of Arizone does not... and I think you should mandate that the state of Calizona should!
is that dreamy draw?? my mom hikes dreamy draw every single day. you two should get together!
Hi Tara
Not Dreamy Draw; I haven't been over there yet. This one is off of the tiny parking lot @ 32nd St. & Lincoln - the OTHER side of the mountain.
I can't go every day like I used to; I am envious your mom is out there on the trail!
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