Dave, Larry, Mohammed, Tamar, Tom, Debbie, Jeanne,
Billie, Karen, Susan, Ralph, Cecilia
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Eight Trailblazers met at the Home Depot on Power Road in Mesa just
before 8 AM and loaded into 2 cars to drive to the San Tan Mountain
Regional Park, in Pinal County south of the Town of Queen Creek.
Even though the park is in Pinal County, it is run by Maricopa County as
one of several regional parks that surround the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
We met four more hikers at the trailhead and proceeded on the hike about 9 AM.
We hiked south on the San Tan Trail and then branched off on the Malpais
Trail and came back on the Hedgehog Trail, for a total distance of 9.5 miles.
Two hikers decided to not do the Malpais Trail and continued on the San Tan
Trail to the Moonlight and Stargazer trails for a total distance of 6.9 miles.
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There’s gold in them thar hills!
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A quick pause. [photo by Ralph]
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Trailblazers trudge through the desert.
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Beehive Hill — but the bees are O.K.
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“The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la ...”
[photo by Ralph]
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Things are looking up.
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The weather was a little cool at the start, but warmed up very quickly.
The temperature was near 80 degrees when we finished a little after 1 PM.
We got a breeze in the latter part of the hike, which felt really nice.
The trails in this park are well maintained and easy to hike. There is some
rolling terrain but no real climbs. The biggest problem was all the mountain
bikers zooming by us. The park offers some nice views of the mountains and
hills that Debbie really wanted to climb, but the trails stayed in the flatter
valleys and washes.
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Lava flowed here and left us this rock formation. [photo by Mohammed]
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Snack break on the Malpais Trail.
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See, this saguaro knows the way.
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Sometimes, boots have to be repaired on the trail. [photo by Mohammed]
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We spotted a rare crested saguaro and took lots of pictures.
Mohammed found the following information on the crested saguaro:
“It is formed when the cells in the growing stem begin to divide
outward, rather than in a circular pattern of a normal cactus. This is an
unusual mutation which results in the growth of a large fan-shaped crest
at the tip of a saguaro’s main stem or arm.”
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Crested Saguaro greets us.
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