Trailblazers are ready to hike the McDowell Preserve. [photo by Robbi]

Rodney, Maya, Barbara, Karen, Neil, Billie, Steve, Rich, Robbi, Bob, Barry, Nick, Chuck, Yu-Ling.

We met at 8am. MOST got the time change, some got caught in traffic and we waited, and some bailed last minute… But we had a good group. 14 hikers left the trailhead at 8:14 and 14 returned. This hike wound through boulder formations in the northwest Preserve in an area frequented by weekend mountain bikers. The terrain is rolling, undulating, banked for bikes and winds between boulders. We first traveled on Latigo in the general direction of Brown’s Ranch. We opted to move right at the fork onto Sidewinder so that we could stop and look over the Crested Saguaro and Sidewinder Lookout. On to a short bit of Rock Tank to get to the steep hill that the bikes love and some of our more daring hikers attempted to traverse. This entrance to Dare A Sarah Trail skirts that hill and enters the area of unique rock formations. We made our way to Scorpion Point

Some unique rock formations.

Unique rock formations.

Rock formations.

Along the way we say several stubborn saguaros that look like they should have been felled by insects or bacteria long ago but are still hanging on… and the remnants of one saguaro we found very intriguing. The wildflowers are already beginning to pop, and we saw lots of variety in small and beginning clumps and shrubs.

Just hanging on.

Still hanging on.

Green on top.

Rabbit eared.

You see the ribs of the saguaro.

We stopped at Scorpion Point for a snack and photos ops then continued on Scorpion Trail to Hawksnest to finish the loop back to the trailhead.

A purple flower.

Just opening flowers.

Some yellow flowers.

And a white flower. ]