Due to some personal circumstances that we were aware for some time we won’t be able to do any hiking likely for a couple of months. So today we decide to hike somewhere nearby on State Trust land for about six miles. And we find an area we have not visited before, starting from Prospectors Park. In fact, surprisingly, it is not even marked as State Trust Land, something quite unusual.
The trail is quite large and it accesses relatively fast the powerline trail/road. Given how large and flat the trail is and given how the parking lot is large and easy to access this section is very popular with horseriders and we encounter quite a few on the trail.
There are also birds all around but no deer anywhere, this time. The most common birds are the cactus wren today however we assume there was also a colony of red-tailed hawks a while back given the number of nests on the poles.
The weather is quite good especially after we get some clouds that filter the sunlight a bit. The views are quite nice as we hike with Superstition Mountain almost always visible.
We are hiking here to find a few caches and most of them are easy but a couple of them are relatively complicated puzzles that we are barely able to open. But we do open them! So we are smart or lucky, pick one.
We also use our drone for some nice surround views of the area. This time we are testing how high it can go, quite high really and it still could have gone even further up. It is quite fun to play around with it and get bird’s eye views of the area.
We then meet another group of horse riders but this one is special given that one of the riders has fallen. However she looks ok so we move on soon encountering another oddity. It is a children slide in the middle of nowhere depositing the child into a deep hole, weird. And we find quite a few of this weird exercise/torture places on our hike, not sure about the reason for them and if they even have permission to place them.
Another thing we notice is that there are many dead trees. We are not sure if it was a fire, or the draught got them but it is a bit depressing even though they are quite scenic.
We continue to admire the desert plants as we continue on our loop and also find some more birds including a few beautiful verdins.
As the sun starts to set and the golden hour begins the desert becomes golden from the dry grasses, and the scenes are quite breathtaking even for us that have seen this many times before.
As is usual on these tracts of State Trust land near cities we find a homeless encampment however this one is abandoned. It does not appear an intentional abandonment as there are still pots and clothes left and the tent is still affixed to the ground.
As we approach the car we are treated to a beautiful sunset with all the reds possible visible as the sun falls below the horizon. And so ends our last hike for some time looking forward to restarting sometimes in 2025.
