Today we plan another short hike, this time in Usery Regional Park. We passed the start of the trail before but we continued on outside the park. But today we enter into it using the Talon Trail, after paying the entrance of course. The trail is not that busy as the rest of the park which is not saying much as we encounter a few people and bicyclists on the way up.
It is a nice flat trail in the beginning before it start to climb slowly towards the main trail that passes the park. The weather is a bit hot but it is still enjoyable outside as we make our way up.
We really enjoy the beautiful nature and the birds especially a red tailed hawk watching his domain from the top of the saguaro.
There are some beautiful saguaros in this section of Usery Park, in fact we have a whole saguaro forest to pass with some beautifully weird cacti along the way.
There are quite a few common desert birds here including the weirdly named Phainopepla and many many black throated sparrows that we see throughout our hike watching us intently.
Soon we reach the intersection with the main trail that is much more popular with many bicycles and even one antelope squirrel enjoying the top of a barrel cactus.
The views are quite special across the desert and into the city. And in the other direction we can see the imposing Usery Mountain, the scar is not readily visible from this direction.
Returning we see two planes flying in tandem, quite interesting. To celebrate the hike we then treat ourselves to frozen yogurt at a nearby place, it is quite good and well deserved after a nice short hike.
