We do not have a lot of time today for hiking and are tired after the previous week so we decide on a short section of the Maricopa Trail near Granite Reef Dam. There is here a cache that we are hoping to reach and return from before it gets too hot.
We have been on the first stretch of the trail before to find another cache and this is lucky as today there is a guard car on the road blocking the entrance. If we wouldn’t have known the trail is there we would not have dared to pass by it to continue on the road to the canal.
The trail continues then following the canal, past buildings that don’t seem to be used more, except by birds and lizards.
There are very few people on this section, mostly bicyclists and mostly on a parallel trail, not on the Maricopa Trail proper.
There are however birds and we really enjoy watching them all around us. The most fun ones are the Cactus Wrens and the Gilded Flickers that are seemingly everywhere and quite feisty.
There are also some waterbirds, from mallards flying over us to sandpiper and killdeer near the water level and even a kingfisher surveilling the waterways.
The cache is close to a group of buildings, well outside sight of course. And this is lucky as it takes quite a bit of time to find it before starting back towards the car.
It is already hot at this point so we hurry back towards the parking lot. But still we stop to look at the small planes flying above us from the nearby airport and just enjoying the views over the nearby Tribal lands. And then we are back at the car and it is time to return home to rest after our very early start, well worth it though for the birds and the nice hike.
