Living now near Usery Park we want to visit it as often as we can and today we decide to take the trail up to the Wind Cave, the most difficult one likely in the whole park. But first we have to stop at the visitor center to buy an annual pass and also a javelina souvenir before going outside on the short nature trail around the center.
It is a short trail with quite a few birds like Gambel’s quais and doves and also a few thrashers and Say’s Phoebes.
We then drive the short distance to the Wind Cave Trailhead, we are not sure if we can find parking but we find an excellent one right at the trailhead. And then it is on towards the mountains looming in front of us.
The first section is relatively flat through the Sonoran Desert which is in flower today and beautiful. The weather is also really nice with cloudy skies and nice temperaturs.
We then start to climb first slowly and then via switchbacks much more sharply. We can see far in the distance from here including our neighborhood, likely.
There are still birds as usual with the most common one being the Gila Woodpeckers, seemingly on almost every saguaro.
Switchback after switchback we finally arrive at the “scar”, the beautifully colored escarpment right below the peak. It is especially visible in the afternoon, and it is afternoon, and it is the source of the alternate name “Scar Mountain”.
Here we hear and then after some looking see a canyon wren, a more unusual bird in the Phoenix area even if not uncommon by any means.
Last section to the cave is more flat hugging the scar on a trail that can seem almost scary at times with the sheer drop on one side and the cliff on the other.
We arrive at the cave and well, there is no cave really. Just an overhang with a bit of moss and some nice views of the valley.
And bees, lots of bees, it really should have been called Bee Cave, at least temporarily. We continue on afterwards on a use trail towards the crest with some nice views and a cache.
Descending we try to ensure we don’t take a tumble as we did the previous week and we survive the more gnarly parts of the trail up top before reaching the switchbacks.
And then we are down passing through the flat desert towards the parking area. Overall it was a very enjoyable hike in a beautiful area, cannot wait to explore the park even more!
