I headed to the east side of Saguaro National Park at David's suggestion. It was quite different from the west side of the park, which I saw in March. Fewer saguaros, but more vegetation. And LOTS of hiking trails. Spoke with a Ranger who recommended a few good options, then did the scenic drive to the Mica View Trail.
A lovely walk on a glorious day. The saguaro are starting to flower, which is very pretty. There were lots of birds, little lizards or salamanders or whatever those things are, just lovely.
A saguaro that's starting to flower, see the flowers on the ends of the, um, arms? This saguaro reminds me of a menorah.
Close up of flowers:
Think this is some sort of cholla cactus:
A flowering barrel cactus. It kind of reminds me of Cousin Itt from Addams Family.
Lovely.
Pretty.
Halfway through the hike, I came to a trail head. Posted at that trail head - but not posted where I started - was this little number:
Click on it to enlarge. Go ahead, I'll wait.
To say that I was freaked out would be an understatement. Shouldn't the Ranger have told me about the cougars?! Rule #1 to avoiding cougar attacks: don't hike alone. He knew I was hiking alone. Gah!! I turned around and hightailed it back to the car, being sure not to run in case a cougar was nearby, wouldn't want to arouse its chase instinct. Picked up a few rocks in case I needed to fling objects at an approaching cougar. Started noticing feces from a large animal on the trail, tried to not hyperventilate, made it back to the car before I really started to unwind.
So, today I joined the YMCA. I'm done with exercising in the nature until I find a hiking partner.
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