Skywatch Friday: Until we meet again

After several days of 90+ temps here in the valley of the sun, we finally got a bit of cooldown so we decided to go on one final hike before we head home later this week.

The plan was to go to a trail that leads to some cliff dwellings.  We jumped in the truck and headed out, but when I plugged the information into Google Maps we were surprised to learn it was almost two hours away.  It was already 3:00 p.m. so we went with Plan B.

The Tonto National Forest has many recreation areas that are near Mesa so I chose to go to Saguaro Lake.  This lake is a reservoir along the Salt River that was formed by the Stewart Mountain Dam and was completed in 1930.  It's lined by canyon walls and as the name implies, an abundance of saguaros.

Spring is a beautiful time in the desert as the plants are blooming.  Unfortunately, the saguaros aren't in bloom yet...they are an amazing sight with blooms on the ends of their arms.

Clouds were looming in the distance so we knew there was a possibility of rain and storms.

I still stopped to get some shots of the beautiful blossoms.

I have no idea what any of them are named, but I do know they are all beautiful.

That's me, always stopping to adjust the camera.

I can hardly ever pass by the skeleton of a saguaro without taking a shot.  I always wonder how old it was at the end of its life.  It's fun finding them still upright like the one above.

The trail meandered along the shore line and into a small cove.

There were some areas that were covered by trees.  I bet it's really beautiful when the trees have their foliage.

When we started down the other side of the cove the weather started moving in quickly.  Time to make haste to the truck, but not before...

...stopping to fix a boo boo.  Yep, someone went down on his knee.  Good thing he was hiking with a ranger who is always prepared.

We made a beeline back to the truck.  On the drive out we stopped to get some shots along the fertile river.  We also noted a few places that we want to explore when we come back next winter.

Final shot of new growth on a prickly pear and cholla in the foreground.  We also saw a vulture eating a dead snake.  It's time leave the desert until next year when the reptiles are hibernating.

Linking with Skywatch Friday