(Cave Creek, Arizona, U.S.A.)

While Sun City is filled with palm trees, we took a short drive north to experience a place filled with cactuses (or cacti – apparently, both plural forms are acceptable). Our destination: Cave Creek Regional Park. Our mission: a hike in the desert.

Armed with sunscreen, water, Gatorade, and maps, we set out on a loop that looked manageable. While the air temperature seemed rather cool, the late-morning desert sun made it relatively warm once we started moving. Somewhat alarmingly, we saw warnings about rattlesnakes.

In the end, the only wildlife we saw were some really tiny lizards. And since the hiking trails were shared with horseback riders, the biggest hazards were the occasional piles left behind by those large animals.

The terrain was dry, rocky, and uneven. You wouldn’t want to hike these trails while multitasking, as you would eventually find yourself doing a faceplant. Even so, we saw more than one person texting while walking the trails. Just like texting while walking in a big city, this is just asking for trouble.

As you can see, I took a lot of cactus pictures. This is partly because I just don’t see them very often. They aren’t well-suited for the relatively humid Ontario climate. But it is also because this harsh environment doesn’t let much else survive.

We ended up covering a lot more territory than we thought we would. We decided to supplement our loop route with a spur line to an abandoned clay mine.

The spur route featured more cactuses and more views of distant mountains. We found the clay mine, but it was completely fenced off and we couldn’t enter it. That was probably a good thing, as the mine has been abandoned for a long time and likely wasn’t very stable.

We also saw the horse enclosure, where people can rent a horse (and a guide) to experience the desert in a different way. This wasn’t an option for me, due to a a severe horse allergy, but the horses seemed sure-footed and happy in this environment.

See if you can spot the additional passenger on the lead horse above!

After about 2 hours in the desert, we returned to our car and discovered that we had worked up quite an appetite. I was even craving more liquids, despite sipping water almost continuously throughout our hike. I don’t think it is possible to bring too much water along on a trip into the desert.

Stay tuned for another Arizona post…this time, in a slightly less harsh environment!