Sycamore Canyon.

Tahoe is standing in front of some famous pile of rocks.













The six mile trail began at the opening of the canyon. The basalt and rhyolite rock spires were amazing.


















There were numerous swimming holes along the way. They were filled with a rare desert fish, the Mexican Chub.












This canyon has been set aside as a natural research area. There are 624 plant species & 130 bird species in this canyon alone!















Apparantly, it is also a drug smuggling route, as the trail ends at the Mexican border.

















This section of trail was a bit tricky. It was too cold to swim, so we had to go up and around.
















Tahoe had no problem on water-worn sedimentary slick rock.

Mexican Chub.

Tumacacori National Historic Park.

This is the butterfly garden.

The mission was built in 1691.











Juan Baptista de Anza created it for the Pima Indians. (This Juan guy really got around. Everywhere I go, I see some mission he built or his name etched in stone. )










Tahoe and I explored the grounds.

Then, we attended a brief informational tour. It was really boring, so I had to laugh when Tahoe let out a gigantic and loud yawn during it.













This is a storage area by the cemetary.


















Here are some Indian pottery and grinding stones.

Dust devils.

Picacho Peak.

Tahoe and I hiked this mountain, and it was a lung busting affair.









The peak's claim to fame is that it was the site of Arizona's only Civil War battle. Wow, impressive...











There were long cables along the steep, slippery trail to keep hikers from careening over the edge.














The view was worth the 2,000 foot climb.

Verde River.









We walked along the riparian floodplain. There was a good view of the Mazatal Mountains, and I saw two blue herons.













Tahoe cooled his feet after chaing a roadrunner.














It was very peaceful - once we got away from all the noisy four wheelers.

Big buzzard.

Goldfield Mountains.


Tahoe and I hiked the Willow Springs Trail near Apache Junction.












The trail mostly followed a large wash and canyon, but the panorama from the top of a hill was outstanding.














The bright yellow lichen on the mountain walls was really pretty.














The trail led to the edge of Saguaro Lake.

Frank.

Tahoe and Wendy's pug hung out today. Frankerator seemed a little annoyed that Tahoe was invading his territory, but he soon lost interest and started eating seeds from the tree.

Imperial National Wildlife Refuge.













Painted Desert trail.












Traci took a break on an Ironwood tree.













Volcanic eruptions 25 thousand years ago formed this unique landscape.










The pink, yellow, green, orange, and brown colors are actually minerals in the dirt.














What a view! The Colorado River lies in the distance.












Many of the hills looked like petrified sand dunes.









The Colorado River is teeming with wildlife including birds, herons, egrets, ducks, hedgehogs, and bighorn sheep.














We camped along the shore at Squaw Lake, three miles across the border, in California.












The full moon created an interesting effect.










This is the view from our campsite. Traci lounged on the shore, and Tahoe explored his new territory.

Senator Wash.












We discovered this beautiful wash near the lake.













It quickly turned into a slot canyon with walls 30 feet high.





















I love slot canyons!















The walls were smooth from thousands of years of rain. We could really see the power of flash floods with huge boulders like this one wedged in the canyon.


















Traci and Tahoe traversing a tricky section.

















I'm checking out this interesting rock formation.

Curiosity woke the dead.
I awoke this morning at 3:00 to a terrible racket that began in the kitchen, moved to the living room, knocked down the gate, and ended up underneath my bed. It turned out to be Boulder and this bag filled with food for my camping trip. She was snooping, and the handle got stuck around her neck which freaked her out, so she ran throughout the house with it.

Tahoe playing.
Tahoe pulled each of his toys out of his basket one at a time and placed them inside his bed to chew. This process took a couple hours.

Sonoran Desert National Monument.

This beautiful, vast, and almost roadless piece of land is just south of Phoenix.












We hiked along along the Vekol wash. I didn't see any other people, but there was a lot of wildlife.














Here are some some bird tracks, possibly a hawk. Tahoe chased a couple jackrabbits.



















A really tall saguaro.












Tahoe found an animal bone near our camp site which he promptly began to chew. He didn't understand why I threw it in the fire pit.
















Sonoran sunset.