Mazatal Mtns.

 

We hiked the Saddle Mountain Trail for about 4 miles through beautiful high desert.

 

I've hiked this trail before in the fall when the leaves were changing, but it's even prettier in the spring with all the wildflowers.

 

I couldn't find the turnoff for McFadden Trail and Thicket Spring. We walked around for abuot 45 minutes, trying every wash, game trail, and dry waterfall around, but no luck.

 

After all the bushwacking, Tahoe's pads got torn up, so we had to do Plan B - camp somewhere else.

Camp Site

 

We found a nice spot, a little ways off the trail to camp for the night.

 

This is going to be a huge bloom!

 

The next morning I fashioned some booties for Tahoe with socks and rope. They seemed to work.

 

When we got home, I cleaned Tahoe's wounds and put socks on him, so he wouldn't lick them. Then, I babied him all night long with special treatment.

Papago Park

 

Tahoe and I went for a short hike this morning at beautiful Papago Park.

 

We explored the weird rock formations and hidden caves.

 

I forgot to bring Tahoe's water bowl, and he didn't want to drink out of my cupped hands, so I found a piece of plastic on the ground, and fashioned it into a bowl.

 

A college student braves the steep climb down from the top of the peak. It took him 10 minutes to scale down this section.