January 2025 in Arizona: hiking etc.

This post will document the two hikes that we did in January and other various activities, not including birding. There will be two more blog posts to cover all the birds we saw.

On January 13th we hiked the Prophecy Wash Loop that starts at Cam-Boh Picnic area in Saguaro National Park (West). It’s really close to our place in Picture Rocks. After a short rocky trail, we were walking in the sandy wash. Panther Peak is in the background behind Wendy in the photo below.

The trail continues out of the wash over a height of land. With a little bit of elevation gain, we can see back to where we live. It’s in the area between the two cone rock formations in the mid-ground in the photo below.

We are still enthralled with the different shapes of saguaros. This one grew a little abnormally.

We call this one a “Super Saguaro,” because of its height but also because of how many new limbs are growing.

The trail first headed south down the wash, then east over the height of land and along to another wash. At the point that the photo below was taken, we were heading northwest, so Panther Peak and the ridge beside it are again in the background.

Here’s another view of same ridge, which is also the one we can see from our yard.

We only had to walk another half hour to the trailhead from this saguaro skeleton. The total distance we travelled was just under twelve kilometres (7 1/2 miles).

Doug researched a new hike for us that led to some petroglyphs. On January 22, we headed out to Ironwood National Monument which is in Avra Valley, west of where we live. After six kilometres (4 miles) of sandy road, we reached the trailhead and gate that allowed foot traffic only. The beginning of the Cocoraque Butte trail was along an old road, so it was easy walking. Our destination is the darkish lowest bump in the background.

We came to a huge pile of boulders and rocks covered with petroglyphs. We climbed up, being careful not to touch any of the ancient drawings. The rock was really grippy and also stable.

Here’s Doug working his way up between the petroglyphs. The petroglyphs were carved into the rock by ancient inhabitants (Hohokum) of the area. We have seen examples in other areas on a similar kind of rock that has a veneer-like surface.

The dead tree at the top of the “hill” seems to be a favourite spot for birds, judging from the “white-wash” on the rocks.

Wendy’s hand is pointing to our place, east of this hill of rocks.

We walked down the opposite side, which was not as steep, then headed across the desert to a smaller bump. Many of the rocks on the smaller hill were more angular. The rock below is almost vertical and had many interesting figures. The photo was taken with a telephoto lens because it was quite high up.

There were other petroglyphs that were close to the ground.

We also saw this saguaro that was providing a growing spot for a prickly pear cactus. Hopefully the prickly pear gets some moisture soon, because it looks like it’s almost dead.

We had to include at least one mountain biking photo. As usual, it was taken at the Tortilita Preserve, where we rode three times in January.

Wendy attended the Tucson Quilt Guild’s “Quilt Fiesta” show on January 11. She was able to speak with many of the award-winning artists. Below is Patsy Heacox with her quilt, “Western Stars.” It won first place in the Art Portrait category as well as a Judge’s Special Merit ribbon.

It was an original design using published photos for inspiration. Patsy painted six of her favourite Western actors with ink, then thread painted with fifty thread shades. The detail was amazing. For example each letter was inked then outlined with thread and filled in with tiny stitches.

The other scenery photos in this blog have all been of the desert, so we’ve included this photo of Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve to show that we visit other environments as well, especially to go birding.

We happened to be at Canoa Ranch Conservation Park at sunrise and captured this view. Unfortunately, the bird we had got up early to see had flown away, but the sunrise and visiting with friends who came with the same intention were good consolations.

And to end… sunrise on January 6th,

and sunset on January 9th. January 8th was tremendously windy, but the storm brought no rain. We received a bit of rain on January 29th, and while it was exciting enough for us to take a video of the heavy downpour, we didn’t think that anyone else would be interested.

This post shows that we did other things besides birding in January, but the next two posts might make you think otherwise. There are two blog posts planned for all the birds we saw in January. Coming soon…