Arizona Trail Passage 8, Pistol Hill Rd to X9Ranch Rd

Jan 20, 2015; Don & Suzanne; 5 miles RT on an in-and-out hike
(Click on a thumbnail to see a larger photo)
Music: "The Entertainer" from Appalachian Memories Tradional Melodies by Benson Music Group

1 Location of this hike	2 Track of this hike between Pistol Hill Road and X9 Ranch Road - about 2.2 miles oneway.	3 Rincon Peak to our west	4 Some hearty soul lives in the foothills of Rincon Peak. Taken with my 200 mm lens.
5 We get to Pistol Hill Road and the gate that marks the AZ National Scenic Trail	6 Suzanne, camera in hand, has to wait for the old man gate keeper to come and collect the gate toll.	7	8 Looking at the top of a barrel cactus
9 A better look at the fruit atop the barrel cactus.	10 The AZ Trail takes off and goes up in the Rincon Mountains	11 More barrel cactus with fruit still in place	12 We recognize this large Saguaro cactus along X9 Ranch Road where we started last week. So we have reached our turn around.
13 The Rincons look rugged. We'll never experience them because the next access point is about 18 to 20 miles from where we turned around last week. Too long a day hike for this old man.	14	15 So we head back to our starting point, photographing a few more things we missed on the way in.	16
17	18	19	20 Some of the wild animals you have to be prepared to escape from in this territory
21 Suzanne spotted a prickly pear cactus with a couple of heart shaped pads - probably due a Javalina having taken a bite out of it to make a Valentine	22	23 We robbed this long nosed fellow at gun point, making him keep his arms in the air while we do it.	24
25 After returning to the Xterra, we visited the nearby Saguaro National Park. We wanted to see their Giant Saguaro and some Crested Saguaros. Turns out they said they didn't have one really giant Saguaro, only lots of big ones. And they knew of only one Crested Saguaro. So we drove the park's scenic loop to see the Crested one. On the way there were some interesting scenic spots.	26	27	28
29	30 We were fascinated by where this cactus chose to grow - right out of the rock. It's a hard life for some.	31	32 Some Mistletoe (a parasite) living off of a desert tree.
33 We spot the Crested Saguaro and captured lots of photographs.	34	35	36
37	38 It was east to spot - it was right on the edge of the road.	39 One last look as we prepare to head out to get some lunch and to return to Mesa/Phoenix.