Phoenix Hiking, Day 2: Usery Park

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Hiking in Usery Mountain Regional Park

Rain was predicted for Saturday, but thankfully we were able to fit in one more short hike for our weekend in Phoenix. Holly and Paul took us to a Usery Mountain Regional Park, a place that they frequent with beautiful desert scenery. We took Blevins Trail to Cat Peaks Pass, then back the way we came.

We had a great time walking the beautiful trails of the park with friends. Again, there were more people than we’re used to seeing when we go hiking, but we can see why so many come here! We saw lots of wildflowers this weekend, but the cactus plants all around are just getting ready to bloom.

Why is is called Cat Peaks, or Cat Peaks Pass? Because of the caves/dens on the hills! Can you spot the opening to the cave?

We also saw our first rattlesnake of the season! Some trail runners ahead of us pointed it out, and boy was it mad! I picked up Charlotte to keep her safe, but Curtis took the GoPro and got a video of it rattling away. Yes, I’m still working on my video editing, but I promise these videos will find their way to the internet someday! 🙂

When we reached the car, Charlotte decided she was done with hiking for the weekend. We were impressed with how well behaved she was – though part of that could be because we wore her out!

After saying goodbye to Holly and Paul, we went over to Jeff and Lydia’s for a delicious lunch, games, and catching up. It’s so nice to have immediate family so near by! The last time we visited them was right after they moved in, and it was fun to see the changes that they’ve made to their beautiful home.

On our way back, we made a very important stop at Krispy Kreme’s, and then an (almost) equally important stop for a letterbox on the way home.

And that was our weekend adventure! I guess we never actually made it to “Phoenix” on our weekend trip to Phoenix, but we loved the places and people we visited and didn’t have to deal with the traffic…win win! 🙂