I am tired of saying 'No' when asked if I have been to Hassayampa. Susan and Elaine finally got me excited about going to this wild riparian preservation site by showing me some photos that they had taken. The weather was perfect!! If you want to get your photography skills challenged this would be a good place to go!
We saw huge California palm trees and really big cottonwoods. The cottonwoods have not turned my favorite 'cottonwood' gold, yet. We were told that we should watch the weather and when the temperature dipped close to freezing, the trees would deck out in fall colors. I am watching. We were even told the hike we should take to get us up high enough to see them all in their glory stretched out before us! I am excited about this upcoming opportunity. In the meantime, enjoy our first attempts at capturing at least an essence of what the place is all about.
This is the beginning of the Palm Lake Loop Trail. Easy going.
Did I mention 'busy'? This has got to be the weirdest photo of the day and there were lots to choose from.
The water is about 4 to 6 inches deep and clear. It comes from a natural spring and periodically goes underground only to resurface further downstream. In heavy storms the river bed will fill up with temporary heavy run-off.
The train tracks are just above the yellow flowers and below the cactus. Imagine our surprise when that big thing went by!! Yikes!!
I turned my computer so Tom could see the image. "What do you think?" He looked at it, politely. "What is it?" Aha! "It is a leaf floating vertically and reflecting back on the water", I explained. All he said was, "Oh, can't appreciate it if I don't know what it is." Now YOU know.
Every good story ends with a frog. Right?