Hiking the Barnhardt Trail

Curt joined a small group of hikers on Wednesday who traveled up north to cooler country. George led the hike, assuring the group, "it was one of the most beautiful hikes in AZ!" George also promised waterfalls. And once again George and the 31 inches of snow up north, came through.

*For the CVHC, sorry for the repeat of photos from Han's blog post, but neerer, neerer, neerer, Hans did not get as far as the waterfalls.

**For my other blog readers, enjoy the scenery 65 miles north of Canyon Vistas.

 Barnhardt Trail, 6.37 mile hike

1.5 hour drive; 5 hour hike

 Colorful rocks and running water

 Hiking at least 100' above the stream on the canyon floor

 Debbie, Dana, George, Katie & Jerry

taking a break & enjoying the view

 Dainty, high country flowers

 Higher along the canyon ridge

 Old Slow Hans on the trail

 Mountain views

 George, Katie & Jerry rock climbing

Desert Paint

the black is a natural path for falling water

 1227' elevation gain (5672')

2070' total ascent

  Twin falls collecting in a pool

 Katie at the waterfall

 Jerry at the waterfall

 20' to 30' waterfall

 Interesting white speckled rocks

 30' to 40' waterfall

 To see more of this unusual geological formation, check out 

Han's blog post:  Old Slow Hans

The hikers bowing to George, thanking him for an excellent 

destination on a warm spring day. This hike will be on the 

schedule next year!

Flowering Saguaro Update

We took a little road trip on Tuesday. Our first stop was to see the flowering saguaro. I am so tickled to have come across this beautiful desert event I am posting some more pictures.

 This was the arm of the saguaro last Friday, in the previous post. I called the buds 'Brussel sprouts'.

 There were five flowers this morning.

 The bees were so busy collecting nectar.

This flower must have completely opened overnight because the bees were so many and so active. The flower to the right wasn't completely open, so it had little bee activity.

 We spent about 5 minutes watching the bees. They had no interest in us.

I promise...these are my last flowering saguaro pictures...for this season.

More road trip pictures tomorrow.

More Flowers on the Saguaro

I went back to the flowering saguaro on Friday to check the progress of the buds and blooms. I was also a bit braver and walked closer to the stately plant. (The saguaro is in another park, and although I am not trespassing...) I also wondered if the hail of last Sunday affected the flowers. It didn't.

 A bee visiting the saguaro flower

A second flower that might be open by evening

 I caught two bees in this photo

 Three flowers in this shot

 The past, the present and the future

Little Brussel sprouts?

The original post:  For Real - A Blooming Saguaro

The Surprise on Friday's Hike

It was 85º when they finished Friday's 5.5 mile hike to Massacre Grounds. Too warm for most of them to be out and about, so it may have been the last organized hike for the season.

I have found a new program for editing photos. I had fun playing with Curt's photos from the hike. Enjoy.

 Chino looks pretty cool in her doggie shades

 No shade along this trail

 Some interesting rock formations on the backside of the Superstitions

 Love the balancing rock

Lots of flowering Engelmann hedgehog cacti 

The bees were busy

 Another balancing rock formation

 A large Engelmann hedgehog with many buds in the early stages of blooming

 And the surprise...a Gila monster
"is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. A heavy, slow-moving lizard, up to 2.0 ft long. Though the Gila monster is venomous, its sluggish nature means that it represents little threat to humans. However, it has earned a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed despite being protected by state law in Arizona and Nevada."

 

"It is estimated that the Gila monster spends 95% of its time underground in mammal burrows or rocky shelters. It is active in the morning during the dry season (spring and early summer); later in the summer, it may be active on warm nights or after a thunderstorm. It feeds upon small birds, mammals, frogs, lizards, insects, and carrion."

Thanks Norm for the second photo of the Gila Monster. And thanks to Wikipedia for the biology lesson.

Another Pottery Piece

My second pottery piece is complete. Today it was a Raku firing process. Last week Friday a painted a vase and it looked like this when I was done.

The background color is pumpkin. The dark stripes are light copper. The white stripes are the tape lines, once the tape is removed.

I chose to do it in simple lines. Since I am never sure how the copper will look when it is done, I was pretty sure I would like the pumpkin color, no matter what.


I had done another Raku Pottery vase in 2009 with Musette. That post explained the process quite well, so I won't repeat the explanation, other than show some pictures from today.

This is Musette's set up for outdoor firing: The propane tank in the lower right to supply the gas to heat the kiln (behind the orange pail) with its cover on the middle right. The covered garage can has a piece 'curing'. My piece is on the kiln plate to be fired next.

 

 Musette just placed a piece from the kiln to the newspaper lined garbage can. The newspaper catches afire immediately.

 The lid is popped on for 8 minutes. My piece will take 20 minutes she said. Then the pieces are plunged into the orange pail filled with water.

The light copper turned green on this side of the vase.

There is some red in the light copper on this side. Interesting how that happens. The white tape lines are now black. The pumpkin is just what I expected. I am pleased.

On the left is the sagar piece I completed earlier this month 

and on the right the Raku piece from today.

My creativity projects for 2012!

There were some other projects going on the the ceramics/pottery room today.

 These pieces were done by a husband & wife; she did the bowl, he did the vase, using mostly light copper.

 This is Connie B's hand-shaped bowl. She and Lana are attaching reeds to the rim

 by sewing/lacing the reeds using the holes on the rim.

 These are some other Raku pieces, some in light copper. The one on the right has stripes of pumpkin with some blotches of light copper, too. Interesting. The one on the left was done in a different metallic color.

These are horsehair pieces, a Kokopelli on the left & a horse head on the right.

 A couple of horsehair buffalo and some vases

 One of the gals added little colored rocks at the base of the burned feathers to give her vases some bling and uniqueness.

I noticed this mosaic garden stone on the shelf as I was leaving the room. I would love to do this next year!