The Desert In December

Hubby took the camera along on a hike to Coffee Flats earlier this month. No coffee along the way or at the end, by the way, but some new trail for him. 

Views from the Coffee Flats hike:

Some of the hikers on the Coffee Flats Trail.

Some of the hiking group took a longer hike in search of the many-armed saguaro; the one that is now the largest in the area. It is aged and dying, so some wanted to see it before it topples. Unfortunately that group did not find it, but did find one with many arms. Another hiker, Hans, wrote about his hike to the Ancient One in April.

It is hard to beat this grand stately matriarch that is no longer standing. I believe this saguaro had something like 79 arms before it toppled during a summer monsoon in 2010.

We first saw the cactus in March 2006 with the hiking club.

Kari had visited it and so did Karl & Crystal

on their trip in March 2008. It was in good health

but did not survive the summer wind storm.