A few days ago we had some good rain in Arizona. The  gauge at our house registered almost two inches. Since our annual rainfall is just under eleven inches, that was quite an event. When Ed and I went hiking today in Saguaro National Park East, we could see large areas of damp earth but no running water.

For the first two hours of the hike we saw no flowers in bloom at all. The Zinnias (Zinnia acerosa) had dried up blooms, as did the Cooper’s paperflower (Psilostrophe cooperi). We especially noticed the Saguaros. This is a plant that needs to spend its early years under the canopy of some other plant, which serves as a nursery plant. We came across a Palo Verde with nine saguaros in its shade (only six show up in this photograph). It is quite a family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, at the top of a cliff we saw a creosote bush with a baby saguaro growing right in the middle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we saw one probably forty years old, right along an ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), which evidently provided enough shade to protect the plant in its infancy. We had never noticed this as a nursery plant before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We found a barrel cactus (Ferocactus sp.) that had very recently fallen over. We guessed it was just over five feet tall. These cacti point their heads to the south, toward the sun. When they get above five feet they usually fall over from their own weight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later we found another that was even taller and was still standing. We thought that this was the tallest barrel cactus we had ever seen. In this picture you can see that it is about the same height as Ed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We more or less gave up our search for flowers in bloom, and then came across a Slender goldenweed (Xanthisma gracilis) and later a Trixis plant (Trixis californica) with several blooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I heard from the Desert Museum that 1,970 copies of “Mountain Wildflowers” had been sold since its first introduction in April 2011. That averages out at selling more than two copies a day for two and a half years, for which I am very grateful. 750 copies of Mountain Trees have been sold since it was published last year.

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving.

GOING FOR THE GOLD
Ed and I were planning our weekly nature hike. It is much cooler in Tucson now that October is almost over, which would suggest a hike in the valley, but we wanted to take one last look at the golden fall colors in Marshall Gulch. We feared that we were too late.

Just before arriving in Summerhaven we noticed a group of four or five wild turkeys, one spreading its gorgeous tail feathers. We were driving at the time and there was no chance to catch a picture of this healthy-looking group.

Wild Turkeys from a different trip up the mountain

 

 

 

We parked in the Gulch, and I suggested to Ed that we might see as many as four species in flower. He thought I was being terribly optimistic. After all, this was the last day in October, and temperatures in the mountain drop below freezing at night this time of the year. Four weeks ago, October 2, the fall colors were just getting started in the Gulch and we counted 37 wildflower species in bloom. Today the trees were mostly bare, though we did find many beauties, like the one in this photograph.

Big Tooth Maple

 

 

Within the first ten yards on the trail we saw our first flower, Horseweed (Conyza canadensis). Not long after that Bitter Dock (Rumex obtusifolius) with its nearly invisible flowers. For a long while we saw nothing. As we neared our turning-around point, we spotted a rather small paintbrush (Castilleja sp.), and then three healthy looking Arizona fleabanes (Erigeron arizonicus). We had achieved our goal, and now it was time to retrace our steps back to the car.

But first we had a very pleasant encounter with Jasmine, the beautiful donkey shown in this picture, with her friend Leigh Anne who pointed out that just a few days ago a heavy wind storm swept through and tore many of the leaves off of the maple trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon after that we met up with a group of three people, and learned that they were Philip, Ellen and Marie Claude. After an enjoyable conversation, we turned to leave them and almost immediately saw our first “return” flower, a rather scruffy looking Richardson’s geranium (Geranium richardsonii). We announced the finding to our trio of new friends. When Ellen came over to look she asked: “Is it that yellow flower?”  The geranium was white. We looked down, and sure enough there was a flower we hadn’t seen, a MacDougal’s groundsel (Senecio eremophilus). As we continued down the trail Ed and I, almost at the same moment, wondered if this might be one of those hikes where we see more flowers on the return journey than on the outward one. Little did we know. By the time we reached the parking lot we had seen 13 new species, for a grand total of 17 in all. We had seen more than three times as many flowers on the second half of the hike as on the first! And some of them, like the Palmer’s lupine, were in splendid condition.
What a wonderful time we had feasting our eyes on the remains of the fall colors, catching glimpses of all those wildflowers, and enjoying the company of such interesting people on the trail. We found our gold.

One of the most interesting displays in the South Rim of Grand Canyon extends for over a mile along the rim walk There is a sign introducing the path labeled “Two billion years of Grand Canyon History” with an invitation to see and touch some of the rocks.

One morning I walked the path to Yavapai Point to see the sunrise, and then walked back in the growing beauty of the day. I especially enjoyed seeing samples of the different rock layers. At the 340 million year old mark there is this piece of Redwall limestone. Years ago I learned that the rocks in the red wall are not red but white. The red color comes from thousands of years of iron oxide (rust), washing over the surface. Even so it was rather startling to see how white the “red” wall limestone really  is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I had an exciting conference with Jim Verrier. He has invited me to work with him on a book of the grasses of southern Arizona. I brought samples collected a week ago, and he was able to help me put names to grasses that a short time ago were strangers to me. Today I went up to an area called Molino Canyon Vista, just about 5 miles up the Catalina highway. How different it is to walk among the grasses being able to recognize different species and even call them by name. It was a beautiful fall day, as you can see from this picture of an Arizona Sycamore.

 

 

 

 

 

One of my last finds turned out to be a grass introduced from South Africa, Natal grass (Melinis repens). This is one I have noticed for many years, since its pink and white flowering heads are so decorative and can be seen for several miles along the highway. One picture shows it all white. The close-up reveals the incredible beauty of the pink and white hairs and the little yellow flowers. Too bad it is an invasive plant. It is really quite lovely.