2/26 Usery Mountain State Park & Some Cacti

Usery Mountain State Park is just north of Mesa, AZ, which is just east of Phoenix.  It is one of my favorite places and has some beautiful desert scenery, complete with lots of saguaro cactus.  I am headed south tomorrow, so I took my last walk around the place and finished taking some photos. 

First, on the road to the state park is this interesting house on a hill.  There is a very steep driveway on the other side, but I would not like to drive up that hill very often.  Also, I have no idea how they get water up there!

 

 

 

Nice that they have installed a new gate to keep people from driving through after closing.  Nice security touch.

 

 

These are the camp host sites.  It is very common in hot places to provide camp hosts with shade covers and even sunshade hanging curtains on sides of the shelters to make trailers and motorhomes bearable during the summers. 

 

This is Slash Mountain bordering the state park. 

Nice, big campsites with water and electric hookups, and a decent amount of space between sites.

 

 

It has been very cold this month, even to the point of a few snow flakes in the desert.  On the mountains, like this one east of the state park, there is a LOT more snow.  

 

One of my cuter neighbors.  This little bunny was only about 6" long.  Desert cottontails have long ears for cooling.  Hope this one survives the nearby group of coyotes.  Other critters hanging around my campsite were Gambel's Quail, Mourning Doves, and a few roadrunners.  Notice that there is lots of grass in the desert right now due to all the rain this area has had over the fall and winter. 

Nice path into the desert nearby. 

Saguaro cactus come in all sizes and shapes.  They also live a very long time, and one with as many arms as this one is probably at least 200 years old!  It must be very healthy because it has arms on arms on arms. 

The problem with the one above is that the stem looks really beat up.

This one has lost its main stem and does not look very healthy. It still has several bird nest holes in it, however, so it is serving as a home for cactus wrens.

This tall saguaro has started a family of arms! What is interesting in this one is that all the new arms are about the same size and have started at the same height.

 

 

A small group of multi-arms older cactus, probably aged over 150 years each. 

 

Saguaro without arms are probably about 50 years old. 

 

 

This cactus has lost the top of its main stems, and three of its arms look like they are ready to fall off. 

 

 

Buddies. 

 

 

This one is exceptionally tall to have just two tiny arms. 

 

 

Teeny, tiny arms. 

 

 

Buddies grown up??

 

 

Something happened to the top of this one. 

A really old saguaro.

 

 

Saguaro cactus will not be blooming until about June, but the wildflowers are getting very close to a full bloom, especially with all the recent rain.  This one has started.

 

 Can't ignore the cholla.  This one is buckhorn cholla and is already almost ready to bloom.

 

  

This is a closeup of the cholla flower buds.  

 

 

 

You can tell this is a fishhook barrel cactus because each of the spines has a hook at the end. 

 

 

I'll miss the Arizona wildflower bloom because I will be in New Mexico in about a week.  It is probably going to be a little cooler there, but I should be there long enough to see the wildflowers and some of the cactus blooming there.