Catalina State Park Hike

Rather than ride, we made a last minute decision to drive the 2 miles to CSP so Jack the Dog could get some exercise.  It was a good idea.  We met a woman who has trained her horse to do a variety of tricks, including taking a bow.

The monsoon fueled growth of every form of plant has transformed our landscape.  I've never seen it so lush and green.

It really is like walking through a jungle as plants along the trail have been cut back to allow passage.

Typically, the saguaros and other cactus are the lone representative of the color green but visually, they are a bit lost for now.

We reach a point on the trail that opens to the wash.  Wow, a decent flow.  Surprising because about a mile down stream, there is no visible flow.  We continue up stream a little farther and....

......Jack excitedly enters the water, scampering around.  We go off trail and begin to hike downstream.

Beautiful but the flow is broad enough that I can't avoid soaking my best pair of hiking shoes.

Toward that knob there is the "hidden falls".  I should schedule a hike to that gem while the water still flows.

Amy recently bought a device called, "Chuckit" and it does a great job leveraging your arm speed to increase the velocity of a ball.  Actually, it can hurl a ball so far that Jack is unable to track the ball so I dialed back and Jack loved the chase.

A family with 4 children approach so we turn around and go back to where we entered the wash and return via the trail.  We were warned that a rattlesnake had just been spotted about 30' from us and sure enough, there it was, coiled and rattling.  Dang, I had not bothered to bring my hiking pole so not much I could do with it.  It was under some brush and I would have liked to have coaxed it elsewhere as it was a danger to the many dogs and people who frequent the trail.  Maybe after we left, it calmed and slithered away.