All who read our blog and follow along our travels know that Usery Mountain County Park, in Mesa, AZ is one of our favorite parks. Maybe we told too many people but this park is on a reservation system now and by September 2015 the park was 98% reserved. All 73 sites. We were able to find a site for 11 days and another site for 14 days and in middle spent 4 days playing musical campsites moving to an available site for one day each.
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Arizona is suffering from a drought as is much of the Southwest. Just before we arrived at this park 2 1/2" of rain fell. There is lots of new growth on the cactus and buds on plants. Not much blooming yet but expect late March to be vibrant. We've seen the desert bloom once before and marveled at the brilliant colors of the flowers and the desert "lawns" that appear. We'll miss the peak of blooms this year but today we can attest to the desert getting more helpful rain! (45 degrees is the high today with rain – worse than home, for sure)
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| Birds resting up for next feeding |
We've gone through 30 pounds of bird seed and have enjoyed the thrashers and cactus wrens, finches and lovebirds, along with the doves and the rare roadrunner.
Of course, we love feeding and watching the hummingbirds.
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| peach-faced lovebird |
There are a few bunnies and antelope squirrels roaming around and less coyote howls than we are used to. Believe that is the way nature works: when there are more predators around there are less of the prey and vice versa.
We've managed to keep Miss Lily out of the jumping cholla for the most part.
She is a very brave dog and will always nip thorns out of her paws but with the cholla the thorns are just as likely to catch on her mouth or tongue. Then it is up to me to pull them out – nobody's happy.
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| Not our dog but not a pretty picture either! |
We found another fake saguaro:
Gumby, the saguaro, has grown so it's not too "gumby-like" anymore with his eyes bugging out.
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| The saguaro on the right has bolts on it's bottom - FAKE! |
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| The center saguaro is also fake - this one is a cell tower |
And the saguaro we've been watching an arm grow for 15 years dropped two arms this year – drought?
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| We've been watching the arm on the right for 10 years from the time it was just a small ball |
The ocotillo which usually look like a bunch of bare sticks are greening up with small leaves or blooming bright red – not sure why one is done before the other
We've been to the nature center for classes a few times. Ask me to explain how to identify desert tracks and scat – I'm really up on that now!
Almost everyday a presentation or hike is offered. Soon Archery 101 will be offered. It seems that some people may need some remedial training.
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| Another saguaro shot thru |
Taking in the nature trails including this one to "the pond" (manmade). Haven't seen an animal there yet but it is probably full of critters at dawn and dusk. Water is very important to the desert animals.
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| Nicely made pond with a bit of a falling water to attract |
Really enjoying our time here.
