And A Saguaro Makes Three.....: A Good Hike

Today we ventured away from Phoenix and drove an hour and a half north to Prescott (pronounced Press-cut). It is always about 15 degrees cooler there and there is some good hiking. We looked up some hikes and at first decided on a 6 mile easy hike. However, as the weather man kept telling us that we are going to get storms off and on all day with flash floods, we opted for a challenging 2 mile hike.
We drove into Prescott National Forest and found our trail and had a quick picnic before we set out on the hike. The weather was amazing, it was probably 80 once the sun came out and there was a fabulous breeze. Of course the sun came out as soon as we geared up for the hike The clouds broke and the sun beamed down on us. Whatever.

Our destination-Thumb Butte

The little info I had on the place did mention that the trail starts out steep as you head uphill for a mile to the top. Well, yes it was steep, it nearly kicked our asses. There were crazy switchbacks and my calves burned and my chest burned, but we kept going, a mile is nothing.
When we got to the top we realized that the trail doesn't actually take you to the top of the butte, so all the work to get there and the reward was disappointing.

Looking out over Prescott Valley

We took a short break, had a snack, and continued on the trail back down to the bottom. There were so many birds out, ones I'd never seen, and lizards and wildflowers. It was a beautiful place and the perfect day for a hike.

Looky, pretty flowers

Once we finished hiking we headed into town for some dinner. Town was very western in the way it was set up. However in the middle was this park and the grass was so green and soft, it was like we were not in Arizona at all, it was weird. Brian was so taken with it he sat in the grass for a little while. It was a cute town, made for tourists for sure.

Main street from the park

On our way back to Phoenix we decided to take a more scenic route. It was very beautiful as we wound down the mountain and back into the valley. At one point we were just cruisin along when all of the sudden an animal came darting out of the grasses and onto the road. At first I thought a dog, but after a few seconds I realized what I was looking at, oh my god a javelina! Not just one but two, then a baby and then another baby. A family of javelinas just came out onto the road in front of us. Brian stopped the car and in my scramble to get the camera I missed them as they scurried off up the hill. We sat for a moment in shock, we just saw javelinas. Very cool and now my mom is very jealous. She wanted to see a javalina the whole time she was here. We also saw another roadrunner running across the road, what the heck. I thought in all my time here I would probably not see either of these animals in the wild but there they were. What's next, a bobcat or maybe a mountain lion? I hope I have the camera ready for that moment.
I am always amazed at how beautiful and diverse this state is, the landscape changes so quickly as you drive around.

Green pastures as we head back to Phoenix