www.maricopa.gov/parks (Posted, 5/1/2009)
This spring we invite you to hike the Usery Mountain Regional Park. Cacti and desert trees are blooming now and are busting out in full color this May.
Ranger-guided cacti bloom and desert trees walks, hikes and Brown-bag Its are scheduled throughout the spring, please visit the website posted below for dates and start times.
FOR DRIVING DIRECTIONS, PARK INFORMATION AND RANGER-GUIDED HIKES VISIT: http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/usery
WHAT TO EXPECT: Over 30 miles of trails of varying terrain through the upland Sonoran Desert. Wear sturdy shoes and please bring plenty of drinking water. Dogs are allowed on leashes.
Notes: The entrance fee is $6 per vehicle unless you hold an annual pass. Maps and wildflower lists are available at the entry station.
Wildflowers, shrubs and cactus currently in bloom: Snowy white saguaro blossoms are blooming along the trails and roadways in the park. Our Sonoran Desert cacti are coming into their own with a stunning rainbow of buckhorn cholla colors, pink strawberry hedgehog cactus flowers and yellow prickly-pear blooms. The delicate yellow blossoms of the foothill and blue palo verde trees along with the mesquite trees are also in the desert. The last of the spring wildflowers and shrubs to be seen blooming are blackfoot daisy, desert marigolds, desert senna, goldfields, miner’s lettuce, miniature wool star, prickly-poppy, pursh plantain, brittlebush, creosote, desert lavender, flat-top buckwheat, ocotillo, parish viguiera, trixis, and yellow spiny daisy.
Please ask for a Spring Blooms list upon entering the park. New shrubs, cacti and desert trees are blooming each week. For more information call Usery Mountain Regional Park at 480-984-0032.
http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/mcdowell (Posted Friday 3/20/2009)
Come out and see the wildflowers at McDowell Mountain Regional Park. Late fall and winter rains have ensured that we’ll have an excellent year!
Ranger-guided wildflower walks and hikes are scheduled each week in March and April; please visit the website posted below for dates and start times.
FOR DRIVING DIRECTIONS, PARK INFORMATION AND RANGER-GUIDED HIKES VISIT: http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/mcdowell
WHAT TO EXPECT: Over 30 miles of trails of varying terrain through the upland Sonoran Desert. Wear sturdy shoes and please bring plenty of drinking water. Dogs are allowed on leashes.
Notes: The entrance fee is $6 per vehicle unless you hold an annual pass. Maps and wildflower lists are available at the welcome station and at the Visitors Center
Wildflowers currently in bloom: The poppies are putting on quite a show out on the Bluff and Stoneman Wash Trails. Look for bright carpets of the orange flowers mixed in with lupine and owls clover! The brittlebush are just starting to dot the hillsides on the Scenic Trail with color. Look out for scatterings of lupine, wild mustard, desert marigolds, poppies, fiddle neck and blue dick along the way as well. Take in the Fairy Dusters, Chuparosa and fiddle neck along the main park road and on the North Trail. Chicory has made an appearance along north trail this week as well!
Please ask for a wildflower list upon entering the park. New flowers and shrubs are blooming each week and we are expecting a terrific bloom as the spring temperatures heat up. For more information call McDowell Mountain Regional Park at 480-471-0173.
