Granite Boulder Outcrop. Click photo for larger view.

Hiking in Scottsdale, Arizona

We are greatly blessed here in the Valley of the Sun to have our city ringed with beautiful parks that offer hundreds and hundreds of miles of hiking trails.

Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve is one of the largest of the parks with over 30,000 acres of land and 200+ miles of hiking trails.

Ordinarily, we would be out hiking long before March 23rd. But, we have had such a wet and cold winter, this was actually our first hike of the year.

And, the reward of a wet Arizona winter is what is commonly called a wildflower super bloom.  So, beyond the beauty of hiking in the desert southwest, we were also looking to experience our second wildflower super bloom since we moved to Scottsdale back in 2006.

The Pima-Dynamite Trailhead is one Scottsdale’s newest parks (not yet officially open) adding another 15,000 acres of trails just to the north of the Sonoran Preserve.  While the park is not yet complete, we decided to make this our first outing in search of wildflowers.

Unfortunately, at this elevation, we were still a little early for the bloom.  But, we did find this fairly rare crested saguaro during our hike.

If you’re planning to visit the Scottsdale area in the spring, I would strongly encourage you to get out and explore the beauty of the Sonoran Desert.  And if you hit it just right, you might also get to explore it during our coming wildflower super bloom.

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