Day 3 in Southern Arizona... Hiking!! April, 2014

We hiked all day!! It was great!!

These little ground squirrels are so fun! (not apparently they ruin stuff if you live here...)

The first hike of the day... I think this hike was Romero Pools; we hiked in to this canyon, and at the end there was a stream and a waterfall, and a swimming hole for those who wanted to cool off.

It was very beautiful!

Seeing my first rattlesnake on a hike. It was right next to the path.

oops. sunglasses broke!

Beautiful ocotillo!

Cactus blooms; so lovely!

The second hike we did, was in to Bear Canyon, ending at the Seven Falls.

I was photographing this cactus, when I hear Kelsey take a sharp breath in. I jumped back, and almost tripped and fell on a cactus, because it scared me. She looked past the cactus blooms, and at the base of this prickly pear, was a Gila Monster!!! Best find of the weekend!! 

We took a bunch of pictures of it, and were so amazed. While we were looking at it, some other people came up and asked what was going on. We ended up meeting a dad with his two litttle girls, and hiked with them for awhile! It was really fun to learn about lizards, gila monsters, monsoons, the mountains, the bugs, and a little bit more about desert life in Tucson! I wish I had a better memory for names. It was really fun to spend time with these locals though! 

These huge rocks were really cool!

The Seven Falls, at the end!!

The desert has a lot more green than I thought it would.

This was a pretty long day of hiking. We talked about everything we could think of. We told every story that had every happened to us. It was a lot of talking. But really fun!!

Beautiful sunset on the way back to Maricopa.