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| Horses along the Salt River, May, 2012. Photo by LuAnne Hedblom |
If you're interested in learning more about our wild horses in Arizona, then pack up your lunch on Thursday, June 14th or on Saturday June 30th, and head on over at noon to the Visitor Center at Usery Mountain Park. There "Ranger B" will be sharing what he knows of the history of wild horses in the west, including the Tonto National Forest, and in particular the horses we see along the Salt River. Though he won't be touching on the controversy over the management of the Salt River Wild Horses, it will still be interesting to learn about the origins of these gorgeous animals and how they survive in the wild. Directions: Take McKellips east past Sossaman to Ellsworth, turn left (N) on Ellsworth which becomes Usery Mountain Pass. Look for signs, park entry will be on your right (E). $6.00 entry fee. Lecture starts at 12:00 p.m. in the Visitor Center.
(Usery Mountain Park is one of 10 regional parks in Maricopa County. It is not part of the Tonto National Forest, and Ranger B is not an employee of the Forest Service or the BLM.)
Usery Mountain Regional Park - All About Owls - Location: Nature Center. Date: 6/12/2010 Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM What makes owls so different from other birds? Which owls live in our area? How do they survive and thrive in our desert? If you would like to know the answers to these questions, or any questions you may have about owls, then this one-hour presentation is for you! Bring your sandwich to the “Brown-Bag It” series inside our Nature Center as Ranger B shares some amazing facts about these rockin’ raptors. Entry Fee: $6 / car
McDowell Mountain Park - Owl’s Eye View
Date: 6/19/2010 Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 (1 hour lecture followed by a 1.5 hour hike) How much do you know about Owls? Learn all about the strategies these animals employ that make them such successful predators. After the program, stick around for an owl prowl at the Nursery Tank! Go on the Owl Prowl with Ranger Amy - a moonlit hike to experience the desert like an owl. Look for owls and enjoy the cooler night air. Meet at the
Nursery Tank Trailhead. This night walk is less than 2 miles total in length, and is
on flat terrain on a wheelchair accessible trail.
Summer is nearly here with temperatures heading toward the 100 degree mark. So I'm embarking on my strategy of finding night time outdoor adventures, to avoid going absolutely insane this summer. I'm starting easy, on a ranger-led family oriented hike on a very wheelchair-friendly trail - the
Merkle Trail at
Usery Mountain Park. It was a large group that showed up for this hike, with lots of little kids, so we didn't see too many critters, but the kids were quite entertaining and so darn cute. These walks are held once a month, the fee is only $6 per car, and the sunsets are beautiful!
As l
isted on the
Usery Mountain Regional Park website -
Animal "Hide and Seek" Flashlight Walk - See nocturnal animals of the desert on a 1-mile walk along the
Merkle Trail. The well-manicured
Merkle Trail offers universal access and the hard-smooth surface of this trail will accommodate wheelchairs and strollers. Please bring water and a flashlight. No dogs, please. Location: Area 6.
For dates and times of future Flashlight Walks at Usery, check their website.
We did manage to see scorpions, a big gnarly centipede, a few praying mantis, Arizona's largest moth - the Hawk Moth, and on the way out of the park, a great display of Lesser Nighthawks feeding on bugs under the street lights!
For a more detailed review of the wheelchair accessibility of the Merkle Trail at Usery, see the eMagazine - Accessing Arizona.
For a more in-depth history of wild horses in Arizona and the southwest, see University
of Arizona professor Ed de Steiguer's book , "Wild Horses of the West: History and Politics of America's Mustangs."
