The Devil's Bridge and Sedona, Arizona

     As tempting as it was to stay at the Grand Canyon for sunset, we had more to explore elsewhere and needed to continue our road warrior pace by heading back south to Sedona, Arizona.  We drove down the crazy switchbacks of highway 89A through Oak Creek Canyon, which turned out to be a very scenic drive.

Driving down Oak Creek Canyon

     We later stopped to stretch our legs at a trail under the highway bridge.  It was super windy and so we did not loiter for long but instead headed into town for some early dinner.  I had the best cream of celery soup!

Bridge on highway 89A and the town of Sedona

     There was just about enough time in the day to find a place to catch the sun go down.  I read about a good spot away from the hordes of tourists to see a view of Cathedral Rock.  We parked at the Airport Mesa trailhead, one of the many vortexes in Sedona, and headed along the trail on the east side of the plateau.  It didn't take us long to realize that this wasn't going to produce the desired scene, but I did manage to get a decent photo of the late afternoon sunshine on the red rocks.

Sedona at sunset

     After our early morning rise, we were pretty worn out but after cleaning up in our hotel room, we headed out to a bar to try the local specialty, margaritas made with prickly pear infused tequila.  It was terrible.

Prickly Pear Margarita

     When we return to the hotel it was raining very hard.  Unusual weather for the desert.  This thwarted any chance of a nice sunrise to photograph, but we were glad for the extra sleep.

     When I did a simple internet search for things to see in Sedona, I saw a photo of Devil's Bridge and knew right away that was one hike we should do.  But none of the tourist information I read said anything about it in their guide books, and my parents, who have visited Sedona many times, had never heard of it either.  I managed to find it on some of the maps though and it was located just outside of town.  

     There was a nice paved parking lot at the suggested trailhead, although those with 4x4 vehicles could drive the 1 mile dirt road to the actual trailhead.  We were ready to hike and had no issue parking our vehicle and walking from the parking lot.

Hiking up to the dirt road to the Devil's Bridge trailhead

     We were passed by a few high clearance vehicles but they were friendly enough.  Despite the less than ideal weather, there were quite a few people out hiking and we could tell it was a Saturday.  I took time along the road to check out some of the more common plants.  I recognized the cones of this shrub right away and later learned that is was called Arizona cypress (Cypressus arizonica).

Arizona cypress (Cypressus arizonica)

     I found it quite odd that a cypress tree would grow in the desert since I am most familiar with the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), being from southern Illinois (which is the northern extent of the vast southern cypress swamps).  It turns out that the term cypress refers to many species in the Cypressaceae and that the cypress family is the most widely distributed group of conifers in the world.  This is not too surprising as it is quite a large family.  In fact, in the recent taxonomic changes, the bald cypress has been moved to its own family, the Taxodiaceae.  It's hard to keep up with all the botanical name changes, but it is important to continually advance the scientific understanding of relationships between species.  Learning all the new names can be difficult, since in most cases you really need to know the old names as well, and so I hope that the changes are really based on solid evidence and are not arbitrary or superficial.

    Susan tolerates my botanical wanderings and photography very well and will even listen to my corny jokes and interesting "gee whiz" facts.  Turns out that the Arizona cypress "cones remain closed for many years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, thereby allowing the seeds to colonize the bare ground exposed by fire" and is the only member of the Cypressaceae known from the desert southwest.

    Before long, we reached the trail register at the edge of the wilderness and the steep rock stairs that would lead us up the cliff to the top of the bridge.  

Entering the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

Rock staircase up cliff

    There was another trail that led to the bottom of the arch, but we wanted to see the top.  Before getting there, we were rewarded with some outstanding views of the valley just outside the wilderness area.

Susan overlooking the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

     The Devil's Bridge is located within the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness Area which is part of the Coconino National Forest.  It is the longest spanning arch in the Sedona area.  We realized on the way there why the area was not listed in the guide books.  It was a about a two-mile hike, which is nothing to us seasoned hikers but since every trail or landmark in Sedona has relatively easy access, most people tended to stay on the short trails and driveable overlooks.  That being said, there were still a lot of people hiking the trail that day.  It was like I said, a Saturday morning after all.  

     We knew we had to get a photo standing on the top of the arch and we did.  Even though there were lots of people in the area, people were respectful in letting everyone take their turn getting photographed on the top.  I offered to take the photograph of a couple trying to do it themselves, and they obliged in return.  I had my tripod with, but it would have taken quick footing to press the button and get out to the arch within 10 seconds!  As I mentioned in a previous post, asking random folks to take photos rarely yields a great photograph.  The person we asked zoomed in on us, not getting the background for most of the photos, but the first one was at normal zoom and turned out pretty well.

Susan and I on the Devil's Bridge

     I even did what no one else did or could watch.  I went out to the arch and sat on the edge.  It sure made for a sweet photo!

Me sitting on the edge of the arch

     I find it interesting that so many beautiful and natural wonders on this planet are named after the devil. Devil's staircase, devil's backbone, devil's smokestack are a few that come to mind.  They are always really cool features too and so I do not get the association with the devil, unless you think the devil is a cool dude. Religious folk certainly do not and if you are not religious, then you probably don't believe in the devil anyway.  

     But I digress, where were we?  Talking about plants no doubt.  We observed a very neat looking shrub all over the cliffs and in the chaparral zone, called Manzanita (Arctostaphlos sp.).  I found it interesting because again it is something like what we have in Illinois.  In the sand dunes along Lake Michigan, there is an Arctostaphylos species that is rare in the state, called bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). However, the Illinois bearberry is an Artic and Subartic species, circumpolar in its distribution, whereas most of the other species are Mediterranean in origin.

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.)

     Up on the red sandstone rocks, this shrub was everywhere and it was quite beautiful in its growth form and texture.  We took plenty of artistic photos and managed our way down the cliff.  On the way back, we took a different trail back, which is also a mountain bike trail, instead of the dirt road.  It made me wish we had our bikes and in one spot we watched an old dude totally crank it hard up a series of rock steps that would challenge any rider.  I said "nice job!" to which he quickly replied, "thanks!"  We stopped for some more choice photos.

Susan and red rock country

     I noticed the dead leaves of several Agave plants, a perennial monocot that is monocarpic, meaning it lives several years to maturity, then sets seeds and dies.  I found an Agave leaf that looked neat and held it up to my face, pretending it was my Agave goatee!

My Agave goatee

     Though there were many places we wanted to see in Sedona, we didn't have enough time.  But we promised my Dad we would take photos with the cowboy hats he loaned us and since we didn't want to carry them on our hike we had to make another stop.  We decided to drive up to an overlook at the end of Airport Road.

With silly cowboy hats on at Airport Road overlook

     From here, we had one more stop before heading back to Scottsdale and returning the rental car to Hertz (which is a terrible name by the way, because every time I rent from them it hurts!).  We wanted to see an example of cliff dwellings left by indigenous people.  That will be the subject of my next blog post!  Stay tuned for more and follow this blog by adding your email address to the box in the upper right corner.

Grand Canyon National Park

     The third day of our vacation led us farther north to what can be described as a huge crack in the earth.  But that would leave a false impression as to the geologic events at play here.  The canyon was formed mostly by erosion and not faulting.Of course I am referring to the Grand Canyon, an accurate name in all aspects, in fact it is surely the grandest of them all.
     We managed to get to the south rim before sunrise, hoping for an epic photo.  But it was windy and cold, and the lighting and aspect of the overlook were marginal.  I snapped a few photos, hanging onto my hat as the winds gusted up to 23 miles an hour.  But we were glad to see views of the Colorado River in the canyon below.

Grand Canyon sunrise

     We stopped at every overlook on the Desert View road which is along the eastern section of the south rim.  With over five million visitors a year, the south rim can be a place you do not want to be in your car, unless you like traffic.  The park has instituted a shuttle bus system to alleviate congestion, but on a weekday in mid-November, traffic was of little concern.  We were literally the only vehicle at most of the overlooks in the early morning.  We ventured over to the main visitor center and watched the video about the Grand Canyon.  Then we walked along the main part of the south rim area and were amazed by the immensity of it all.

Panorama of the Grand Canyon

     As we walked along the south rim, there were markers in the pavement that corresponded to geologic time, where each step equals one million years.  The oldest rocks at the bottom of the canyon are 4.5 billion years old.

   

Paved walkway along the Grand Canyon

     Which is another aspect of the Grand Canyon that is unfathomable. You can literally see over half of the age of the Earth displayed in its geologic glory which leads me thinking only one thing, "holy schist, that's gneiss!"

"Holy schist that's gneiss!"

     While there weren't many flowers in bloom or a diversity of plants to botanize, I did observe some some interesting features on some of the shrubs.  This one was my favorite.  I recognized it as a Potentilla species but it turned out to be another member of the Rose family, Purshia stanburiana, or Stansbury cliffrose.

Stansbury Cliffrose (Purshia stansburiana) 

     As we walked along the path I couldn't help but take a ton of photos.  The lighting and cloud cover were not to my liking but it was so nice to have the place basically to ourselves and marvel in the expansive views of this wonderful national park and the artistic opportunities it presented to the visitor.

Dead tree and Agave flower stalk

     We paused along the way to read the signs and look deep into the canyon where I found a large boulder and tried to push it down into the canyon.  I could not get it to move!

Trying to push a rock down into the canyon

     The place is a geologist's dream!

Sedimentary rock

     Grand Canyon National Park is well photographed and well visited.  We were happy to have a chance to see it in all its wonder and hope to return someday to explore the depths of the canyon and the wilderness it contains.

Susan at the Grand Canyon

Humphrey's Peak (12,633 ft) - The Highest Point in Arizona

     On day two of our Arizona vacation we were anxious to get on the road, as we had quite an ambitious adventure planned for the rest of the week.  We rented a car from Hertz (which turned out to be a POS) for four days and headed north to Flagstaff.  From Scottsdale, it was only a three-hour drive.  After regularly making the six-hour drive from Palatine in northern Illinois to Carbondale in southern Illinois, compounded by our excitement to get out and explore, the trip seemed to go by quickly.
     We arrived in Flagstaff in the late afternoon and before checking into our hotel room, we decided to drive up to the trailhead of Humphrey's Peak.  A few miles north of Flagstaff on Highway 180 is the road leading to the Arizona Snow Bowl, a ski resort on federal property in the Coconino National Forest and this is where the trailhead is located. Knowing that we may be navigating the area in the early morning darkness, we wanted get a view of the lay of the land and the beginning of the trail.  Our timing turned out to provide a decent sunset view of the mountains to the west.

Sunset from Humphrey's Peak trailhead

     Confident that we knew where to go in the morning, we drove back to Flagstaff.  We had reservations at a historic hotel in the downtown area called the Weatherford Hotel. The hotel was built in 1897 when "Arizona was a territory and vigilantes ruled the dirt streets."  As their website says, this is more than just a hotel. First of all, there are many ghosts that are purported to inhabit the hotel.  Second, the building had a lot of character and contained a restaurant, two bars, and a ballroom.  After a quick stroll looking at the other bars and shops of the downtown area, we settled in at Charly's Pub, the bar on the first floor of the Weatherford Hotel.  It just so happened that all the other bars we looked at, although quaint and trendy, were nearly vacant and we realized why when we looked for seating at Charly's Pub.

     It was trivia night at Charly's and the place was packed.  It was a simple affair and that was part of its charm and success.  No fancy machines or overhead displays, each team wrote their answers on a piece of paper after a MC read the trivia questions out loud.  In between questions, they played songs of the 80's. Although not formally playing, Susan and I listened to the questions and came up with our own answers.  It was tough to compete but it was fun.

The Weatherford Hotel, downtown Flagstaff, AZ

     The hotel had several styles of rooms. The largest rooms had a phone, television, and private bath, and were the most expensive.  The cheapest and smallest rooms did not have any of these things and the bathroom was across the hall.  We opted for one of the intermediate rooms, which was small and had no phone or television, but did have a tiny bathroom.  The double bed was smaller than preferred but since we planned an early morning start, we didn't much care about the few hours of sleep in a smaller bed.

European style room at the Weatherford Hotel

     We originally set the clock for 5:30am but when I woke up around 4:00am I reset it for 6:15.  We finally got up at 6:37 and headed out to the trailhead.  The idea when climbing tall mountains is that hazardous weather usually comes in the afternoon and so it is best to get to the summit by late morning.  This means getting on the trail early.

At the Humphrey's Peak trailhead, 7:47am

      Although we did not get as early as a start as anticipated, it was early enough and it sure was chilly out!  We were glad we brought our winter gear (which seemed a little odd when planning a trip to Phoenix) and since the trail went up the west side of the mountain, it would be awhile before we warmed up.

     In about a half an hour we reached the boundary of the wilderness and the trail register.  Humphrey's Peak is located in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness within the Coconino National Forest.  It is one of six mountain summits that circle the caldera of a now inactive volcano known as the San Francisco Peaks, named in honor of St. Francis of Assissi by the Spanish friars that settled in the area around 1620.

Signing the trail register to enter the Kachina Peaks Wilderness

     The trail was in good condition although there were many large rocks and gnarly tree roots bisecting the trail.  Our excitement led to a fairly expeditious pace and I kept telling Susan, "rest often, but briefly, and keep a consistent cadence."  The trail was easy to follow and there were many stumps to stop and sit on along the way.  In fact, the forest in general had a large amount of fallen trees and I wondered if the forest was a relic of fire suppression or if there happened to be a large windstorm in the recent past.

The trail up Humphrey's Peak and resting on tree stumps along the trail

     We continued up the trail without incident or landmark until we reached another sign, this one warning of the fragile habitat above 11,400 feet and that adherence to the trail was mandatory.  Among the tundra grows a plant known as the San Francisco peaks groundsel (Packera franciscanus) that grows nowhere else in the world.  For this reason, the neighboring peak, Mount Agassiz, is closed to public hiking except during the winter months when it is covered in snow.  Trespassers are subject to a $500 fine.

A sign warning us to stay on the trail to protect the fragile tundra

     Shortly after the sign we reached the treeline.  At a certain altitude, trees are incapable of growing due to cold temperatures or lack of moisture.  This is where we encountered one of the oldest known trees on earth, the bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata).  The tree gets it name from the cones whose scales are each tipped with a claw-like bristle. 

Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata)

     Shortly after reaching treeline, we made it to the saddle, which is the the lowest point in between two peaks, also known as the top of the pass.  Once reaching this location, we were provided with generous views to the east.

Looking east from the saddle in between Humphrey's Peak and Mount Agassiz

     Looking back to the west we could see the ski slopes of the Arizona Ski Bowl.  It was too early in the year for the slopes to be open, which was good for our summit bid.  Not knowing what to expect, just before the trip we purchased Ice Trekkers, which are basically chains attached to stretchable rubber bands that can be attached to our boots. It was good to have them but we did not need them.

Ski slopes on the Arizona Snow Bowl

     Although we still had a bit of climbing to go, I was relieved to finally reach the saddle after almost three hours of uphill walking.  We had read about the three false summits on the way to the top and I tried to count them from the saddle in order to prepare us for the first two disappointing revelations.  It really didn't seem that far in my opinion, but I have been on many 14ers in Colorado that seemed to go on forever.

Looking at the summit from the saddle

     While I expected it to be much steeper on the final 500 feet of mountain, it still was not a piece of cake. There were many large boulders that required stepping up onto and at this point we were tired.  But we had passed one couple on the way to the top and we were determined to be the first ones on the summit that day.  We were getting close, but moving slowly.

Nearing the summit of Humphrey's Peak, trail to the left of the ridge

     We were passed by one couple just before reaching the summit but they were very friendly and we took turns photographing each other, even though I had brought my tripod (which Susan graciously carried to the top) so I could take a photo of us on the summit. Being a photographer, I find that asking random people to take photos rarely yields a quality photo and being picky I like to compose the photo to my liking anyway. We took a bunch of photos and videos, signed the summit register, and had a snack on the summit.

Susan upon reaching the summit

     Humphrey's Peak is the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet.  If you consider just the highest point of each state individually, Arizona ranks 12th in the United States.  Although I have not been on the highest point the United States, which is Mount McKinley in Alaska, I have been on the summits in the states that rank #2 (Mount Whitney in California), #3 (Mount Elbert in Colorado), and #15 (Harney Peak in South Dakota).  This was Susan's first mountain summit and she worked for every foot of it.

On the summit of Humphrey's Peak

      This is also a very sacred area and I kept that in my mind and my heart as I scanned the outstanding views.  The Navajo consider this the land where heaven meets the earth and their medicine men used herbs collected from these mountains in their healing ceremonies.  The area also has symbolic significance to other groups, such as the Hopi, Zuni, Havasupai, and Yavapai-Apache.
     With huge views in every direction, sunny skies, and calm winds, we were in little hurry to leave the summit.  But eventually we decided to leave since we had more planned for the day.

Panoramic view from the summit of Humphrey's Peak

     Descending down mountains can be almost as difficult as ascending them as it is often very hard on the knees.  I found the hiking pole my father loaned me to be quite useful as I deliberately stepped carefully on my way down the peak.

Descending Humphrey's Peak

     We quickly made our way down the mountain on the lovely sunny day and were quite happy in our accomplishment.  Before we knew it, we were back at the boundary of the wilderness area and took some photos at the sign.

At the wilderness boundary

     What a day!  It took us 4 hours to reach the summit and we spent an hour reveling in the summit sunshine.  It took us three hours to get down the mountain to the car for a round trip of 8 hours.  It gave us just enough time to get to the Grand Canyon for our next day of sightseeing.  On our way out of town, I stopped to take this photo and I couldn't believe that just a few hours earlier, we were on top of this mountain.

Humphrey's Peak, Flagstaff, AZ

     The couple that passed us on the way to the summit informed us about Lava Cave, a nearby landmark in the direction we were going, and we hoped to stop by and check it out before dark.  We wanted to get to the Grand Canyon by sunset, but it took us a little longer to leave the parking area because we found a dog in the parking lot that was separated from its owner.  About an hour earlier we encountered a young man on the trail who had lost his dog. His husky had been let off the leash, ran after an animal, and did not come back.  I told him not to worry because they always come back, at least my hound dog that would occasionally run off always did, attempting to console him.  As we walked away, I asked if he had his cell phone on him and that if he gave me his number, I'd contact him if we saw a dog.

     While I think that having a dog on a leash in the woods is rather ridiculous, there was a sign at the beginning of the trail that indicated it was illegal and subject to fine for letting your dog off its leash.  But I felt sorry for this guy and could empathize with his situation.  I figured the dog went back to the parking lot but understood that the guy didn't want to leave the location where he last saw his dog, since he was a little ways up the mountain.  But just as I suspected, when we got closer to the parking lot, we saw a beautiful black and white husky come hesitantly in our direction.  I texted a photo of the dog to the man and he said he'd be right down.  While we were packing up, the dog went and laid down in the shade next to his vehicle like a good dog should.  

Husky and Subaru

     The man texted me back when he returned to his dog and his car and thanked us for our kindness.  He asked if he could repay us somehow, then admitted he didn't have much to offer.  He said he taught a yoga class in Flagstaff and that we were welcome anytime!  He reminded me a little of myself as a younger man in college and that made me smile.

     Looking at my watch, I debated whether or not to stop at the cave our hiker friends told us about, and wondered how long it would take to get to the Grand Canyon.  You see I have this really neat gadget in my pocket that can tell you all kinds of information like how long it takes to travel and it even displays a map! Maybe you've heard of one of these things, I think they are termed cellular devices or something, but I call mine the dohicky thingamajig (insert incredible sarcasm here).

     As is my usual reasoning, I figured "when are we going to be back here?" and used that to justify a side trip to see the cave.  The cave was only 5 miles one way off our our route north on highway 180.

Lava River Cave, Coconino National Forest

      Lava River Cave is a 3/4 mile long cave in the Coconino National Forest and was "discovered" by loggers in 1915.  This cave was formed when molten rock flowed though the ground during a nearby volcanic episode.  Evidence of the flow can be seen inside as the ground rock has undulations that represent the final flows of lava out of the cave. "Stone icicles," also called lavasicles, are present on the ceiling and formed when heat from the volcanic blast re-liquefied the rocks and then they hardened while dripping. Unlike most geologic events, Lava River Cave formed rapidly and probably looks exactly like it did shortly after it was formed, about 675,000 years ago!  Thus it is considered "frozen in time."

Inside and at the entrance of Lava River Cave

     Although I had my headlamp with me, I only ventured inside for a little way. It was cold in there!  Here is a picture of a cave map on a sign near the entrance.

Sign at the entrance of the cave

     We made it to Tusayan, the last town before the entrance to the south rim of the Grand Canyon at sunset.  Unfortunately, we missed the sunset at the rim, but we were worn out and tired from a thoroughly satisfying day in central Arizona.

     Comments are appreciated and please follow my blog by entering your email address in the box at the upper right of this blog.  Stay tuned for more about our latest vacation!

Wallace Desert Gardens, Scottsdale, Arizona

     Being a botanist can make it difficult to get away from your home range during the growing season. This makes the late fall a perfect time to get away on vacation. This year, my girlfriend Susan Barry and I went on a trip to Arizona. We had a long list of proposed adventures and were anxious to get started experiencing them.
     My parents have a place in Scottsdale and we began learning the plants of the desert environment on a private tour of the Wallace Desert Garden. This site was previously owned by H.B. Wallace, a man from a very distinguished family that pioneered genetic seed modification and included a U.S. Vice-President and Secretary of Agriculture. As heirs of the family fortune, H.B. Wallace and his wife Jocelyn "created a spectacular 12-acre garden of arid land plants from across the globe."
     This site is confounded by a number of problems that threaten its long term existence, mainly that it resides within an affluent and gated community and tours are only available by reservation. My father arranged the tour after visiting with a group of friends who knew of the garden. It was a very neat place.

Wallace Desert Gardens, Scottsdale, AZ

     The tour proved to be a nice introduction to desert plants and although I was particularly interested in species native to Arizona (species we might observe in the wild later during our trip), we also learned about some interesting features of species that were planted there from other parts of the world.
     The term cactus refers to a group of dicotyledonous plants in the Cactaceae family.  All cacti are succulent plants, however not all succulent plants are species of cactus as I will explain later.  Also, all cacti are entirely New World in distribution with one exception. Rhipsalis braccifera occurs in Africa, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka in addition to both Americas.
     This is one of the most massive of the barrel cacti and perhaps the most abundant and widespread barrel cactus in Mexico. However, it is extremely slow growing and is endemic to Mexico so it is listed as "near threatened" by the IUCN.  Few young individuals can be found in the wild and its use in traditional candy threatens its longterm viability.

Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus platyacanthus)

    Creosote is a true desert shrub.  It occurs in three of the four major North American deserts (the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts).  The Great Basin desert is unlike the other three deserts and this shrub does not occur there.  It is believed to be one of the oldest living organisms on earth and true to its name, it smells like creosote.

Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata)

     There are some plants that mimic cacti, that is, they look a lot like a cactus but they are not.  This phenomenon is called convergent evolution and the genus Euphorbia is a perfect example.  This group of plants did not evolve from the same common ancestor as the cactus group, but instead independently evolved similar characteristics, in this case, the succulent nature of the plant tissue that allows for the plant to survive in extremely arid conditions.

Resin Spurge (Euphorbia resinifera), from Morocco

       Our guide Lee pointed out this feature many times during our tour and it was especially prevalent in the cactus garden.  Before I mention why these particular plants were under a wooden structure perhaps you can figure it out on your own.  Hint:  There are plants in here from deserts all around the world.  

Cactus Garden

     Lee showed us many neat cactus species that have been planted within the building and some were quite large.  We were reminded though, that the Wallaces' planted all these species and so none of them had been there for more than 25 years.  Since they are from all over the world, many of them cannot survive the cold temperatures occasional to Arizona winters and with the large sliding windows and louvered ceiling, the plants are protected when temperatures drop below freezing.

Our guide Lee pointing out Opuntia alta

     This is a non-prickly Prickly Pear species called Opuntia tomentosa.  Tomentose is a type of pubescence, and refers to the dense and soft hairs that cover the pads (which are actually stems called cladodes).  This is one Prickly Pear you shouldn't be afraid to touch!

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia tomentosa)

     Another cactus species was easy to identify by the chevron patterns on the trunk and I thought it was quite beautiful.

Chevron patterned cactus (Pachycereus pringlei)

     There were also a lot of Agave, Aloe, and Yucca species planted throughout the garden.  This one is called the Quiver Tree (Aloe dichotoma) because the leaves split in pairs.  It looks like an octopus!

Quiver Tree (Aloe dichotoma), from South Africa

     Another interesting group of cacti produce what is called a cephalium, which basically means "head."  When they are mature, they grow thick hair and from that flower and set seed.  It is essentially the equivalent of pubic hair for cacti!

Columnal Cactus (Espostoa lanata)

     This was a place where you had to watch very carefully where you walked and what you touched as many of the plants in the garden had sharp spines.  Spines are modified leaves or stipules borne from below the epidermis whereas thorns are modified stems with a sharp point.  Of course don't confuse either with prickles, which are outgrowths of epidermis or bark.  But what about bristles you might ask?!  Those are actually hairs (or hairlike structures)!  Clear as mud?

     Only once did I back into an Opuntia cactus while photographing and it sure did poke me good!  Susan also brushed by an Opuntia cactus and her leg had several fine hairs or bristles called glochids.  Anyone who has touched an Opunita pad knows about these!

     Spines assist in herbivore prevention and also aid in water loss by trapping air near the surface which reduces evaporation and transpiration.  The Dagger Cholla (Grusonia invicta) displays it best.

Dagger Cholla (Grusonia invicta)

     In the garden area where the barrel cacti were concentrated was a lovely Saguaro Cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) specimen.  The Saguaro is a tree-like cactus that is only found in the Sonoran Desert and is the state wildflower of Arizona.  It is also the largest cactus in the United States and can live up to 200 years. Young Saguaros cannot survive the intense heat of the desert, nor can they withstand trampling.  Thus, they grow under the shade and protection of a "nurse" plant like Palo Verde.

Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) in the garden

Palo Verde (Cercidium floridum) with Saguaro cactus growing underneath

     On our way to the next area of the garden we stopped to look at this interesting cactus, a barrel cactus that had a funny scientific name, Ferocactus emoryi rectispinus!  Apparently this means you do not want to sit on it!

     Also called Compass Cactus, this species is drawn toward sunlight and this causes them to lean in a southerly direction.  You also do not want to cut barrel cacti open and drink the water inside because it is filled with alkaline juice instead of water.  Although it won't kill you, it will dehydrate you by forcing involuntary emergence of body fluids from both gastrointestinal directions.

Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus emoryi rectispinus)

     Another non-cactus succulent in the genus Stapelia was this carrion flower.  Like other carrion flowers, the flower is brown and low to the ground because it is pollinated by blow flies of the dipteran family Calliphoridae, which are attracted to the foul odor exuded by this plant, mimicking the odor of dead animals. 

Carrion flower (Stapelia hirsuta)

      Not a terrible backyard eh?!

Wallace Desert Garden, Scottsdale, AZ

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