Are you ready for some wildflowers? It’s springtime in the desert.

Not only do we have wildflowers and more, but the perennial shrubs such as Fairy Duster, brittlebush, ocotillo, sage,  globe mallow, and chuparosa, also bloom. There are desert wildflowers such as lupine, desert marigold, and carpets of poppies.

Then there are the flowering trees, the sweet acacia, the palo verdes, the desert willows all leading into the late spring blooming of the saguaro cactus and all the cactus! For a photographic look, check out the preserve’s website.

What a perfect time to hike our trails. There are trails in the preserve surrounding Scottsdale, Phoenix and also herel , the westside White Tanks, the southeast Superstition Mountains, Mesa’s Usery Mountain, and the biggest regional park in the world surrounding South Mountain in Chandler, and throughout the Valley alongside our canal system . For a list of some of them, this link will help.

Arizona Highways has some wonderful photos of wildflowers and hiking trails. Here’s a link to their slide shows.

And don’t forget…

Some of these trails are open to horses, in fact some of the patrols carrying first aid kits and extra bottles of water are the Equestrian Patrol Unit, volunteers who are trained. Bikes, too!

Another exciting piece of news is the announcement of the Grand Opening of the Preserve in this issue of the McDowell Sonoran Conservatory’s newsletter. That’s May 2^nd and exciting it is.

The Gateway is located east of Thompson Peak Parkway, one-half mile north of Bell Road. The facility will have 200 parking spaces, restrooms, a dog comfort station, water fountains, and an equestrian staging area with 16 trailer parking spaces, water troughs, hitching rails, and a shade ramada.

Green building elements incorporated in the facility include solar power generation, rainwater harvesting, solar water heating, rammed earth walls constructed of native soil from on-site excavation, structural steel made of high recycled content, highly efficient mechanical equipment, and parking lot and path surfaces made of stabilized decomposed granite.

All activities are free and open to the public. Click here for information about hiking, biking, rock climbing and horse riding in the preserve and here is an interactive map of the trails.

Photo Credit:s: blujnsnpearls50 and laszio-photo