Left to right: Kelly Wilson, Michael Caryl, Claire Cordon, Diana Wilson, Lynda Green, Michael Reale, Karen Schickedanz, Jeanne Reale, and Mary Hlushko (photo by Sandra Sowell)
Sandra Sowell
Almost any day of the year, SaddleBrooke Hiking Club members are afoot in some place all over the world. A recent beautiful February day found nine of them following guide Michael Reale out of the Proctor parking area in Madera Canyon and onto the Nature Trail.
This trail is found in the foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains, which rise just east of the northward-flowing Santa Cruz River in Southern Arizona. Some of the noted features of the Santa Ritas come with names like Florida Saddle; Old Baldy Saddle; Mount Hopkins with its Whipple Observatory; Mount Wrightson, which is the highest point in Southern Arizona at 9,456 feet; and the iconic profile known as Elephant Head, which looks west.
The Nature Trail is a very user-friendly and accessible trail, especially in the lower parts where there are sidewalks and partially paved areas. Young families, small children, middle-agers, and seniors all can be seen playing in the water, picnicking creek-side, examining treasures of nature, and looking and listening for birds. The trail follows Madera Creek with its wonderful sounds as it tumbles over rocks and tree branches. And it’s very shady here, which makes it a great trail to hike in warmer weather.
Once hikers reach the amphitheater, the trail turns away from the creek and climbs into a very different level of vegetation. The white-barked sycamores, cottonwoods, and Arizona grapes that grow along the creek give way to several kinds of oaks and pines, along with some massive alligator junipers. Manzanitas appear with their pretty little pink apple blossoms. Signage along the trail identifies the trees and shrubs and describes the environment and vistas.
The trail continues to climb gradually, and on this day, the group found a picnic area for lunch and a rest before retracing the trail to their starting point. They caught glimpses of the Santa Ritas’ peaks—sometimes shrouded with clouds and sometimes revealing a nice coating of snow.
Birds spotted along the way included the Mexican jays, acorn woodpeckers, and titmouse. This is the trail where everybody hopes for a view of the elusive elegant trogon, but February was perhaps too soon to see one. Before the group returned to the cars, five white-tailed deer came down the mountainside, most likely for a drink of water.
This was a very pleasant, scenic, seven-mile hike in a beautiful part of the world.