Natasha Fondren

I went hiking on the De Anza Trail on Thursday. The De Anza Trail is 1,210 miles long and goes from Nogales, Arizona all the way to San Francisco. Juan Bautista De Anza, apparently, led 300 people along this route in the 1775-1776 Spanish Expedition. He also founded a Mission and Presidio in San Francisco, a Mission in Santa Clara and the Pueblo of San José. The group ended by settling in the San Francisco Bay area.

The full trail is not yet restored. They worked a bit on one section last fall, but I think we started at the end of the finished part, because the trail completely disappeared. Luckily, we were in a portion of desert where it’s almost impossible to get lost. We trekked southward, hoping to get to a little town, but at some point we were stuck hiking in washes and dried riverbeds.

An owl swooped by us here, but I didn’t have my camera out.

We (a bit stupidly, I admit) decided to leave at two in the afternoon to make it to Tubac in time for friends to meet us for dinner. Hiking in 96 degree heat in the sun is tough. I had my reservations, but my hiking partner was an Arizonan, so I was thinking that maybe Arizonans are used to this weather, and that I should get used to it too, LOL.

We saw a beautiful golden coyote here. Why do I never have my camera up when I want a shot?

Most of the time we were hiking in sand. I think I sunk four inches every step, then I had to lift my leg out. My hips are still sore, LOL. Good exercise, though.

I found the dried and cracked mud of the wash fascinating.

Near the end of our trip, we hiked for the freeway so we could be picked up. We’d hiked four hours, and we were starved. We saw this little guy on a log. What’s fascinating to me is that this lizard appeared like it was coated with fuzzy, black velour.

Not so in the picture. Weird.

So that was my adventure for the week.

How was your week?