Estes Canyon Trail

After a quiet morning, we took the Ajo Canyon drive to access the Estes Canyon hiking trail. The drive is a mostly gravel/dirt road through 21 miles of mesquite, cacti, brittle bush, and mountain views . There are pull-offs for picture taking and reading the quide book available at the visitors’ center.

We stopped at the Estes Canyon trailhead to take a couple of miles walk up the canyon. In the past we have taken the strenuous Bull Pasture Trail and returned by Estes Canyon. Today we were not so adventurous, but truly enjoyed the walk along the wash in the canyon. Lots of large palo verde, mesquite, and creosote as well as brittle bush and jojoba. The trail allowed us to walk among large saguaro and organ pipe cacti. Obviously we did not have the spectacular views from the Bull Pasture overlook, but we truly enjoyed our view.

We finished the road with several stops for pictures. The teddy bear cholla were incredible with the late sun highlighting their spines. While off picture taking, David managed to step on a piece of one that had dropped to the ground. While not painful through his heavy boots, it did take pliers to remove the spines. He will watch his step more closely next time.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)