Usury Mountain Regional Park March 6-8

Days 38, 39, 40   Sunday, Monday, Tuesday   March 6, 7, 8   Usury Mountain Regional Park, Mesa, AZ

We arrived at Usury, a great campground on the side of the hill north of Mesa.  The campsites were widely spaced, and ours had trees perfect for hanging the bird feeders.  We saw White-Crowned Sparrows and more House Finches.  There are lots of trails going off into the desert, and we rode our bikes around the park, through all the loops to picnic areas and trailheads.

Hanging a birdfeeder at our beautiful campsite

Thrasher twig nest in a cholla, with baby birdies!

Desert Marigolds

Mamma hummingbird on her nest

Monday we drove our bikes down to the north end of the East Canal Bike Trail and rode our bikes south for 10 miles along the canal.  Parts of it were dirt and parts were paved.  The only tough part was getting across major streets that had no lights for us.  We had to look both ways, get to the middle, then make it the rest of the way.  Only a couple of these were really challenging.  The ride was pretty, flowers in people’s yards, trees, a few ducks in the canal.  We found out later that the southern part of this path goes through a riparian area in Gilbert that has lots of birds!  Next year!  The main trail was on the south side, but we had started on the north side from Sheepherder Park.  On the way back we did not switch back to that side and ended up going up and down through gravel by some dams and installations that said no trespassing – Jim was in his fearless leader mode and did not want to turn around and ride back for a mile to get on the other side!  We did make it back to the car!  

In the afternoon I finished my Nevada Barr book, Firestorm, in time to swap it at the book swap at Usury.  I had got it at the book swap at Gilbert Ray.  Jim worked on his copters, changing the programming and parameters.  He found a model airplane field called Superstition Air Park and flew his copter in that area. 

Another view of our campsite.  The hummingbird next is in the Palo Verde
to Jim's right, next to the picnic table!

Phainopepla

A thrasher and a parakeet on a neighbor's bird feeder.
These parakeets are wild in this area!

Gambel's Quail, perky birds who eat seed on the ground under the feeder.

Gilded Flicker

Tuesday morning I went to Superstition Laundromat in Apache Junction to do the laundry, 4 loads, time to get everything clean again!  Jim went up to his close-by copter field.  We were back to the motorhome in time for lunch, and headed east to Canyon Lake to do some kayaking.  We drove past Lost Dutchman State Park, at the foot of the Superstition Mountains, where we have stayed in previous years, and east through the mountains toward the old stagecoach stop (now a tourist place with a restaurant and gift shops) called Tortilla Flat.  It was a beautiful drive through the mountains, lots of color in the rocks and the foliage, rough country.  About the time we got to Canyon Lake Jim remembered that we had put our life jackets in the motorhome – and that is where they were!  We found we could not rent life jackets at the lake.  So we drove up the road till the pavement ended, enjoying the views, then drove back through Tortilla Flat and joined the cone-lickers.  I had a Belgian Chocolate single scoop that tasted like fudge!  Yum!  Jim had Black Cherry.  When we got back to the motorhome we put the life jackets in Tuzi, so they would be there next time.

End of the paved road

Lupine and Fairy Duster

Salt River canyon

Canyon Lake

Mountain Vista with Brittle Bush

Wednesday morning I rode my bike all around in Usery Park, then rode out of the park and north toward Usery Pass.  I rode to the top of the pass, then started down the other side.  When I had ridden down about 4 miles or so I thought I better head back, since checkout time was approaching.  It was a great ride, could go up the hill about 5 or 6 miles per hour.  Lots of bikers here in Arizona, riding powerfully up the hills and smiling while descending!  These roads I have been riding on have really wide bike lanes.  Meanwhile, Jim was droning again.  Most of the parks have had rules against drones, as people seem to think of them as being intrusive or downright scary.  Luckily he has been able to find OK places to work on his programming changes.

We headed out of the park, to WalMart where we got an oil change for the motor home.  Then on to a campground where we had never been, McDowell Mountain Regional Park.