Diario de porazzo

I completed this nature walk on the Lost Dog Trail in the McDowell Mountain Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona. I love hiking on this trail because it is close to where I live and has a wide variety of cacti. This trail is also open to horseback riders so it is always cool to see some horses along the way. It was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit with no cloud cover when we started hiking. The difference in temperature between the day time high and the night time low in the desert of Arizona allows for some really interesting species of plants and animals to thrive there. Among my favorites are the saguaro cactus, the prickly pear cactus, and the barrel cactus, all of which I was able to find on my hike. The saguaro cactus is so interesting to me because it can survive for hundreds of years in such a hot, dry climate. The age of a saguaro can usually be estimated by its height and number of arms, as it does not sprout arms until it is between 50-70 years old. I chose to observe some of the taller saguaros on my hike because they typically house birds that somehow manage to build nests around the thorns of the cactus. I was also able to find some barrel cactus, which are often called "suicide cacti" by Arizonans because they are known to sometimes grow too tall that they fall over. In addition to the cacti, I was able to find a lot of flowering plants, as it is wildflower season in the Sonoran Desert. I think it is interesting that many of the plants in the desert only have flowers that are yellow, orange, and some shades of red. I am not sure why this is, but these colors really highlight the beauty of the flora in the desert.