Once again I traveled the highway which eventually ends at to the small mining town of Bagdad, to take a closer look at the saguaro-rich hillsides along the way. I hoped to document new specimens of that elusive creatures known as the crested saguaro ... and contemplate their strange beauty!
High on a rocky slope I spotted an arm crest, so I shoulder my pack and put boots on the ground. My route takes me through a scattering of prickly pear cactuses, several of them crested:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/mutant/pricklypear/crest12.php
After much scrambling and cursing, I reach the arm crest:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest315.php
My loop hike back to my Jeep takes me past this crested saguaro I first found 4 years ago ... the crest has noticeably grown!
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai100/crest185.php
I was able to get a telephoto shot of this squirrel before it noticed me and scampered away:
A bit farther down the road, I stopped at a pulloff that I know I'd stopped at before. Apparently that time I didn't walk to the edge and look down into the canyon below, or I would have seen this big arm crest:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest316.php
After camping in a little hollow sheltered from the wind, I continued my quest. My spotting scope picked out an arm crest high on a distant ridge, so I drove as close as I could and once more shouldered my pack. On my hike up to the ridge, I unexpectedly came upon this newly-cresting saguaro:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest317.php
Finally I made it to the arm crest I'd been aiming for:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest318.php
My reserves of strength had not been depleted, but the day was getting late, so I returned to the highway and headed for home, grateful for life and beauty!
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