Crested Saguaro Society

Crest Quest Reports

May 3 - 4 and 17 - 18, 2025 — Hassayampa River (An Enchanted Place)

Report by Joe Orman

I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?
— Piglet, in "Winnie-The-Pooh" by A. A. Milne

Many ~~expotitions~~ expeditions begin with just the germ of an idea. Harry Ford had passed along a vaguely-worded tip on some crested saguaros in the vicinity of the Hassayampa River, so on this weekend I headed out from Wickenburg — excited at the possibility of finding them.

This area has a long history of mining; my road passed many abandoned structures:

I reached the river and started to hike ... this White Prickly Poppy caught my eye:

After a short hike along the river, I spotted one of the crests that Harry had given me the tip on:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai/crest93.php

I always get where I'm going by walking away from where I've been.
— Winnie the Pooh, from "Christopher Robin"

I continued my hike, having horses as my only company:

I passed the remains of a rancher's line shack:

Legend has it that Hassayampa is an old Native American word meaning "river that flows upside down" — appropriate, since for part of my hike the waters flowed underground:

I decided to leave the riverbed and hike cross-country. There I found this cholla cactus blossom:

My hope was that getting up high would give me a better view of the area's saguaros. Sure enough, up on the plateau I spotted this nice top-crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest408.php

Prickly pear blossom:

Somewhere out there, a horse is walking around barefoot!

On the way back to my Jeep, I dropped back into the riverbed but soon detoured to scramble up to this arm crest I'd spotted earlier:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest409.php

Later, driving a side road, I stumbled upon another crest from Harry's tip:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest410.php

The rich, contrasting colors of the hedgehog cactus blossom make it my favorite of all flowers:

Farther off the road, I spotted an arm crest high on a hill. Since it was across a rugged canyon, I didn't hike up to it:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest411.php

Nearby, I happened to pause at just the right spot on the road to be able to see the top of a crest hiding in a side-canyon. When I hiked in to it, I was delighted to find that it was a nice ring crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest412.php

From there, my binos and telephoto lens picked out another crest and a Y-split saguaro farther up the canyon. I didn't have time to hike to them, so I left them for (SPOILER ALERT!) a return visit:

As I retreated out of the mountains to find a good camping spot, cloud-split sunbeams put on a dramatic display:

One last quick stop, to re-photograph this roadside crested barrel cactus I'd found a year earlier:

2024 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/mutant/barrel/crest141.php

I made camp just as the sun was setting, at a nice spot I'd camped at before. The next morning, I drove one last side road, but all I spotted was two Y-tip saguaros that look like they might crest out in the future:

Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was going to happen.
— "Winnie-The-Pooh" by A. A. Milne

Two weeks later, the temperatures took a dipped unusually low for mid-May, and I returned to the same area. My first choice for exploration was an old mining road that quickly got too washed out even for my Jeep. So I parked, put on my big boots, and continued on foot. Soon, a burst of Desert Marigold greeted me:

I glassed all the slopes high and low for crests — fortunately, the only one I spotted was just off the road:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest413.php

The surrounding slope had many specimens of black tourmaline, so I named the saguaro "Tourmaline Crest":

The road ends at a mine, but I turned around when the mill ruins were still telephoto-distance away:

Barrel cactus blossom:

Fishhook Pincushion Cactus:

Back on the road, I encountered this fierce armed guard:

He was apparently guarding this nearby abandoned building; I believe a sign said it was the former house of someone called Trespassers William:

The area was also guarded by Blister Beetles — so named because they can secrete a toxic chemical if handled:

Back on the road, I was lucky I spotted this arm crest hiding among the other arms of the saguaro:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest414.php

Across the road, I noticed something "funny" about a saguaro high on a slope. My binos confirmed it was a wide top-crest, so up I scrambled:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest415.php

Right before sunset, I found a flat spot to camp in a sandy pit by the river bank. That night, the silence reminded me just how remote this spot was.

I'm not lost. I'm right where I'm standing. Unfortunately, where I'm standing may be lost.
— Winnie the Pooh, from "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh"

The next morning, I hiked along the river with high hopes for finding a crest — I'd never explored this area before, and the slopes were rich with saguaros! My route took me past an abandoned dredging operation:

This Prickly Pear pad was backlit by the early-morning sun:

I fell into an automatic hiking mode which used very little brain, but at one spot I thought if I veered all the way to one side of the riverbed I could get a better view of the saguaro-covered opposite slope. And I was glad I did — that allowed me to spot this nice top-crest up on the slope:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest416.php

That was my turn-around point; I leisurely followed the river back to my Jeep. Here, the water was flowing above-ground and there were places that were rather boggy and sad:

For [the river] knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no hurry. We shall get there some day."
— "The House at Pooh Corner" by A. A. Milne

Lastly, I re-visited the side-canyon where I'd seen the crest and Y-split saguaro from a distance on my previous visit. A horned lizard at my feet found it easy to be brave, even though it was a Very Small Animal:

An up-canyon hike and a scramble brought me to the crest ... looks like it may curve into a "hug" eventually:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest417.php

And the Y-split saguaro, only about a hundred feet away:

As I took a higher route back to my Jeep, this double-Y saguaro was the closest to "crested" that I saw:

I passed the ring crest I'd found on my last outing:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai400/crest412.php

The bright blue color of this rock in the streambed caught my eye ... probably a water-polished specimen of the copper mineral chrysocolla:

Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.
— attributed to A. A. Milne

I'll leave you with a photo gallery of all the flowers I saw on this hike...

Verbena: